Learning how to G.R.O.W - PART 4

Now is the time to get real.  It’s time for commitment, decisions, and determination.  You need to settle on what you will do and give yourself measurable targets to ensure your ultimate success!  You’ve done the work and gone through the four stages of GROW.  You’ve revealed your ultimate goal, explored the reality of the present situation and played with all the options. Now, you need to decide on your detailed action plan, what exactly you will do, how you’ll do it and by when.

First, let’s go back a step and look at all the options available to you.  Hopefully, you’ll have a vast selection of colourful creative ideas to choose from.  Run back through them all, circle the ones that leap out as your favourites and cross out any that don’t appeal or are too footloose and fanciful.  Trust your instincts with this and don’t allow for too much thought or procrastination.  You want to create a coherent short list that you can hone and refine.  

Once you’re happy with your shortlist I suggest you introduce some form of scaling to help you assess more closely the remaining options.  You could use a simple scale from 1- 10, or better still, create your unique scale, for example, a square symbol for boring, a star for exciting and a triangle for sensible!  I recommend post-it notes for this task, putting each of your ‘top options’ onto a post-it note, one by one and sticking them up on a wall. (Top Tip, you can purchase oversized A5 Post-it notes, I wouldn’t be without mine!) Group ideas into categories and use different coloured notes to help create a dynamic visual of pathways you could choose to follow. The big question is which path will you ultimately take? 

“The purpose of this final phase of the coaching sequence GROW is to convert a discussion into a decision.”

Sir John Whitmore

Don’t be in a rush, take your time as once you’ve chosen your path, you will want to stick to it and that’s made far easier if it’s the right one for you. Feel into all aspects of yourself to bolster your commitment and conviction that it’s the best way to go.  What does your head say?  Also, your heart and gut?  If all these 3 intelligent centres, head, heart, and gut, are aligned then you’ll have a much greater chance of success and the process will flow through you with purpose and joy, rather than feeling like a reluctant chore.

Once you’ve settled on what you will do, it’s time to seal your conviction with some healthy accountability.  You could start by writing yourself a letter, telling a close friend, or setting a regular reminder on your phone.  You might want to make your goal a SMART one and use the acronym to keep your goal, specific, measurable, agreed, realistic and timeframe.  If this appeals, you might also want to look up PURE and CLEAR goals!

Finally, how will you know when it’s done, what will it feel and look like?  How will you stop the inevitable self-saboteur from spoiling your progress? What are the obstacles, and how can you best be supported?  

If you’ve come this far and seen this process through with me over the past month, I salute you for your tenacity and dedication. I can only imagine the work you’ve put in will pay off and you will feel a renewed sense of direction for the years to come. If you feel that working directly with me would help keep you on track or offer you some renewed insight or opportunity please don’t hesitate to get in touch, it might be the best thing you ever did for yourself!

What is GROW?

G         - Goal (What do you want?)

R          - Reality (Where are you now?)

O         - Options (What could you do?)

W         - Will (What will you do?)