Teach Jim.com

Building your business is extremely hard work. Some of the hardest work you will ever to.  It is critical you protect your capacity to produce.  Maintaining balance in the four main areas of your life (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual) provides you the power you need to face the challenges. You and I need daily fortification and strengthening in each area.

PREFSS Provide Protection

I have set for myself a minimum daily requirement I call my PREFSS.  PREFSS are the preferred activities of each day required for health, personal growth and overall well-being.  These activites provide the strength you and I need to perform the difficult and demanding duties of each day.You will want to find your own personal preferred activities to set as minimum daily requirements for you.

My Personal PREFSS Are:
Pray/Ponder – Morning and evening formally and throughout the day, informally, in our heart as I feel the need.
Rest Rise/Retire – Rest is vital for rejuvenation.  Too much sleep leaves me droggy.   Too little, I’m on edge or without strength.
Exercise -Brain over body through physical exercise for strength, flexibility and cardiovascular fitness. The exercise of control my actions (like eating the wrong stuff) adds strength of character.
Follow – Follow my gut, my intuition and my mentor in my daily actions. I strive to choose my course of action based on how I feel. Usually the cumulative results are amazing AND I “feel” good about my choices!
Study – I study the scriptures and sacred rite for strength, learning and edification. I also study “good books” for further development.  I try to spread my study between depth and breadth. Depth in our area of specialty. Breadth in the classics of good literature to make us whole, balanced and well rounded.
Service – Service with sacrifice is the way good works get done.  This action helps me get out of my selfish ways and consider the place of others.

These PREFSS are my preferred path for me each day.  Yours will likely be different.  Make sure your daily preferred actions touch each of the primary areas of YOU.

Track Daily Performance

I use a paper planner to track daily my performance in each of these areas.  While each day all these items may not get accomplished, I can quickly see if a few days are missed.  When this happens, I get focused and make sure the missed item is completed today.  The paper planner gives me a readily visible way to hold myself accountable.  Works for me.

You and I will protect our capacity to produce as we make our PREFSS the daily minimum standard for our activities.  Remember to assure your PREFSS cover each are of YOU (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual).

My PREFSS server me well in maintaining my health and personal development while I work hard to build the business of my dreams.  I hope you find the activities you need to maintain your capacity to perform and produce at effective levels.  Remember establish your preferred activities and make them the your daily minimum standard.  Track your actions make this the habit for your character development.  It makes the difference!

Planning 4ME is my personal planning mechanism for excellence.  The 4 M’s are Mission, Movement, Maintenance and Mistakes.  The “E” in ME is for Excellence.  Through consistent planning and performance while learning from mistakes provides a pattern for my progress.  I hope this will help you stretch for excellence also.

Planning 4 ME – 4M’s for Excellence

Please help me improve my process. I look forward for your comments.

Best of success,

Jim

With our Mission in Mind, We are ready to plan the “movement” desired
for progress this week as we Ponder, Plan, Project and Perform.

It Looks like this:

1. Ponder: I initiate the movement phase of my planning by pondering where I’d like to see myself at the end of the week. I cycle through each of my roles and picture what the end of the week is like. Each project is also considered. What is the next step to move it forward.

2. Plan: With the desired results in mind I examine each Role in my life and establish or review the Goals I have for that role.  With each Role/Goal combination I record the ‘Next Action’ needed to make progress?”  That item is added to the to do list and prioritize highly.  Next I ask “Is there something needed in this role?  If there is I add it to the list but with a low priority. Each role can only have one or two High Priority items.

3. Project: Next, I look at all the high priority items and manage them as a project manager.  I look at their needs for resource and the best time and context for delivering on them within the performance periods of the day.

After looking at the priority items through the eyes of a project manager I try to foresee barriers and walls by projecting into the future the risks associated with each item.  Here I formulate plan “b” type actions or end around the walls or how to blast through the walls (barriers).  Additional action items, like communicating to additional stake holders or including additional players come into the to do list in this process.

I share my prioritize list of action items for the week with my accountability partner/weekly Game Plan Mentor.

4. Perform: The rest of the week I work off the prioritized list for each role while adjusting what I’m working on based on context. Context being the physical location, the time available, the energy level and timing for others involved.  At any given moment I tend to work on the prioritized list but only as it is effective in the context of the day.

At the end of the week and sometimes sooner I get with my accountability partner and assess how I am doing on the prioritized list of critical items. In some areas if the goals for that area are obtained easily and there is extra time for that role/goal the next items on the list are ready to be worked on.

The prioritized plan for the week in each Role/Goal area drive continual progress in each area.  It feels good to be doing so many worthy activities daily.  The feeling of increased control builds confidence in my ability to do the things that matter most.