Plans are for the next step. Values are for every step after.
REFLECTION
WHAT THIS MEANS
Plans have a short shelf life, because they rest on conditions you cannot see past: who says yes, what gets cancelled, what you turn out to be good at. What carries further is the set of rules you will not break, how you treat people, what you refuse to be talked into. Those still work when the plan is obsolete.
Write down two or three rules you intend to keep whatever happens. Check your next real decision against those rather than against the plan.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
Which value would survive your plan falling apart entirely?
MORE IN MEANING & PERSPECTIVE
- “What do you want to be?” is a weird question. You’ll be lots of things. Ask “who do you want to be?”
- A thousand selfies won’t tell you what you were thinking. Write a few lines about this year somewhere.
- Some of where you are is effort and some is luck. Admitting the luck makes you kinder, not weaker.
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.