Sep. 24, 2005 - Confidence

With the absolute success of ASPIRE Personal Strategic Planning, why is it that only 25 to 30% of the participants complete 70% or more of their plan?  When I ask ASPIRE participants this question, I get the following answers:

          "I'm just too busy."

          "I can't get my thoughts together."

          "It's too big of a task."

          "I don't have time."

          "If you had my life, you'd never get anything done."

          "I think you should just hand us one and let us do it."

          "I 'tried'."

          "I don't know what to do."

          "I'm just not into it."

          "I don't think it will work for me."

          "I'm working on it."

          "My spouse (kids, significant other, coach, neighbor, friend, mother,) disagrees      with the program."

          "Oh, it's all in my head."

          "I have too much to do."

          "Oh, I'm supposed to write all of that?"

And my all time favorite,

          "I need to make money, I don't have time for this."

After reviewing these answers, I dropped the 'guilt ticket' and reflected on Rosabeth Moss Cantors new book, "Confidence".  I read a review of this book in the New York Times on September 16th, bought it at an O'Hare airport bookstore, read it and changed my personal thoughts on confidence.    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400052904/qid=1099490875/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/102-5391040-5928930  

I've look at Confidence in only three subcategories; (visual) Self Image, (auditory) Self Talk, (kinesthetic) Self Esteem.  Ms. Cantors book helped me to more clearly define the major category 'Confidence' as: an overall attitude that things will be okay.  Confidence is more than self.  It's more than what you can or cannot do, it doesn't allow excuses, it does, however, allow for the fact that things are up and then they are down and then up again, get over it.  You and I cannot worry about what others do or don't do, we can only 'do' ourselves and trust that it will be okay.  For when we leave this world, no one will talk or write about what we didn't do and the reasons we didn't do them, they'll only (hopefully) talk and write about what we 'did do'.

Do what you can with your Personal Strategic Plan; and remember, just thinking about it will create a 20% increase.  "The map is not the territory, and the menu is not the meal."

Thinking of each one of you often, and putting you in my success plan.