We’ve walked through a lot of the Dreams & Visions process and should have some good data to work with.

Let’s review briefly:  1) we listed several items under 3 headings (”The one [or more] thing(s) I’ve always wanted to do or be”; “If I could, I would”; and “If there were no barriers, the one [or more] thing(s) I would do with the rest of my life is. . . “).  Additionally, we’ve ranked each item by placing a WOW beside the one that we are most passionate about; a WOW-1 beside the one we are next most passionate about, and so on until we’ve exhausted the list and ranked every item.

Next we’ve made a list of all our skills, abilities, talents, learnings and wisdom. AND, we’ve given thought to the one or two folks we would trust with our personal info and to be honest and truthful with us.

That brings us up-to-date with the process, I think.

Now it gets a little more interesting! 

Begin the next step by placing the skills, talents, abilities, learnings and wisdoms you have next to each item from your list of things you’d most like to do or be (from the first list under our “review” section above).

It should look something like this:

“The things I’ve always wanted to do or be”: 

1) an organizational development consultant - WOW

2) own my own O.D. consultant business (be an entrepreneur) - WOW-1

3) a “developing life purpose” coach - WOW-2

SKILLS, TALENTS, ABILITIES, LEARNING & WISDOM I possess:

WOW: (1) excellent communication skills; (2) ability to relate to a broad range of individuals, regardless of age or gender; (3) insight; (4) love of research; (5) growth-oriented; (6) process-oriented

WOW-1: (1) comfort working alone; (2) above average patience; (3) ability to seek advice from others more seasoned than me; (4) learned business principles and strategies over time.

WOW-2: (1) passion for self-discovery; (2) passion for teaching and learning; (3) strong perception skills; (4) passion for seeing women become all we can be

I hope the above example is helpful as you complete this aspect of the D & V process!

Now you should have a list of items that relate to what you are passionate about or have always had a “hankerin’” to do or be; a list of the skills, abilites, talents, learnings & wisdom you bring to each item and a ranking for each item.

TOMORROW, we’ll talk about what to do with what you now have.  What I call your “life-purpose map” or “destiny design map”.

Now it’s time to say something to the one or two persons I asked you to consider as your “accountability” partners. 

Actually, they’re not so much for accountability as for seeing things you don’t see!  I call these folks our “see the forest and the trees” folks.  Hopefully, they will enlighten us on ’stuff’ they see that we have in our life-bag of goodies that we don’t; haven’t or won’t see in ourselves (often we don’t or won’t see those things because of the old tapes we sort of automatically replay when we haven’t achieved the level of confidence we’d like to have or struggle to achieve).

Be ready to ask the folks we’ve chosen to sit with us as our ‘destiny-design’ partner.  Once we’ve gone through the rest of the steps - then you’ll be ready to employ the volunteer assistance of your partner or partners.

Enough for today!  This is quite a process and an exciting one at that - particularly if you’re facing a change in your work life through impending retirement; downsizing; outsourcing; or just a nagging desire to do something different in the 2nd half of the journey. 

I hope to add some Buzz Brief Stuff here later today.  I’ve found some great info among the “stuff” in my inbox and those wonderful little newslets (that’s what I call them) I get in my snail mail.

Have an AWESOME afternoon!

   Linda