Natural Planning Model or NPM: keeping yourself motivated through daily grind.

TUNE IN TO LEARN: 
 
Can the right kind of planning boost your productivity AND motivation for the mundane and boring? 
 
This episode dives into the powerful Natural Planning Model from David Allen's "Getting Things Done," highlighting how marrying visionary goals with actionable steps can skyrocket both your motivation and productivity.   
 
I share my personal experience and actionable tips to ensure you're always progressing without the dreaded overwhelm. 
 
Discover a comprehensive Strategic Vision Planning Model that aligns your daily actions with your bigger purpose.  
 
We break down the process into five essential steps, tackling the struggles superheroes face with mundane tasks of the daily grind.  
 
Build cathedral by inspired to lay bricks every day!  
 

Transcript

Natural Planning Model for Goal Setting

Speaker 1 0:00

Hey guys, and welcome back to another episode of your Brain's Coach podcast. My name is Angela Shurina, I'm your host, I'm your Brain's Coach and it is my job here to bring to you all the best, cutting-edge, recent, most important and effective brain-body work tools so you could take better control of your thoughts, of your emotions, of your planning and, most importantly, of your action taking, so you get closer and closer and closer to the vision of your life that you absolutely love living. Today, folks, as you probably have guessed from the title of this podcast is all about planning what's the plan for the week. I quote setting challenging but achievable goals leads to 90% better performance, according to some good statistics. So by setting goals, you will improve your performance. Also, they say that written goals perform 43% better. So when you write things down, when you measure, when you track, you know, when you apply all the best practices, you get a much bigger chance of actually making things happen and improving your performance by up to 90%. Planning, goal setting, celebrating milestones that boost your dopamine levels in your brain, which gives you more energy, which gives you motivation, which keeps you feeling driven and wanting to do things, especially challenging things and don't we all need this to move things forward, to keep putting action steps in place.

Speaker 1 1:48

Over the past weekend I've been reflecting on my business development, on my life development and how I'm feeling, how I'm managing my projects, and I realized I needed some other way of planning things. So I do feel motivated and driven doing the most mundane and far away from my vision, things like reaching out to 100 people in businesses to offer my services, to find those few who will absolutely love what I'm doing. I needed a way to plan things so it keeps me motivated, even when doing the most mundane things, laying those bricks to build the cathedral of the ground and to have a solid action plan which doesn't just inspire me but also brings the results, however small, and moving me closer and closer to actually building that vision that I only have in my head. And I think, till this point I had either or either fully connected and driven by my vision, or doing the work, but then feeling so demotivated and drained by the end of the day and the week that I would not be able to continue and had to redo something. And so I was browsing in my head, in my database of knowledge, different concepts of planning and figuring out how to organize my action steps. So again, so I consistently show up, so I do the actions in a way which will move me closer and closer towards progress and ultimately towards bigger vision, without having my head all in the clouds and chasing ghosts. That cannot actually become reality at this point for me, not yet right.

Speaker 1 4:01

So as I was browsing through different planning models, I remembered about natural planning model, which I first encountered, going through first time, going through the book Getting Things Done by David Allen, which it's not only a book but a world known system for planning, organizing and getting things done without overwhelm, without burning and crushing, but feeling this ease and peace and flow of getting things done and moving towards your vision, but not out of place of exhaustion, pushing, burning out and overwhelming yourself with too many things on your to-do list that you don't even see forest for the trees right. So I remembered about this model of natural planning model, and the reason why it's called natural is because we actually do it naturally for the small things at least, like planning your dinner. Do it naturally for the small things at least, like planning your dinner, and as I'm going to describe the model, you understand how it works for dinner and then we somehow forget to apply it for the biggest stuff where it could actually make a huge difference. So I remember that model and I got back to it because I was going through a new book by David Allen Getting Things Done Teams. It's getting things done with other people, and in this book David Allen goes into a little bit more detail at least that's how it felt in my head specifically on this natural planning model, which I'll describe in a minute and how I use it and why it's so good. Well, let's actually start with why it's so good.

Speaker 1 5:52

Natural planning model allows you to have a vision, to have grand goals for your business or yourself, for your life in general, but at the same time keeping your feet, keeping your footprints on the path. So you are making progress in real life, knowing what it's all for, building your cathedral, having the plan in mind, but then again, most of the time spending your time on the ground, where you can make a difference, where you can get results, progressing and learning and eventually actually having a chance to achieve that grander purpose and vision that you have in your mind. And I realized that might be a perfect system that I miss. That will allow me to feel motivated and connected to a bigger vision, purpose, but then also will keep me on the ground where the work has to be done, combining me doing progress on my life goals and my financial goals and my business goals, however mundane some actions will be required and then keeping my motivation, my spirits, high so I actually have the energy to also do the work, feeling on purpose, feeling mission-driven, feeling inspired. Don't we all need that? Sometimes you wake up on Monday morning and you feel like the to-do list I have is so mundane and so boring, so disattached of this bigger vision for myself that I have in mind, that it feels so demotivated because you feel I'm so far from where I want to be. And should I just give up on my dream and get a job and do the stuff that I hate, or should I just keep my dream and just keep failing? And is there a middle ground that gives you both? That gives you the vision, the purpose, the drive, the motivation, but also ensures that you're making progress in real life, taking care of your life, of people you care about and of all the stuff that needs to be taken care of in real life, from our bills to our commitments to other people. So natural planning model seems to be the answer, and it's been used by David Allen's clients all around the world for decades now. It probably works, and also it is a natural planning model that we use when we plan things like dinner. So what is natural planning model? It has five main steps.

Speaker 1 8:48

Let me walk you through Purpose and principles. Purpose why what you need to do right now. The project, or a few projects that you need to work on. Why do they matter? What are you trying to do and why are you trying to do that? What's the purpose? What's your why? How does it contribute to your meaning of life, to who you are? Just why do you do what you do? Why does it matter? Principles it's how you do things. What kind of quality do you commit to? How you're going to do the things you're going to do? It's like with planning dinner.

Speaker 1 9:33

For me, junk food is not an option, or cutting corners and compromising relationships, or compromising the quality of my work, or compromising the quality of my work Just not an option. I want to deliver great service. I want to build great relationships. While doing the work, I want to be proud of myself. So that is the principle, and there are quite a few of them that I wrote down while doing the exercise.

Speaker 1 10:02

So, step number one purpose and principle. Why what you do is important, how it connects to your bigger purpose, to who you truly are. And the principles what are the rules, the values that you're not willing to step over, what are the lines that you draw, solid lines that you're not going to cross? Number two vision. Okay, now we understand what drives us, what our motivations are, and the principles, the values that we hold that are guardrails that allow us to stay on the path that we are proud of Now. Vision to stay on the path that we are proud of Now. Vision what do you want to achieve in the next three months or six months, or maybe in your entire life? What's the vision? Where are you moving towards? Be bold but also descriptive. Know what there, what success looks like, how do you know when you're going to end up there and instead of chasing ghosts like what there looks like. So, whenever you are confronted with choices on how to implement certain milestones of projects, you know what to say yes to, what to say no to, because you have a very clear picture of the end destination. You know it's like when you buy a puzzle you have a picture to compare, so you know where each puzzle piece goes. And it's the same with our visions. We need to be very clear about, at least for the moment, about where it is we are going. So when we get a piece of the puzzle, we more or less know whether it goes there, or maybe it's a piece of different puzzle that we can just disregard, at least for now.

Speaker 1 11:58

Step number three brainstorming. Okay, now we have the vision, we have the purpose, we have the principles. What are all the ideas that can bring this vision to reality? But with brainstorming you don't want to be all that grounded in reality necessarily. You just want to get out of your head as many ideas as possible. How are you going to achieve this vision? What are the resources? What are the partnerships? What are all the different ways, sometimes very grounding, sometimes crazy ones that you've never thought of? Who are the people who can help you brainstorm? What are all the projects and things that you can do to make this vision reality, all the path to get you where you want to go? And then step number four, that's where clouds meet the road, or where your feet get back to the ground.

Speaker 1 12:58

Organizing Step number four time to get real. Okay, you have this vision for three months, six months, five years, seven years. But what are the projects for right now that you're going to commit to that will move you closer towards your destination and will also keep you taken care of? What is possible? What are some projects that have the highest impact or highest return on investment? What is possible for you right now? What are the resources, the help that you can ask for? What experience do you have? What knowledge do you possess? What valuable thing do you contribute to the world? What combines all of that?

Speaker 1 13:43

And organizing is the longest, the biggest step, because you need to bring all of these pieces together and then look also into each project, possible project in your head and actually break it down. Okay, what needs to happen? In what order? What are the resources I'll need? What are the most difficult, challenging steps and will I be able to make them happen? And maybe this is where I should start from the most difficult parts, and if I'm able to get this done, then the rest will be easier. Like, where you are standing right now, what is the highest impact, the highest probability of success from all of the ideas that you brainstormed in the previous step, that which will lead you towards your vision in however small or far away way from your eventual, or your end destination. So what are the steps that the projects that make sense to work on now?

Speaker 1 14:49

Organizing is again the longest step that will require you the most strategic thinking. So, by the way, this process best to do when your head is fresh and you have the clearest cognitive capacity. So for me, morning person that is usually morning before the day begins, with all of the problems and issues and then after organizing is done, the last and probably the fastest, the easiest step. Okay, now you chose a couple of projects or one project that you're going to totally commit to. Then, next steps what are the next steps that you can put on your calendar right now that will have the highest impact? That will either teach you something about how to proceed or that needs to put in the place first to make your plan a reality, your project a reality, right, what are the very few next steps? And put them on your calendar. Create a plan Like look at your week. Where are you going to put all of these steps? This is where you put what you created in organizing.

Speaker 1 16:10

Step to your calendar, where rubber meets the road, so to speak, and after that you should have a very clear but also simple point of action which has very good grounding in reality but also connects you to your bigger why, your purpose, your mission. And so, even when you have, again as a mundane thing like from my own experience, to do, emailing cold, emailing cold reach outs on different platforms to people. Even the most mundane thing can feel inspired and can feel motivated because you know what kind of cathedral you are building. Don't be just a brick layer. Realize that with this small, however insignificant and mundane step, you are building the foundation for the inspiring future, for the vision that you have, for your life and your impact in this world. So, natural planning model.

Speaker 1 17:19

And why is it like dinner? Well, if you think about that, when you have dinner you have a why, a purpose and principles. We are trying, for example, if it's just your daily dinner, you're trying to satisfy your hunger, to nourish yourself, and you have principles. For me, again, junk food is not an option and there are principles that my dinner has to be built on. Then the vision what is the vision. What is the blueprint for your dinner? What are we going to have right? What's the ideal situation, what's the blueprint?

Speaker 1 17:57

And then you start brainstorming Okay, what kind of foods can we try to put on our plate? Where are we going to get them? What are all the possible options and possibilities? So you can quickly run through all of that in a matter of seconds in your head and then organizing Okay, these are the options, but because of my maybe time availability, maybe time availability, different stores, seasonality and all the small things, I have a very specific plan that I can implement that has the vision, the grand purpose and principles in its design, but also grounded in my daily reality and what's possible now, also grounded in my daily reality, and what's possible now. And then you plan the next steps and you implement. So this is why this is natural planning model, which is applicable to our dinner, but just as applicable to our business, health, relationships and any other goals we might have. So a little bit more detail on natural planning model from David Allen, depending on the time horizon you're going to be planning for, meaning whether that's just a weekly plan or a monthly, or maybe you want to start with five, seven-year vision because you just need to have a more long-term understanding of where it is you are moving. Depending on that, you probably end the time available.

Speaker 1 19:31

You want to use either short or long version, like I used a longer version and you can even make it a longer version. But, as with any other plan, you know Mike Tyson has this saying everyone has a plan until they punched in the face. So you don't want to be planning too much, but spend just enough time planning. So you have some action steps, well-thought-through action steps, so you can get out there and test them in reality and get the punch in the face and plan from there right. Don't get stuck in the plan, because no plan survives the contact with reality. Realize that. You know it's been quite a journey for me to realize that. Don't spend too much time planning. It's going to change as soon as you start implementing. So you might as well just have a rough estimation and jump into that and figure out things from there, right. So short and a long version.

Speaker 1 20:24

I did the longer version, short version. The timing Purpose about 45 seconds. I used timer and I timed it. Principles 45 seconds, vision, two minutes. 30 seconds, brainstorming three minutes, organizing four minutes and then next actions one minute. That is a short version. Timing proposed by David Allen and Getting Things Done teams Long version Purpose this is the one that I did Purpose four minutes Principles four minutes. Vision 12 minutes. Brainstorming 15 minutes. Organizing 20 minutes and then next actions five minutes. The whole process takes an hour. Next actions five minutes. The whole process takes an hour.

Empower Your Vision With Natural Planning

Speaker 1 21:09

Again, the beauty of natural planning model is that it forces you to start exactly where you are with your feet on the ground, not in the clouds, but exactly where you are with all of your shit forgive me for my French and all of the imperfections, while keeping you incredibly focused and connected to your bigger purpose your vision that inspires, motivates and drives you, no matter how far your current action is from that big vision. Natural model planning allows you to remember why you started to leave and be that cathedral builder, not just a brick layer. So I hope now you are inspired and ready to plan, take that hour and go through all of the steps, from purpose and principles to vision, to brainstorming, organizing and putting next action steps on your calendar. And humbling task will allow you to feel inspired and motivated and, at the same time, making progress, making meaningful and measurable and trackable progress towards that big vision that you have for your life, your business, your service to others. So, out and over, have fun planning guys.

Speaker 1 22:48

If you have any questions, please do reach out Angela at brainbreakthroughcoachcom and share with other superheroes who might be struggling with getting those boring steps done which allow them to actually have a chance to build a bigger purpose, a bigger vision. So share the link from Spotify or whichever podcast player you have, or maybe screenshot and send that to them. And use natural planning model. Very often that's what I'm going to be doing for the next I don't know few weeks to maybe forever, depending how well it serves the goals. Natural planning model. Apply it, especially if feeling unmotivated, bored and unenthusiastic and just crushed and overwhelmed by the amount of work you have to do and how far away you are from your vision. Use natural model, natural planning model, to get the job done, however small and mundane, and invest into your bigger purpose and vision. So out and over plan, have an awesome week, inspired week ahead, and you'll hear from me very soon.