Step 8: Making Adjustments
Sailing to your destination
Inlet with Sailboat, Maine (ca. 1913-1915), Maurice Prendergast. Source: Artvee.
Leading with Steady Action
Are you feeling adrift?
A song is ringing in my ears this week: Gordon Lightfoot’s Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Fifty years ago this month, the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior due to a perfect November 1975 storm called the “Witch of November.” My local radio station and newspaper covered this story in detail, bringing the tragedy alive for me.
Edmund Fitzgerald, 1971. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Speaking of being on the open water, sailing is a popular metaphor for describing the difficult-to-see process of personal and leadership development.
Thinking of myself as a sailor (I'm putting on a sailor hat in my mind), I'd want a deep understanding of sailing and of my particular sailboat. I would want to take time planning my route, studying the conditions, and gathering my resources.
By the time I would set sail for my chosen destination, I'd be prepared for the actual journey. I'd know how to read the weather and when to adjust the sails so I could go where I want to go.
As a sailor, I wouldn't expect smooth sailing. No sirree! I would seek experiences that challenge me. I would sail not to be safe and secure but to feel alive.
Writing through this metaphor is clarifying a couple of things:
We learn through experience, so preparing for a challenging sailing route would include sailing (maybe with a mentor), not just planning.
The destination, a route, and resources are all to be decided before departing.
Sailors may be risk-takers, but they prepare for the risks.
For a closer look at the sailboat metaphor, you can go here.
Sailing toward the finish line
What you're reading is the second-to-last in this year's series of ~monthly communications meant to help you reach your desired destination as the year comes to a close.
Read on to see an activity designed to take you through the next step: seeing where you are relative to where you said you wanted to be by the end of the year. The activity takes the progress results you recorded last month and evaluates them against your goal (note: you can still do this activity without having done the one before it). Completing the activity below should illuminate some adjustments you can make, whether that involves tweaking your actions or modifying the goal. Or it could be something else altogether! Either way, this should help you find some closure on this goal by the end of the year.
Activity: Evaluating results and adjusting to finish strong
Evaluating your results can be done by answering a few simple questions. I’ve included my own answers as examples.
#1: What’s your personal development goal (where are you trying to be by the end of the year)?
I want to end the year with a deeper creative connection than I had last year.
#2: What was your plan for getting there?
To be more creative this year, I set out to do three main things:
go to the theater for creative inspiration,
make creative spaces in my home so it’d be easier to be creative at home, and
actually do creative things like cooking and making music and art.
#3: Where are you now relative to where you want to be?
I went to the theater 4-5 times this year!
I added an art space in my home. My family uses it, too! I painted with watercolors last spring and now my kids use it all the time.
I started occasionally cooking without recipes and, since school started back up for my kids, I have been cooking quite a lot. I am also teaching myself a new piano piece.
#4: What is one adjustment you *want* to make to finish strong this year?
I want to attend a holiday theater production of A Christmas Carol.
#5: Finally, what is the very next thing you’d like to do to achieve that?
The very next thing I would like to do is check the theater's website for tickets and find 1 or 2 dates that work. Which...I just did. Done! Next, narrow down to 1 date.
Well, that was fun. At least I thought so. I hope you enjoy it, too.
Metaphors can feel abstract and this activity may not fit for your situation. I'd love to help connect the dots.
A leadership tip
The absolute best tip I can offer anyone interested in leadership development is to prioritize the connection you have to your Self. Here are three ways to give that a try. These are not the only ways!
Observe how you’re spending your time. Log your time use over several days. After those few days are up, look at the log and let it sink in. Chances are, you’ll see an opportunity to make a small adjustment to your activities. Laura Vanderkam has a time tracking spreadsheet but if you click that link, prepare to go down a rabbit hole. Maybe just create your own.
Ask someone you trust to describe you when you’re at your best. Give them some time and space to reflect on it and don’t be afraid to nudge them to give you more details than they might initially.
The Best Self is also available as an exercise, if you don’t mind throwing down some dollars toward this activity. The University of Michigan’s Center for Positive Organizations developed the Reflected Best Self Exercise. Here is a link to purchase the exercise as an individual. Note: I’m not affiliated, but have seen this used in some MBA programs.
