VISUAL CHAIN THINKING

Human beings prefera life of productivity rather than a life of endlesstasks with little accomplishment. When you carefully set yourgoals and keep them at the forefront of your mind, you work smarterinstead of working longer. You know that a life worth living comes froma life of balance.

In order to maintain that balance Jim Rohn offers a key technique that you can use inyour life to help keep you on the right track. This technique is called “visualchain thinking.”

Ambitious people see everything theydo—and every discipline they adhere to—as a link in the chain of eventsand actions that will lead them to their final destination. Every action andevery discipline achieved today is a link in the chain. Every action andevery discipline achieved tomorrow is a link. And every action and everydiscipline achieved in the more distant future is also a link.

Your direction, activities, and disciplines all make up crucial links in yourchain of success. When you can see that one thing affects everything else,when you come to realize that every discipline affects every discipline,when you look at your future as a chain that needs strong links all along theway; then you will build a reservoir of strength and courage that will serveyou well during the down times.

When you can see that every link in the chain will eventually lead you tothe things you want most out of life and to the person you want to become,then you will not grow discouraged, fearful, or impatient with today. Whenyou can see where you are going through visual chain thinking, even on thetoughest days, you will keep moving toward your goals because you knowwhere you are going.

Building your visual chain of thought begins when you have well-definedplans for your career, your family activities, your investments, and yourhealth. Your plans and goals are your visual chain. You know where you aregoing before you get there.

It is ironic how we all understand the importance of mapping out a strategyfor a football game or a basketball game. Not one professional team in theworld begins a game without a game plan. But few of us take the time tomap out such a strategy for our lives.

But it is important to make this sort of plan. Here is the first rule for yourgame plan of life: donot begin the activities of your day until you knowexactly what you plan to accomplish. Donot start your day until you have itplanned;and do this every day. “Reaching your goals is thefruitful result of discipline, not merely hope.”

Once you have mastered the art of planning your day, you are ready for thenext level. Donot begin the activities of your week until you know exactlywhat you plan to accomplish. Donot start your week until you have itplanned.

Just imagine what life would be like if you took time out every Sunday toplan your week. Come Friday, you wouldnot be saying, “Boy did this weekfly by. Where did it go? What did I do?” No, if you plan your week beforeyou start it, you will know exactly what you want to do, what you want toaccomplish, and what you need to work on. If you learn to plan your daysas part of your overall game plan for the week, the parts will fit much better.

Your days will be better. You will be more effective. You will be workingsmarter, not harder. When you have learned to plan your week, you have got toplan your month. Donot start your month until you have mapped out yourgame plan.

By developing and following your game plan, your days, weeks, andmonths all become part of a larger plan, a bigger design you develop, along-term view of your life, a visual chain. You will start gaining a greaterperspective of it all; because you are planning.

If visually seeing your future is new to you, if you have never developed agame plan before, here are a few tips. There are two things you need tounderstand before you create a game plan.

Number one: a game plan, a visual chain of your future, is like a spreadsheet. Instead of listing numbers, you list activities. It is like a “to do” list.

And number two: The technique of developing a game plan can be used fora single day, a single project, or a variety of projects that are happeningsimultaneously.

Here’s how you do it. First of all, you need to buy a pad of graph paper.

Game plans work best on graph paper. Take a sheet of graph paper andmake vertical columns corresponding to the number of days this plan is tocover. Then on the left-hand side of the paper, write the heading“activities.” Under this heading, list all the activities to be accomplishedwithin your time frame.

Let us say, for example, that you have got one week to finalize a marketingplan. It is an overwhelming amount of work to complete, but it is got to bedone. So break it down piece by piece. The best way to start is by listing allof the individual components on the left-hand side of the page. Some ofthese things will need to be completed before others can be started. Youneed to obtain your market-research results before you can determine yourtarget market. You need to know your target market before you can developyour marketing strategy. You need to have your marketing strategy beforeyou can create a budget for collateral materials, and so on.

When you break down the project piece by piece and deadline by deadline,you can be more effective in putting together the appropriate parts of thepuzzle—and in doing your own work while delegating the rest.

The final result of developing your game plan is a clear visual presentationof the tasks before you. This method is used quite often in business tocoordinate and develop projects of any length. It is the only way to see theentire project on paper and manage its progress. In addition keep your game plan in plain sight always. Your game plan will serveas a constant reminder of all you need to do to get to where you want to go.

If you are doing all you are scheduled to do, game plans are very rewarding.Day by day; week by week; month by month, you will see the magic ofyour dreams and plans turning into reality. You will have an incrediblefeeling of being in charge of your life, your surroundings, and your future.

It is amazingto dream a dream, plan for the dream, and then towatch your dream turn into reality. Here is what is really powerful aboutcreating game plans: you can see your future right before your eyes. So onthose days when your energy is sapped, your enthusiasm is a little low,your ambition isnot pushing you forward, and your attitude isnot on thepositive side, use your game plan to see how far you have come. Take thetime to visualize exactly where you are headed. On those days, it is yourdiscipline and visual chain of the future that will push you ahead. Peopleand circumstances may try to set you back, but your visual chain will propelyou toward your goals.

BY CAPTAIN SAM ADDAIH RTD