Triple Threat Planning

This is episode 216 of the Empowered Team Podcast. Welcome to the Empowered Team Podcast, where we explore how to optimize your performance in career, sport and life. And now, your host, executive coach and life strategist, Kari Schneider. Hello and welcome to Mindset Monday. Here we are again on another Monday, and today I'm going to share the exact steps to execute what you really want to plan for and what will keep you on track. This episode is called Triple Threat Planning. So this is the thing that's going to not only make sure you get to those big goals, but make sure that you're not scrambling at the end to try and make a big push at the end of the year or make sure you're actually making progress every step of the way. So before we get to those exact steps, I'm going to tell you something that happened a while back. So you really get how this has worked for me in real life, not just in business, not just on the home front, but really bringing the big picture together. So when we moved back from Turkey, we're going back like 12 years ago. We moved from Turkey back into Canada. Paul and I did, and we were in the process, we're going to blend our family so his three sons, my daughter and baby on the way. You can get the big picture there. So we were blending our family. We needed to move my business that was in Winnipeg and my home was in Winnipeg all the way across Canada to London, Ontario. So we had this big move to do and. And then there was all the prep to get the business started and have the baby and all the things. So. So with Triple Threat Planning, what we do is we pick the big three. Now, as you can hear in this story, there were some big three that were coming our way really fast. And the big three in that year were really to move from Turkey to Winnipeg and then move from Winnipeg to London and create a home. Create a home that's for our family, our new family, our blended family. And another big, big one was to reopen my business. I was basically relocating a business and I was. I had lived in Winnipeg for a long time. I had a lot of connections, a lot of national level connections. Teams, athletes, orthopedic surgeons, you name it. And in London, I had none of that yet. I had to move the business and reopen the business. So I was number two. Another big, big thing was the baby on the way. So I was going to have a baby and I wanted to have this healthy baby and obviously integrated with our new blended family. So here we go, we have three huge things for the year and then it was a matter of how to execute that, how are we actually going to get that done. It was an insane time. And in the span of six months we ended up getting married. Moved from Turkey to Winnipeg to London, made three moves from Winnipeg to London in moving, two moves to get the house moved and the entire gym. My business moved and then we got married. We, in what order? We opened the business, we had a baby and all of that happened in a matter of less than 8 months. Blended our family. It was highly, highly stressful and at the same time it was highly needed because we needed to make an income, we needed to get the kids in school, we needed to have a family home base for the children, really to connect with each other further and bond. Now, the kids had known each other for three years. But what I didn't realize at the time is that this triple threat planning method that I now use all of the time is came from years and years of periodizing for high performance sport. And what we do, it's called periodization in high performance sport. And we work in a way that involves an annual plan and mesocycles and microcycles and daily plans and what they do, it's like a quarter or a season, there's objectives for each time and there's prerequisites to get to the bigger goals. So there might be a world championships that is a prerequisite for the Olympics or and if you don't qualify at the world championships, then you don't make it to the Olympics and all of these things that ride on one another, that this step has to happen in order for that bigger step to become reality. And so because I worked in that kind of system for so many years, basically two decades, and I made my planning for athletes, my planning for myself. All kinds of physiological and workout programs for not only Olympic level athletes, but people who are in demanding work like work lives then. And I've evolved it into triple threat planning for businesses, for families, for individuals, so that people aren't bogged down with the overwhelm of all the urgent things coming their way, all of the laundry list of emails and things to do and task lists and really boil it down to what is important. So this example of moving back from Turkey had me, when I reflect on it, I wasn't doing a triple threat planning methodology at that point, but what I was doing was implementing what I knew how to do, what I knew had to get done. And what I knew was really, really important to me. And what was really important to me at the time was my husband. We were newly married and we'd been together for about three years at that point. And my new blended family, which wasn't so new because we'd been together for a few years, but moving my business, which was really my purpose and mission in life, and having this brand new baby that was going to be an addition, really be a major part of blending our family as well. So all of this was really important to me, but there was so much to do that the level of anxiety, stress and uncertainty was through the roof. And I didn't want all that anxiety and uncertainty for my brand new baby that was in my belly. And I didn't want that for starting a business either. However, we had to find a way to get everything done. So I'm going to give you these steps of exactly how to execute and then share with you how it worked for us when we moved back from Turkey. So here's step one, you're going to pick your big three. These big this big three is going to be what you really what matters the most to you to happen for this particular year. Think of a year long span of time. It doesn't have to be from January 1st to December 31st. It can be from your birthday to your next birthday. It could be whatever you want, whatever span, but roughly a year. And it doesn't have to be a year, it could be a little bit longer. But that longer span of time where you know and you can see what is likely to get done in that amount of time and what's really important to you. So you're going to pick your big three. Now this first step has a critical question with it. Why are these three really, really important to you? What's your why behind each one? And step two, you're going to work backward from the big three in time. In fact, it's going to be in seasons. So the question becomes what has to happen as a prerequisite in each season so you could do this? A season could be a quarter to you. So if we were looking at the calendar year, you would have to know if you wanted to accomplish something by December 31st? Well, what has to happen in the fourth quarter? What has to happen in the fourth quarter in order to meet that particular goal and then work backwards? What would have to happen in the third quarter? What would have to happen in the second quarter? What would have to happen in the first quarter? So what are the major prerequisites that lead in in each season. So that would be working backward for each of those three big important things for you. And then number three, this is the last step. You need to know your key three. This is your key three for each season and then for each month and then for each week and then for the day. This key three is what you're doing for the now season. It's not going to be the season or quarter right before the end of the year. It's going to be the season you're in right now. But you can see what needs to happen for the remaining three seasons. For the rest of the time, you're just going to work within this particular season right now. So I'm just going to recap that you've got your big three goals for the year. You've got why they're really important to you. Make sure that that why is there. Number two, you're going to work backwards from those big three. Looking at each season, what's the prerequisite in each season in order to get to that final result at the end of the year? And then you're going to look at the last step is looking at what are the key three for this season right now, the one that you're in, what are the key three things that have to happen in this season in order to meet the next prerequisites that are coming up? And what are the key three for this month, what are the key three for this particular week, and what are the key three for this particular day? So that's exactly the structure. Now, if we look back at us coming back from Turkey, I knew what my big three were that year, and I hadn't done triple threat planning, but I knew that in order for us to have what's really, really important in our lives, then these big three had to happen. And the first one was moving from Turkey to Winnipeg to London to create an overall home and make sure that we've got our family blended. And that's what the why was. I was so in love with my family, and I still am, obviously. But I just knew that we had to set up the best possible scenario to thrive. In fact, it was so important to us that I was up uprooting my daughter from her school, her home and my business in order for all of our kids to be in the same city together. We didn't want to be remote parents. We wanted a blended family that was going to be in the same household, the same city, and be able to have a true family environment instead of just a, you know, weekend dad or. Or have those visits that are just kind of like vacations instead of a real family and real parenting. So. So that's why it was so important to have these big moves that were a financial awful decision, but a family huge, amazing decision. So that was the first one. The second one was to reopen my business in London. So I was basically sacrificing the connections, the establishment, everything that I'd built and created in Winnipeg before my husband and I were together and moving it and restarting it in the city that we were gonna have our blended. We were. This is where. Where we were going to have our. Our kids together. So that's where I was going to move my business. Now, when you look at this, it's clearly the number one reason is for the family. And that's why the second of the big three, moving my business is still really big, because it's my career, it's my purpose, it's my mission. What I did in my business at that time was everything around my mission. I was there to help people become their best selves, physically and mentally, and I had a facility to do so. So that part was my mission. Now, number three, I was pregnant. I wanted to have a healthy baby that integrated well with my new blended family. So that was the third of the big three. Now, what that meant is that all kinds of things had to happen along the way. But if I look in that particular season that I was working with at a given time, I needed to buy a home. We needed to. My husband and I need to buy a home. We needed to renovate the building for. Even to have the business in it. I needed to secure a new doctor. I didn't even have an obstetrician, gynecologist in that new city. So those are the big three that I needed for that particular season that I was working within at that time. Now, within the month of that season, the month I was in, we needed to sell the home that I had in Winnipeg. So I had to sell that home. We had to build a clinical space that was in the new building for the business. We needed to. I needed to research some childcare and get my oldest daughter into the same school that my stepsons were already in. So those were three big objectives of one month and then three big objectives of a week. Within that month would be things like removing wallpaper and painting the house that we were going into, moving the business from Winnipeg all the way to London, setting up a new workout or grocery routine in the new city. So now notice I Want you to see the parallels. I'm in a week, this is one week, but it's still serving that bigger picture. Remember what my big goal was? It was moving all the way from Turkey and from Winnipeg to create new home. Well, that particular week, removing wallpaper and painting is one of the steps for that week that was going to serve the bigger picture of that big move and creating a home for our family. And the second thing in that week, moving the business, the actual physical equipment and items from my business in Winnipeg all the way to London in that week, that was another thing that was in the big picture step of reopening my business in a new city. And then the third thing for that particular week was set up a new workout and grocery routine in the new city. Well, that's feeding into the bigger picture goal of having the healthy baby integrated with my blended family. Making sure that I was set up personally so that I had my personal health, wellness and routine set up so that I could consistently get the nutrition and the physicality that I needed for my own health. Now, if I go down to the day, the three things at the time were, you know, install new light fixtures in the house, set up the gym space once all of the equipment was moved in, and then lastly, take the kids to the park and tell them where babies come from. That was an interesting event, let's put it that way. So those are the things that were really key that needed to happen in order for the big, big three to come to fruition. So remember that sometimes the big things that you have going on are long ways away. They seem almost impossible, but the reality is, is that the things that are happening, the big three that are happening in your day are going to feed into it. The big three that happen in your week are going to feed into it, and the big three that happen in your month and the season are all feeding into those big three for your year. Now consider that with this kind of triple threat planning, that when you're very clear about why those huge three goals for your year are in your life, why they really, really matter to you, then it's easy to cull out the things that don't matter on the daily basis and weekly basis that are cluttering up your mind and cluttering up your life. If those day to day actions and week to week actions are not serving what needs to happen for that month, season or the bigger picture, then they're probably not important. They might seem urgent, they might seem like they have to happen, but they're likely not important. So try out this Triple threat planning. Pick your big three. Understand why they are so critical for your existence in the best life that you want to create. Understand why they are going to set up the future for yourself and those you love and those you serve in the best way possible. And when you really get that, then it's easy to work backwards and just pick the biggest three for each chunk of time that builds you forward towards your bigger goal. So let this serve you for your best life. Do it right now. Take out a pen and paper and start your triple threat planning. Just write it down and and follow these steps that I just laid out for you so that you can get clarity. Clarity is going to get you where you want to go. It's not knowledge. It's not execution on unimportant things. It's clarity. So you know what to do, why you're doing it, and where you want to go. Have a beautiful rest of your day and I hope this kicks you off into a wonderful week. Keep going everyone. If you enjoy listening to the Empowered Team Podcast, you'll love being on the Empowered Team. The Empowered Team runs year round. It is our group coaching and accountability program where we take mindset and physical performance concepts and break them down to usable action steps that optimize results. To learn more about our Empowered Leadership Coaching for business, our custom online physical training plan, and of course the Empowered Team Group coaching, head to www.theempowered.ca empowered learn more. That's www.theempowered.ca Empowered learn more.