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TUYL
IS EASY-TO-UNDERSTAND INFORMATION about the dimensional level of
consciousness. Understanding this replaces limitation, judgment, frustration
and stress, with respect, compassion and serenity. Included will be
how the Law of Polarity conditions and limits the brain, and how to
gain dominion over brain function. With this knowledge, you can increase
your capacity and effectiveness, enjoy creative freedom, and add your enlightened frequency to the collective consciousness.
This is our legacy...
“Any
manager's job is to take control of the resources available and to use
them efficiently.
The first and most important of those resources is his own time and
talent."
Peter F. Drucker
Introduction:
This installment teaches the left-brain process of Managing and
Sequencing Intention. As such, it is the basic process for effectively
organizing and sequencing all intentions, activities and agreements
into a time flow that supports efficiency, excellence, integrity and
grace. When you are finished, you will have a strategy to realize your
vision and fulfill your goals.
Without effective, self-honoring right- and left-brain function,
you:
- Endure
confusion and conflict, which undermine your security, functionality
and stability, especially during complexity and pressure, when you
most need them.
-
Compromise your wisdom, creativity and precious resources.
-
Render your brain a modestly functional, even dysfunctional tool for
survival, resolution, creation and fulfillment.
-
Often feel inadequate with making decisions, and sometimes regret
your choices.
-
And more...
With
Managing and Sequencing Intention, you begin by emptying your mind of
all your personal and professional everyday activities and special projects;
then organize them into a time sequence that upholds your stability
and integrity. It is called a CPM - Critical Path Method, and utilizing
a CPM is like tuning your life like a Rolls Royce engine: You can feel
a Rolls moving down the street, but you can't hear it, unless you listen
closely enough to hear its purr. This distinction results from high
values, precision, and a commitment to develop and maintain it according
to design. A stellar model!
Some
people use lists to keep track of intentions and agreements. This is
minimally effective because a list neglects the reality of time.
But a well-designed CPM employs the context of time to transform a to-do
list into a self-honoring strategy for living. It harmonizes goals and
new projects with your on-going activities, then lets you preview the
possible effects of making changes and adding new projects. If you see
conflicts, you can make adjustments. This way, you eliminate the disruption
and loss that result from disorder, interruptions and mistakes, and
using it wisely, provides flexibility for unforeseen events.
Consider
your CPM as your mind. Before you developed it, everything on it was
a jumble in your mind, or a list at best. Then with all your ideas,
agreements and intentions transferred to this two-dimensional context
of time, everything is arranged before you, like a well-orchestrated
symphony.
A
CPM will improve and even transform your life, especially if you procrastinate,
take on too much, feel overwhelmed or tend to be forgetful or late.
Use it to:
- Organize
your life into an easy flow.
-
Organize yourself through periods of change or high-level activity.
- Develop,
plan and integrate new projects into your flow.
-
Organize the activities of your job.
-
Organize and coordinate events, or small group or team projects.
-
Organize and coordinate family activities.
-
Teach your children to use it and enhance their mental capability.
-
Bring more clarity, security and integrity to everyone involved.
Do
this activity when you have a few uninterrupted hours. Once you faithfully
use a CPM, you will feel clarity and relief, and wonder how you ever
managed without it.
Note: You need 1 1/2" x 2" post-it notes (not bigger),
and a 2' wide x 3' high poster board, which you can get at an art store,
or the school and art supplies section of your super market.
For a free example CPM, go to http://empoweringvision.com/site/90-Course-CPM-S.html.
Though designed for self-employment, this sample provides a visual to
follow. If you need a CPM for your business, see the note at the end
of this installment.
"The
first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face
and know them for what they are."
Marcus Aurelius
Step
1 - Managing Intention
In this activity, you will create a master list of the on-going,
regular and periodic activities and projects in your life, then prioritize
them into categories. Do the activity slowly and thoughtfully. You may
want to call upon a patient loved one for support with this activity.
Sometimes two harmonious minds flow more easily than one.
If
you feel overwhelmed or resistant, breathe, take a few moments to evaluate
the source of your discomfort, then do what will ease it. Or, do something
else for a while. Either way, when you are ready to continue, begin
by reviewing the answers to the questions you have completed; then continue
from the point at which you stopped.
Managing
Intention Activity:
1) Create a Master List. In a brainstorming mode, list the on-going,
regular and periodic activities and projects in your life. Include simple
activities such as balancing your bank statement, and large projects
such as planning a special event. Add everything you need acquire and
discard.
2)
Assign Initial Priorities. Within the time frame appropriate for
you, consider the importance and urgency of each item on your master
list, with these designations:
A - Immediate
B - Short term
C - Long term
Determine a date for each designation. For example, A could be 11/1;
B could be 12/15; and C could be 2/1.
3) Assign Priorities. Write the designated A, B or C priority next
to each item on your master list.
4) Create Categories. Create these four categories:
Household Management: Details of managing your life,
like paying bills, filing, making appointments and tax preparation and
auto and health maintenance, and picking up the cleaning.
Activities: Non-errand activities and events like
exercise, children and family activities, personal appointments, volunteering,
out-of-town visitors, vacations.
Career: Work-related activities, like meetings, trainings,
networking, and professional associations.
Special Projects: Periodic special projects, such as
a yard sale, a move, or an event such as a party or wedding.
Make sure you name these categories in accordance with the way you think.
For example, you might think of your work as: career, work, job, practice,
the store or the office.
Divide each category into A, B, and C sections, with A at the top, then
B, then C.
5) Transfer Master List. Transfer all items from your master list
to the A, B, or C section of the relevant category, stacking the As
together, then the Bs and Cs. As you transfer them, note the activities
that involve more than one step. You may want to divide them into several
steps. As you think of them, be sure to add new ideas to the relevant
categories.
6) Add Visioning Goals. Evaluate your Life Purpose Vision and/or
Current Vision (from Installment 8), and transfer goals to the A, B
or C sections of the relevant categories.
7) Set Completion Dates and Estimate Costs. As relevant, add approximate
costs and dates. Be realistic and gentle on yourself!
8) Transfer all items to a CPM. Do Step 2, Sequencing Intention.
"There
is only one problem,
namely our resistance to seeing things as they are,
or more accurately, seeing the wholeness as it is."
Willis Harmon
Step
2 - Sequencing Intention
The construction industry, with assorted supplies, materials and
equipment for each project, must have materials on site right when needed,
not before or after. In response, someone devised the simple, brilliant
Critical Path Method for materials and cash flow planning. I then simplified
it for business and personal planning.
In this activity, you will create a CPM, and along the timeline,
sequentially place everything from your master list. (Refer
to the sample in the link above for visual support.) Remember, if
you feel resistant, ask a patient loved one to you to help you.
Sequencing Intention Activity
1)
You need a large format. Use a 2' wide x 3' high poster board, which
you can get at an art store or the school and art supplies section of
a super market. Plus 1 1/2" x 2" post-it notes (not bigger).
With your ruler, divide the board in half, vertically, by drawing a
heavy line or thin double line from the left margin to the right. This
is your time line - the "critical path."
2) Your categories will become tracks on your CPM: Household
Management, Activities, Career, Special Projects. At the left margin,
draw a one-half inch wide, vertical line, from top to bottom to create
a space wide enough in which to write your four categories.
3) Draw horizontal lines in both the upper and lower halves, dividing
then into two equal tracks, which gives you four tracks.
4) Along the 1/2" space in the left margin of the top track, write
"Household Management"; then write the other three below it.
5) Your CPM needs one (width) foot per month. If today's date
is close to the beginning of the month, begin your CPM on the first
day of this month, and complete it two months from that date. Or, if
today's date is closer to the end of the month, begin it on the first
of next month... whatever serves you.
Either way, write 1 on the timeline at the left margin and 30 at
the right margin. Place another 1 exactly at the middle of the timeline.
If desired, you can add 7s and 15s for weekly or semi-monthly divisions.
Also, place dates along the top and bottom of the CPM to provide an
additional visual guide. I always use pencil, for changing my mind,
erasing and keeping it neat.
6) Beginning with the Household Mgt track, transfer items from your
master list to your post-it notes, describing each item in abbreviated
terms. Write the completion date in the upper right corner, and in the
bottom left corner, write the number of hours you think each activity
will take. (Great for precision planning!) Then place the post-it notes
in the track, and at the appropriate date. Continue until all items
from your master list are transferred to all tracks on your CPM.
For projects with sequenced steps, place the post-it note designating
the first step at the date you will begin, and the remaining steps along
the same horizontal line, at the appropriate dates, ending on the date
you intend to complete the project. (On the sample CPM, see the row
of boxes above the timeline that illustrate the schedule for producing
a brochure.)
If desired, you can subdivide a track into several subtracks (see
sample) by drawing horizontal lines from the left margin to the right
margin. Subtitle them in the 1/2" left margin as appropriate. Use
my suggestions as guidelines and do what's best for your needs.
7) Every Monday (or the first day of your work week), review your
CPM to see what is in the week ahead. Coordinate with your appointment
book, and rearrange as needed. When you complete an on-going activity,
like paying bills, move it to the date on which you must next attend
to it. When you complete a one-time activity, place the post-it note
in the trash, and enjoy the feeling of accomplishment. When you think
of a new activity or agree to a new one, write it on a post-it note,
and place it appropriately on your CPM. Then as you get started each
day, quickly review your activities and respond accordingly.
8) Once you near the end of the first month, and need a third month,
use the left-hand section of your CPM. Keep items at a later time on
your master list, or place them on your CPM along the right-hand edge;
then move them accordingly when the time comes.
That's it. Enjoy your freedom!
Note: I wrote Managing and Sequencing Intention in 1985, for Empowering
Vision For Dreamers, Visionaries & Other Entrepreneurs, a business
course for supporting the success of healing and spiritual arts practioners.
The information in this installment was divided into two activities
- Organizing Your Business and CPM - Time Management, Using the Critical
Path Method. In the business context, they are essential to effectively
develop a vision or service into a successful, income-generating business,
or to reorganize or streamline an existing business, in harmony with
on-going activities. To learn more about it, order a copy at http://www.sacredspaces.org/weidlein.asp
© 1986,
2002,
Marianne Weidlein
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Marianne
Weidlein
is an author and transformational facilitator who combines a 35-year
background in human potential development, spirituality and self-employment
to help groups and individuals achieve success. Marianne’s greatest
areas of expertise include the self-mastery that leads to ascension,
and peak performance for professional success. Over several decades,
she has facilitated innumerable programs of varying sizes and formats
to thousands of people - individuals and partnerships - using her
own curriculum and techniques. 