But what I could miss is that I was scheduled to be at my daughter’s ballet performance on the evening of the 10^th, and that the following week, I am to make two major presentations.  Not to mention, this all comes after three very full weeks of meetings. 

The old me would have made a commitment to that date without assessing how it would impact me and those around me during that larger period of time.  Outlook was not good enough.

The solution was to go back to a paper tool. 

About 12 years ago, I found the Franklin Covey Yearly Fold Out Calendar.  This tool allows you to put all of the major events for the year onto one sheet of paper.  You can see your vacations, business trips, important meetings, birthdays, anniversaries, project due dates and any other key commitments that you are to make.  You can use your Life Plan and your Business Plan to help you fill it in.

The calendar can then be color-coded to show you at a glance how you are spending your days.  For example, on my calendar we use yellow for coaching days, pink for business travel, blue for ON-Time, orange for business development, and green for vacation time.  This helps me to make better decisions as I can see how I am investing my time over longer periods.

When you see the whole picture — the weeks before and after the date in question — you are better equipped to count the cost and make an informed decision. 

A few years back, I was coaching my friend Mike Hyatt through this tool.  As Mike will often do, he took a great idea and made it even better.  He created an Excel Yearly Calendar, an electronic version which we now use here at Building Champions.  Mike and I gave it away to our Experience attendees earlier this year and we want to offer it to you now.

Send us an email if you’d like a copy of the calendar.

I hope this helps you to make better decisions in the year ahead!

Related posts:

1. There is No Substitute for One on One Time
2. Your Perfect Week

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Yup, I said it all because I truly believed it all.  I was Saul persecuting and mocking all you Blackberry, iPhone, Twits… I mean Twitterers.  Then came last month’s Building Champions Experience.  Two things happened to me while I was there that forever changed my view on this growing social and technological movement.

The first is that I listened to my friend, publisher and Building Champions client Mike Hyatt, speak to the audience on the power of social networking.  Mike’s personal blog has more than 60,000 unique visitors per month and he has more than 40,000 followers on Twitter.  He started blogging long before it was called blogging.  The guy knows what he’s talking about.   He has been encouraging me to enter into this world for quite some time, but at The Experience I think his (and others’) strong encouragements really struck me.

I felt like I was the only person in the audience and that he was speaking directly to me, the biggest naysayer.   As he addressed the group, here’s how the conversation played out in my head:

MIKE:  “Harkavy, isn’t your company’s purpose to make a positive and lasting difference in the lives of people?”

ME:  “Yes, of course it is.”

MIKE:  “And do you not see that your coaching goes very deep with a select few, and your books go less deep but add value to the masses?”

ME:  “Yes Mike, I do.”

MIKE:  “And do you see how the lessons you have learned over the past 20 plus years as a coach could add value to even more people if they could just have easy and regular access to it?”

ME:  “Yeah Mike, I guess so.”

MIKE:  “Now Daniel, do you see that one of your primary functions as a CEO is to network?  And that you spend all sorts of time and money doing it in person or via phone each and every day, all around the world?”

ME:  “Yes Mike, I do.”

MIKE:  “Then Daniel, if all of this is true, why are you not adding value to the masses while networking with the world at virtually no cost from the comfort of your home office?”

Okay Mike, I get it!

The second blinding flash came when I met Sebastian from Germany.  He attended our Experience in Sunriver, Oregon because he read Mike Hyatt’s blog, though he had never met or talked to Mike.  Mike told his blog followers he was coming to our Experience, and Sebastian decided to book his international flight and register for an event being put on by a company he had never heard of!  Because of Mike’s blog we have a new friend and client…and now I have a blog!

The theme for my blog is “proactive and intentional leading and living.”  My desire is to share key insights and lessons I have gathered during my years in the coach’s chair.  I have learned so much by coaching many of you, and will strive to make this blog about sharing specific strategies and action plans to help you make the best decisions in your business and life.

Thank you for investing your precious time in reading what I have to say.  I hope it helps you to be more proactive and intentional.

From this day forward I am socially converted and attempting to network!

Related posts:

1. A Tip From a Beginning Blogger
2. Presents or Presence?

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