When we look back at our life growing up, it's filled with a lot of memories. The first day we went to Kindergarten and then Elementary School, the first day we went to High School, the first day we went to College or a Trade School, the first day we got our first job. But what is more important...those first days or our last days?
Those last days are our milestones. Those were days we had celebrations and parties. The day we graduated Kindergarten, Middle School, High School, College, Graduate Schools. Those graduation days were milestones in our lives that we looked forward to, that we worked towards. Graduation is not an end of a journey but the beginning of a new one.
But then something happened... Once our schooling and education ended, it seemed that our graduation days ended as well. I would like to suggest that it doesn't have to be that way. What if we could just insert new graduation days into our lives like when do you want to graduate from your business?
I posed this question the other day to a client. They owned a Home Service based business. He was still spending his days in his truck servicing his clients. So I asked him when does he want to graduate from being a technician in his business? When does he want to graduate from being the manager of the business? When do you want to graduate from working full time in the business and not having to show up every day?
For him, these were very empowering questions. He set a goal for himself for when he wanted to graduate from being a technician. That was a year and a half, almost two years out. I then asked him how he was going to celebrate that graduation day; how would he celebrate it with his team and family. Graduation days just don't happen by themselves, you have to work for it...you have to earn it.
He next had to determine what he had to accomplish to make graduation day a reality. The secret to turning our graduation days into reality starts with understanding who do we need to become in order to do that?
When we look back, the journey that took us to our past graduation days changed us. We became better, we became more. The same will happen here. But it will take more learning to become a better manager and better leader.
He's got to learn those things in order to reach those graduation days. He needs to grow into the person who will achieve those goals. He has to learn and grow so he can achieve more because he has become more. He has to define who he needs to become to graduate out of the truck, out of being a manager, out of having to show up every day.
So what is your next graduation day and when is your graduation day?
Whenever it is, you need to make sure that you are in that process of building "you". The faster you can build "you" then the faster graduation becomes a reality. Planning for your graduation can be a lot of fun. Imagine how he's going to feel when he, his team, and his family celebrate his graduation from being a technician in the business to being a full-time manager and then an owner who doesn't have to show up everyday? That's going to be a pretty cool day, isn't it?
If you need a plan to help you get to your graduation day, schedule a free strategy session, and let's discover the possibilities together.
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