Life Planning 101 Part Three

What does it really feel to ‘stay on top’ of it all– to be successful AND well?

For many of our students at Brilliant Birth Academy, becoming a birth professional is one of their first steps toward a life marked by a higher level of contribution. Birth is a sacred and fleeting moment of time, and showing up with consistent excellence for the challenges may require a higher degree of planning and organization skill than life has previously required. Being ‘passionate about birth’ isn’t enough to make sure you’re flawlessly prepared and on time to deliver outstanding results to your clients. I would know.

For many years I was the hardest working unsuccessful person I knew.

Now I love talking about planning because it’s truly one of the most valuable skills you could learn in your life. Of course, some of you are naturally organized planners and are thinking all of this is obvious. But it actually isn’t to many people who don’t have the personality trait of conscientiousness

There’s a major function of personality (just like introversion/extroversion which I’m sure you’ve heard of) but it’s called conscientiousness. It’s a measure of dutifulness and reliability.

People high in conscientiousness have an awareness of what is needed from them and they have the detailed-oriented thinking to make sure all needs are met. They love order, being told what to do, and thrive in predictable roles they can carefully plan for. They dislike spontaneous behavior because they love being organized and reliable. (At this point 99% of you are like—hey Steph, so I am the exact opposite of this and actually don’t even have friends who are like this. I have a sister like this. Who I do not speak to.)

Big surprise: many birth pros are VERY low in conscientiousness–myself included.

For us, planning is a must-have skill if we are going to become truly dynamic and mature into our potential.

Why? It is impossible to build a remarkable business and life full of contribution, extraordinary experiences, creative accomplishments, and thriving relationships, without knowing how to systematically plan your time, attention, and energy. 

If you actively resist planning, let me entice you with four more benefits I believe you will start to experience if you put into practice the steps I’ll be laying out in upcoming posts:

1. You will make meaningful progress towards what matters to you

Research shows that one of the most powerful ‘fuel sources’ to drive you to your goals is the encouragement of making progress. When you’ve marked a defined path to your goal and understand the steps you need to take to get to the end, it’s motivating to track and see your progress! You’ll also get more out of your scheduled work time because you will always know exactly what to do next in order to move your initiatives forward in the most effective way. Soon your accomplishments will accumulate and you will have not just action steps completed but books, major projects, and amazing life experiences to look back on.

2. You will become resourceful

Project planning cultivates a healthy mindset of total creative ownership. Identifying the specific action steps required for your goal achievement will require you to identify the resources you need. It’s so energetically different to go to your support system and to say: “hey, I’m really excited about this project (of taking my business to the next level, taking a continuing education course to better serve my clients, etc) and this is what I need from you the next 90 days.” Rather than disappointing your friends and family during peak production times, or demanding things from those closest to you while becoming more embittered and resentful for their ‘lack of support’. This process, mastered over time, will make your closest relationships peaceful, your communication excellent, and your ability to be resourceful exceptional.

3. You will be able to tackle bigger goals that require more finances—you will actually have more resources!

Your financial health will start to clearly reflect the benefits of applying this formula. ‘Wellness’ is hard to qualify in areas like relational and emotional health—errors in judgment and a lack of discipline in are much easier to see with numbers you can count. Achieving your financial and business goals may serve as honest feedback of just how much value you’re really providing. Plus as you publish that book, execute that local marketing strategy, have more raving birth customers, you will see more finances flow in that will enable you to take on even more ambitious plans. What’s your biggest most expensive dream? Start thinking about it. Because as you work as hard on your goals as you do on your job you will become more and more valuable to the birth marketplace. And as Jim Rohn taught: “It takes time to bring value to the marketplace, but you don’t get paid for your time. You get paid for the value you put into your time. Is it possible to become twice as valuable and to make twice as much money? Of course!”

4. You will be able to tackle bigger goals that require teams

Often we ask how when we should ask who: “who could help?” All leadership starts with self-leadership. The skills you will learn with this series will create a life of mastery that is scalable into real growth. You’ll discover the amazing joy of saying: “let’s do something amazing together!” There are few joys in life greater than doing something remarkable with people you love and admire. Goal setting and scheduling will enable you to get a track record of accomplishments so that you can confidently invite people to your projects. Because you will have mastered self-leadership you will now be able to apply the same skills to easily manage one, or two, or twenty people—you have a team now! With the ability to take on goals that require team you’ll be astounded with what you really can do with your life.

5. You will stop wasting resources

Part of the resources that will emerge in your life will merely be reallocated—rather than spending time in confusion “what do I do next?” “why hasn’t that person gotten back to me” you will spend time in action. The maxim: ‘success is when preparation meets opportunity’ will start to come into pay in your life. You will no longer have the hidden expense of missed opportunities because you weren’t prepared to take advantage of them. You won’t spend resources covering your pain of lacking purpose, meaning, and accomplishment in life. Now, all those resources will be freed up to make meaningful progress towards what matters most to you.  

Ready to dive in?

In the next blog post I’m going to lay out the practical steps I took to stop being a hot mess and to bring my life into alignment with my values so that I was free to give, thriving, and well even though I’m not naturally a conscientious planner.

You can do this too. Ready? Click over.

Also call your sister.