During Week #1, you’re going to stop looking the other way.  You’re going to rip off the band-aids.  You’re going to get down to the root causes behind the workarounds and jury-rigged “solutions” in your life.

I’ll be honest:  some don’t want to spend this time.

But here’s the thing:  You can’t get where you want to go unless you know where you are. It’s like taking a trip.  What do you do first when you pull out the map?  You pinpoint where you are.  You find your starting point.

We’re going to spend our first week together finding your starting point. The good, bad, and ugly.  Or as one client recently put it:  the good, bad, and the mind-numbing.

Something amazing happens when you get really clear about the current landscape of your life.  It brings you to a decision point.  You no longer have the option of keeping your head in the sand and staying on autopilot.

Tolerations are the “gunk of life”—things you put up with that create friction, occupy space in your mind, and drain your energy.  For instance, you’re likely putting up with situations, people, unmet needs, crossed boundaries, your environment, stress, expectations, unfinished business, reactions, problems, feelings, restrictions—even your own behavior!

In fact, the average person tolerates between 500 and 1,000 things every day. Just think about that for a moment.  Can you imagine—even on the low end—what those 500 things are getting in the way of?

Here’s the bottom line:  The time and energy you spend tolerating builds up, distracts you from what matters most, and prevents you from thriving.

This week you’ll take an eye-opening assessment of 500+ tolerations to discover what you are tolerating. Even more importantly, you’ll learn how to use the ACE method, a simple, three-option system for ultimately living a toleration-free—or at least drastically toleration reduced!—life.

I’m always surprised by how many are tempted to answer this question with a verbal recap of what can be found on their birth certificate, resume, and driver’s license.  The question, Who am I?, is not asking for your biographical details, a chronology of your work history, or your marital status.

This little question of three small words packs a punch and goes far beyond scratching the surface of the details of your life.

So what makes up the Who?

• The Who encompasses everything from identifying strengths, weaknesses, likes, and dislikes to uncovering values, needs, attitudes, and passions.
• From exploring personality, personal characteristics, mindsets, and motivational drives to considering accomplishments, knowledge, education, and experience.
• From investigating dreams, goals, and definitions of success to surfacing talents, skills, and abilities.
• From ferreting out interests, preferred environments, and lifestyle expectations to revealing what gives energy, what drains energy, and what keeps you engaged.

During Week #3, we’ll objectively explore who you are in relation to what makes you stand out in a crowd (your strengths and talents) and what keeps tripping you up (your weaknesses and limiting beliefs).

But this isn’t exploration just for the sake of greater self-awareness.  No, indeed! This week is all about understanding who you really are—without all the shoulds, have tos, old baggage, and false modesty—so you can have a breakthrough year.

It’s really this simple:  When you live your values, life gets a whole lot easier. Situations that used to befuddle you are suddenly clear.  Circumstances that once kept you stuck and drained your energy no longer have a hold on you.

Here’s the thing:  there’s a lot of confusion about what a value is—and is not.

Values are not something you want or would like to have; they aren’t something you think you should want or have.  Instead, a value is something you need to be whole.  When a value is expressed in your life, you’re energized and feel most like yourself.

During Week #4, we’ll continue our exploration of Who you are.  We’ll do a deep dive into your values to better understand what’s most important to you.  If you’re like most, there will be some surprises!

How is this done? Beginning with an assessment of 500+ values, you’ll follow a three-step process to identify your 10 To Live By— those ten values that, when expressed, make you feel at home in your skin, at peace in your mind, and as if your life is fully lived.

While identifying your values is a significant starting point, the greater payoff comes when we pinpoint the gaps where you’re not living those top 10.  We’ll be spending our next 4 weeks making sure your 10 To Live By are front and center and have a starring role in your next 365 days.

One of the most common pitfalls around visioning is holding back, thinking small, and limiting what’s possible.  We’re going to be guided by the words of Robert Fritz, “If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise.”

Week #5 is not about compromise. Instead, I’m going to support you in stepping into your Bigness and imagining a future that inspires and motivates, that puts a spring in your step and a gleam in your eye.  That really lights you up.

It’s only by having a complete and compelling picture of the vision you have for your best life that you can plan and act accordingly.  When you don’t have a clear vision, it’s like driving a car without knowing where you want to go. You might see some really cool places along the way and have some great experiences, but you also might go in circles and end up nowhere.

Week #5 is all about the big picture of what matters most to you.  It’s about dreaming grounded in reality.  It’s about what you want your life to become—not what it is today.

Interestingly enough, as much as you may want things to be more, less, or different in your life, it’s not always easy to craft a vision of your ideal future. But I promise you this:  articulating what you really (really!) want is the first undeniable step in making it happen.

Don’t worry.  I won’t simply ask, “What’s your vision of your ideal future?” and set you loose.  That’s too open-ended, scary, and amorphous.

Instead, you’ll be guided with a series of thought-provoking explorations designed to spark your thinking, but with a proven structure to make your dream a reality.

The short and sweet of it is this: It’s time to stop wasting another day without clarity, direction, motivation, and focus.  Instead, it’s time to set goals that reflect what matters most to you so the next 365 days are your best yet.

Many are very good at dreaming and wishing, but dreaming and wishing is not goal setting.  More often than not, dreams and wishes go unrealized when they’re not coupled with corresponding goals.

It’s really this simple: In order to have your dreams become a reality, you’re going to have to effectively set and manage goals.  This week you’ll set goals, and next week you’ll learn a powerful process for managing them.

Using the exclusive What Matters Most 365:  Life By Design™ process, during Week #6, you’ll generate 24-50 meaningful, motivating, stretch goals.

Don’t be intimidated by those numbers! Once you master SMART, SMARTER, DUMB, and IMPACT, it will be a breeze for you to generate relevant and motivating goals.

But you won’t stop there. To strategically use your time, energy, and resources over the next 365 days, you’ll judiciously select your Power¹²—the 12 goals that mean the most to you, energize you the most, and will make the most difference when achieved.

The process began with the goal setting you did during Week # 6.  But once a goal is set, all the things that make it achievable—support, resources, accountability, and a plan of action—must be clarified in order to gain and sustain traction.  While goal management may not sound enticing, it’s the crux of whether you ultimately accomplish your goals.

During Week # 7, you’ll learn how to apply a powerful drilling down goal management technique for each of your Power¹².  Tactical Drill Down guides you in establishing smaller weekly and even smaller daily goals for breaking your big, juicy, Power¹² into progressively smaller digestible parts.

But this powerful technique doesn’t stop there. You’ll also become adept at identifying the support, resources, and accountability you need to achieve your goals as well as better understand how to leverage opportunities and mitigate threats.

Successful goal management using Tactical Drill Down gives you the best chance of success in achieving each Power¹² goal that truly matters most to you for a breakthrough year.

From there, we’ll summarize the information, insight, and inspiration of the last seven weeks to create your actual What Matters Most 365™ plan.  This blueprint of what matters most will serve as a quick reference and your compelling motivator and guide for your breakthrough year.

Finally, you’ll learn how to use the 4Rs, an effective and compelling method to check-in monthly and reconnect  with your Power¹², recalibrate as necessary, and recommit to what needs to happen to make it a breakthrough year.  The 4Rs will guide you in using the blueprint you’ve created as a springboard to consistently, single-mindedly, and enthusiastically focus on what matters most to you.