The Rural Voice, 2019-02, Page 18 By now, statistically speaking,
most of you will have broken your
New Year’s resolution, but experts
say that February is the perfect time
to reset goals. I guess any time is a
good time for that, really.
Most New Year’s resolutions
involve eating less chocolate or
exercising more often, spending less
money or traveling more. And the
most common reason that eight out
of 10 people won’t achieve their
resolutions or goals is that they didn’t
make a plan.
We can imagine where we want to
be, that’s the fun and easy part. But if
we don’t get clearly on the path to
getting there, how can we make the
first step?
These days, I’ve been working on
strategic planning for a few
agricultural organizations. While
doing some research online, I got a
kick in the pants (and inspiration for
this column) as I was procrastinating
by watching a TED talk … about
procrastination.
In his presentation Inside the Mind
of a Procrastinator, Tim Urban
illustrates (literally) how a
procrastinator’s brain differs from a
regular brain. His cartoon brain scan
reveals that procrastinators possess
an “instant gratification monkey” that
takes control of their minds and only
with an imminent deadline is this
monkey scared away by the “panic
monster” so they can get things done.
“Never put off till tomorrow, what
you can do the day after tomorrow,”
wrote Mark Twain. Procrastination is
funny I guess, but it is also tragic.
Urban says that hundreds of
people responded to him with stories
of how this instant gratification
monkey had ruined their lives. But it
wasn’t because they missed those
deadlines, he realized.
It is because the most important
things in our lives don’t have
deadlines.
So, this means that the panic
monster never came in to help these
people do what they desperately
wanted to do, making them feel like a
spectator in their own lives. “The
frustration is not that they couldn’t
achieve their dreams,” he concludes,
“but they weren’t even able to start
chasing them.”
I had a flash forward of 10 years
and felt my own panic monster when
I realized that I didn’t have any idea
what I wanted my life in 2029 to look
like.
I needed a Strategic Plan. For me.
A strategic plan starts with a
Vision of the future and then a
Mission describing what you do in
order to make that vision a reality.
Goals are the steps you take to
operationalize the Mission and they
need to be S.M.A.R.T. – specific,
measurable, attainable, relevant to
the mission and timely (ie. have a
deadline!)
And I won’t spare you the details,
dear friends and complete strangers.
Making a plan is not like making a
wish before you blow out the candles
on a cake. Research shows
resolutions and plans that are shared
with others are more likely to stick,
so I’m going to tell you mine.
My Vision is a future of happy
and healthy communities, enjoying
this incredibly amazing planet while
improving the environment and our
connection with each other. My
Mission is transformation through
connection and innovation; I connect,
challenge and inspire people so that
we can improve agriculture’s impact
on our environment and health.
My Mission is quite literally my
job – yes, I am the luckiest gal in the
world. Of course, there are days
when I wonder how Quickbooks,
14 The Rural Voice
February is
the perfect
time to reset
goals
Mel Luymes
works in
agriculture
and conser-
vation and
blogs at
headlands.ca
Mel Luymes
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