If I’ve pegged you correctly, you’re freaking out just a wee-bit. It’s September, which got here a tad too quickly, and that means there are just four months left for you to accomplish the goals you intended to achieve by December 31st.
Unless you hang with a bunch of coaches or consultants, you’re probably not sitting around, sipping your favorite beverage, and saying, “I need to work on my vision to meet this year’s goals.”
It’s more like, “Time is flying; I still have a lot to do; and I need help with X…or I need to get better at Y, if…”
And one of the first places you’ve probably turned to look for that assistance is your smartphone.
If so, you know you have access to what feels like a gazillion apps. According to Google, there are approximately 900,000 iOS apps and 850,000 Android apps.
As you know, some of these are purely for entertainment; while others are designed to help you manage some aspect of your life – say tracking your money, setting and managing goals, tracking how much time you meditate, managing your fitness routine, etc.
With so many (and counting), there is an app for almost every need or want you may have – personally and professionally.
Me? I’m a sucker for organization apps and definitely suffer from the “bright, shiny object syndrome” when it comes to them.
My eyes are constantly wide open and on the lookout for the latest and greatest. Heck, just this week, I had to stop myself from signing up for a trial to test drive a new all-in-one project management + to-do list app.
Sometimes you need to press pause on the continuous search for the “next” thing and work with whatcha got!
As I write, I’m currently in love with Wunderlist (to-do lists); TeamWorkPM (project management); SpiderScribe (mind-mapping); and Evernote (for everything else! – including the initial draft of this post).
- Apps – whether on my smartphone, laptop, or web-based – help me feel productive.
- Apps help me create a framework for accomplishing my goals.
- Apps help me work in my business.
Do you see what I see?
Apps can help you and me play a bigger game in business and life. But you know what “team Jacquette” – the folks who’ve been an integral part of my re-engineering and re-branding exercise – helped me realize just by way of how we worked together?
Apps are not a viable substitute for strategy and reasoning.
For all the wonderful things apps help you and me do, “they” can’t ask thoughtful questions or provide a fresh perspective or help you list out and weigh the sacrifices every goal, choice and decision ask you to make.
On the surface, this seems so obvious. But think about some of the apps you use, especially those that fall into the productivity and lifestyle categories: What’s the thinking behind the how + why of your using the app? Or, are you blindly using them?
There isn’t an app designed to craft your vision.
Because apps may help you “see” but they can’t provide insight. Nor can apps replace the inner work that is required to think creatively about the future.
I know, I know…vision is one of the most over-used terms, especially in the business and coaching spaces. But it is also one of the best tools for creating and uppping your game-plan and ordering the steps you take to bring that plan to life.
Vision is what is helping me shift from the busy work of working in my business to the more strategic and productive work of working on my business (and subsequently my life)!!!
Where, in your life do you, too, need to shift from the practice of “working in” to “working on?”
Identify it, share it in the comments section, and then get to work making the necessary adjustments. This is one way to ensure you accomplish those yet to be achieved goals for the year…it’s one way to play a bigger game in your life.
p.s. so excited for my mention in this CNN.com piece!!
Photo credit: Google images
