Years ago I heard Dave Ramsey teach on Entreleadership, years before the book, when he was just teaching his employees. This one thing on vision casting really stuck with me:
You must cast your vision every 21 days.
It seems repetitive and short term, but I really tested that idea out in the last year. I was at a point where I really understood my envisioned future and set it up where I would receive this email every 21 days:
On 2011-11-01 you wrote you need to:
– work on finding small companies & developing relationships
– improve the ways I can improve profit per unit, either through higher revenue or lower costs
– increase the market, or client base of companies.
– get more equity in both public & private companiesHow’s that going for you?
Those are the general topics I focused on consistently for a little over a year & today I have a larger network of business owners. My skillset for improving profit, revenues, and lowering costs are much improved. I know more ways to increase potential markets either through changing the goods & services offered, or causing more people to become potential clients. I own more equity in companies & the investment results are good.
Why?
No matter if you take this as an individual practice, or as a leader in an organization – we are all busy people. We need little reminders. Think of this:
- Church is once a week, or more, for people who really make progress on their spiritual journey
- Boy Scout Troops recite the Pledge of Allegiance, Scout Oath & Scout Law each time a meeting starts
- Most workout plans are twice or three times per week
- Most ongoing bills are sent to people about 2 or 3 weeks after a payment is made
In most of those, the people are not learning new stuff each time, they are refreshing or being reminded. Now think of your personal, professional, business, or organizational dreams …
How often do you get reminded of those?
We all Need Reminders
Moving forward, the email I receive will be changed. I have not settled on exactly what it will say, but it will fit with the current envisioned future that my wife and I are working on now, as a part of our RT;DP process; Â we try to do that process each year.
I receive the email early in the morning Tuesday morning.  Three weeks for me means I don’t expect it – as I would a weekly reminder – but I also am not shocked by it when I see it on a Tuesday morning.
It makes me pause long enough to remember what I am really working towards right now.
Getting Started & Other Reminders
When I first started out with that email, I actually forced myself to read over that list a few times a day, then every day, then a few days per week. I was actively trying to keep myself focused on those few things. I needed the reminders more frequent than every 3 weeks. Now, every 21 days is not too little, but also not too much. It acts as a surprise, but also not brand new.
I can also expand on those four items into a whole list of things, ways, tactics, strategies, etc that I’ve tried or will try. The list is short, but mean so much more to me.
One more System
A few months ago I started working on a new system. This one was to keep me focused on the most important tasks for today and this week, but also help me relax and both not work all the time, and see that I was making progress. Each week I write down the top 6 items for my week. Most days I also write down the top 6 items for the day. You can read more about that in my post titled Top 6 to Achieve Your Dreams on AllyNation.
I could see my new email having 6 items, with two of them being taking care of my family & taking care of myself because I need those reminders too.
