Aligning actions with priorities

In my last post, I discussed Professor Christensen's concept of "likeness" ... a personal sketch of who we want to become.  I then attempted to define (or outline) my own personal sketch.  Since then, I have refined it a bit such that the current version of my likeness ... or what I refer to as my sketch ... is defined as follows:

1. To be the person God wants me to be -- loving, kind, selfless, clean, and honest
2. To enjoy life's journey by striving to achieve my full potential ... spiritually, physically, intellectually, and socially ... and by helping others do the same
3. To establish and maintain meaningful, enriching relationships

To be honest, after creating my sketch, I felt a sense of liberation.  Why?  Because knowing what you stand for ... what the guiding principles of your life are ... provides a strong sense of security.  It helps you "see" what is truly important and what isn't.  It helps you know what to do, which leads me to the primary topic of this post.

In another chapter in his book, Professor Christensen talks about his third element of strategy ... how we allocate our resources.  One of the primary thoughts of that chapter is that our strategy is really defined by how we allocate our resources.  Professor Christensen shares the following quotes from Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel, and Gloria Steinem, to demonstrate this concept:

"To understand a company's strategy, look at what they actually do rather than what they say they will do." -Andy Grove

"We can tell our values by looking at our checkbook stubs." -Gloria Steinem

In other words, actions speak louder than words.  We can say that our likeness ... our priorities ... is one thing.  But if we examine closely how we allocate our resources ... our time, energy, and wealth ... we will have a much better understanding of what our current priorities are.

Take, for example, someone who says that their priority is to become a millionaire by age 40.  That may be their stated priority.  However, if we examine that person's life, we may find that he sits around on his couch all day watching TV, or surfing the internet. If that is the case, chances are he really doesn't prioritize becoming a millionaire by age 40. 

The point is if we truly want to obtain our sketch ... if we want to become the person we say we want to become ... we need to ensure that our actions are aligned with our "likeness".  Going back to the analogy that Professor Christensen uses about the likeness (i.e., an artist sketches out his masterpiece on paper before he goes to work), not having our actions aligned to our likeness is like watching a master artist scribbling outside the lines. 

There are at least a couple of things that we should take away from this discussion:

1. Defining your likeness ... drawing your sketch ... is not enough.  It is the first step.  It defines your priorities.  But then it is up to you to ensure that you implement that strategy ... that you become the person you want to become ... by allocating your resources -- your time, energy, and talents -- accordingly.

2. If your resource allocation is currently not aligned with your likeness, what should you do?  Well, my personal thought is that to correct this issue, the first thing you need to do is to start intentionally tracking your resource allocation.  For a week, keep track of how you spend your time each day.  It will be revealing.  Once you know where you are, you can see what you need to do to get where you want to be -- in a place where resource allocation aligns with your likeness.

Let me close by sharing some other key points mentioned by Professor Christensen in his book.

First, there is a common thing that make it difficult to keep our actions aligned with our likeness.  This common thing is our natural tendency to have instant gratification.  Many people invest their time in activities that produce immediate results ... or immediate feelings of satisfaction ... whereas in most cases, things that matter most take time.  For example, successfully raising children is a long-term venture.  It requires trading off instant results for long-term results. 

Second, in life, we all "run" multiple "businesses."  We have our careers, our family life, our friendships, etc.  As we consider the concept of resource allocation, it is important to apply it to how we allocate our resources a cross our multiple "businesses."  There will always be a temptation to invest in our careers (over our other businesses) because it produces what was discussed in the last paragraph ... instant gratification (i.e., tangible results in the form of salary, completed projects, etc.).  However, neglecting our other businesses can result in proverbial bankruptcy very quickly.  It will be easy to say that our families will always be there.  But will they if we constantly starve them of our time and energy???

To summarize, take the time to align your resource allocation with your likeness.  If they are not aligned, you either need to redefine your likeness or re-think your resource allocation decisions.  Resource allocation is a great measure of whether we are heading towards or getting farther away from becoming the person we want to be.

Defining my purpose

I just finished reading "How Will You Measure Your Life?" by Clayton M. Christensen, a professor at Harvard Business School (and also a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). 


In his book, he demonstrates how the theories (concepts that explain "what causes what") can be applied not only to our careers but also to our personal lives. [Remember that Professor Christensen is deeply entrenched in the theories that explain which companies succeed and why.] This blog captures my thoughts on the principles and concepts that he addresses.  It also demonstrates the application of those principles and concepts to my own life.


In the Epilogue of the book, Professor Christensen discusses the importance of establishing a purpose (both for businesses and personal lives), and explains that a purpose is comprised of three things: 1) a "likeness", 2) commitment to that likeness, and 3) a metric ... to measure our success to achieving our likeness.

Likeness

So, what does he mean by "likeness"?  Professor Christensen demonstrates by example.  He asks the reader to think of a master artist and how that master artist will sketch out (either in his mind or on paper) a "likeness" of what his masterpiece will look like.  Said differently, the likeness is the sketch of the person that we want to become.  It is an outline.  It is what we use as the model for the creation of our masterpiece.


With that said, who is the person that I want to become?  I spent a bit of time this morning trying to answer this question.  I started by trying to answer some similar questions:

• What do I want my legacy to be / how do I want to be remembered?
• What are the guiding principles in the following four aspects of my life ... spiritual, intellectual, physical, social?
• How do I NOT want to be remembered?
• What does God want me to become?

 After pondering those questions and jotting down my "snap" answers to each, I was able to summarize my preliminary "likeness" in the following three points:

1. To be the person that God wants me to be: loving, kind, selfless, and honest
2. To enjoy the journey by helping myself and others reach our full potential … spiritually, physically, intellectually, and socially
3. To establish and cultivate lasting, enriching relationships with God, my wife, family, and friends

Of course, this is my first pass at articulating my likeness; so, I'm sure it may get refined along the way ... especially when I start thinking about the second ingredient of purpose -- commitment. 

But before I move on to that, let me jot down a few other points that Professor Christensen discusses about purpose.  First, we need to be intentional about defining our purpose.  Purpose serves as a guide for everything else in life.  It is a compass that helps us choose what to do and what not to do.  It serves as a beacon as we make decions about how to "allocate our resources" ... our time, energy, and effort.  If we do not choose our purpose ... our goals ..., then what is life really all about?

Second, once we have defined our purpose, we need to be aware that the world will come crashing in trying to disrupt it.  Don't let that happen.  Revisit it.  Think about it.  Remember why you chose it.  If we aren't vigilant, the waves of the world will erode what we hope to become. 

I encourage you to think about your own "likeness".  What does the sketch of who you want to become look like?  But just remember ... this is not a "passing thought" exercise.  This one requires you to dedicate some time to truly think it through.  At the end of the day, if you don't have purpose (or vision), then what are you really doing with your life?

-Sean