New Year's Day and the Big Picture

I love the big picture. Stepping back from the forest to look at the trees... What could be better?!


I'm not a new year's resolution cynic. Today is January 1 and I'm pretty much wasted from a 15-hour blizzard cruise back from Canada yesterday, but I'm still fired up about the blank slate which is 2011.

Five great questions of life: Life * Love * Learning * Labor * Leadership

New Year's Day and the Big Picture

I love the big picture. Stepping back from the forest to look at the trees... What could be better?!

I'm not a new year's resolution cynic. Today is January 1 and I'm pretty much wasted from a 15-hour blizzard cruise back from Canada yesterday, but I'm still fired up about the blank slate which is 2011.

Truth be told, I think about the big picture all year. My productivity guru is David Allen with his Getting Things Done system. Part of his advice is to spend time with the different perspectives or elevations of life.

David lays it out like this:

• Runway - my projects and tasks lined up to be worked on right away
• 10K (10,000 feet) - Projects to be completed within a year
• 20K - My roles or responsibilities (What hats do I wear?)
• 30K - Projects to be completed in 1-3 years
• 40K - Projects to be complete in 3-5 years
• 50K - Lifelong goals

That's my quick overview on his elevations anyway. So we get horizontal with all of the areas of life we tie into: career, family, school, physical health, etc. But then we get vertical and see how all of that looks in the months and years to come.

The big picture.

So do I have a new year's resolution? Yes and no. I'm not making a January 1 start date for any new goals. (Although I'm very much in favor of that.) But I am continuing to press ahead with my BOAT LOAD of goals and plans for the new year. Here are a few:

• Finish our upstairs renovation to prepare for shuffling our bedrooms. (Mainly lots of elbow grease!)
• Prepare to run some 5K fun runs this summer.
• Finish the first draft of my book: All I Needed to Say (or possibly Road Trip with Jesus & Phil, or probably something I haven't thought of yet).
• Organize my tools better in the basement.
• Prepare for Megan and Tim's wedding.

I could go on for a very long time. My 10K level has about 45 projects. You get the idea.

So I love getting up to my elbows in whatever project is at hand, but I also love to step back. Stepping back gives me a new sense of control and energy.

Whatever you're tackling this year, I wish you the very best!