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.