Strategic Life Mapping
We spend a lot of time planning for our businesses, but what about planning our lives? Rob interviews Traci about strategic life mapping—a workshop her company offers that helps individuals who are at a crossroads figure out where they’ve been, where they are, and where they want to go.
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Announcer:
Welcome to the Overly Human Podcast, where we discuss all things human in the workplace. Because it's not just business—it's personal too.
Rob:
Happy New Year! I don't know about you, but the new year brings a lot of things with it. I know that it's the beginning of tax planning season where you're trying to wrap up the last year, trying to set new objectives. And we live in a culture that tries to set lots of New Year's resolutions, and I can't tell you how many times that I've already heard “new year, new me” from everybody.
But one of the things that I think can often get neglected is what are we going to do for us, what is our plan and how do we move forward? And my co-host, Traci, has a process that she puts her clients through called strategic life maps, and I'm really excited to get a chance to talk to her about that today.
And we're going to do a little series on this kind of topic over the next couple weeks. So let's go ahead and bring Traci in. How's it going, Traci?
Traci:
Good. Happy New Year to you. I cannot believe it's 2023.
Rob:
Yeah, I know. Those numbers don't seem like they really go together. I'll get there. I always do, but I will make that mistake. I'm not sure I've gotten used to writing 2022 last year so I don't know what we're going to do. Yeah, that's almost as important as what month and day it is anymore to figure out when I write it.
So let's start with the really basic strategic life maps—and for brevity, let's call it life maps from this kind of point forward—what are they?
Traci:
Yeah. Well, you've been through strategic planning for your company, whether you've done it on your own or through a facilitator, whether you've read a book about it, or learned about it in business school. It is a process that you take your company through to make sure you understand the mission and vision of the company. But not just that, how are you going to set goals that are going to move the ball down the field when it comes to taking your company to where you want it to go, scaling your company, growing your profitability, adding staff? Whatever it is, new lines of business. All of that typically comes out of strategic planning.
Strategic life map is all of that, but for your life. And it is such an amazing process to go through because it forces you, just like when you do an offsite with your company or a retreat where you're doing strategic planning, it forces you to slow down and think about your life from a 360-degree angle, ask yourself some pretty serious questions that you typically don't take time to ask, or maybe you don't know you should be asking. And it's designed to help you really think about your life, make some decisions, articulate more clearly who you are. Not to make things overly structured, or overly planned, or to hold you to some stringent set of goals, but it's really designed to help...I mean, I don't know a better way to say it, but to heighten your self-awareness, and get into your psyche a vision of what you want for the future.
And the power behind that is that then you're able to let go. So planning, and I see this over and over again for companies, is that planning really doesn't strap the company, it actually sets the company free. And I find the same thing happens to my clients who go through a strategic life mapping process that rather than strapping them down or tying them to certain things, it kind of sets them free. They know who they are, they know what they want, and they can let go of this kind of crazy busyness for busyness’ sake. They become more present and productive. And that's really the goal of Strategic Life Map.
And I mean, we just opened up talking about how it's a new year, and I think the reason why we typically start January with this fresh perspective is because we've taken a little bit of a break over the holidays, and we kind of almost reset our hope meter. We're going to the new year and think, "I'm going to be hopeful about this. I really want this year to be better than last, or I really want to change X, Y, and Z." And we laugh because a lot of that doesn't stick because we frankly don't know how to make it stick. And this process really helps get you there.
Rob:
Yeah. I mean, how many times have either one of us said that hope isn't a really good business plan? So it sounds like what we're talking about though is taking a real intentional step towards understanding what was, what is, and a vision for what will be, right?
Traci:
Right.
Rob:
It's almost a little bit of the three ghosts, the Christmas story kind of deal coming from that season.
Traci:
Yeah, exactly. And I think that's really kind of a great way to introduce the structure of it is we're really looking at how did we get to where we are today, and who are we today, and then where do we want to go? And I think the Christmas Carol does a great job of that. And usually in that story, somebody comes to a crossroads for a certain reason. And that's what I find with clients who come to me for this process is they've hit some sort of crossroads. It's like could be mid-career, it could be midlife, it could be that they've sold their company. It could be that they want to sell their company. It could be that they've gone through a divorce.
I mean, there's typically like this crossroads that has stopped us in our tracks a little bit, or made us feel a bit restless or discontent. And not depressed, but just sort of what's happening. And I feel like there's more for me out there and there's something else I need to get my arms around. I like to say that it's even better if you come before you get to that crossroads because everybody can really figure these things out and it will help minimize sort of the pain of some of those crossroads. But it's typically the crossroads that bring people to me.
And this is a great time to say, "You know what? You've been through all the predetermined mile markers in your life. You've been striving for a certain level of success. Let's take a pause and understand who you are today because it's not the same person you were when you were 22. And when you graduated from college or whatever.”
Rob:
Thank goodness.
Traci:
Yeah, I know. I mean, I guess in some ways. Physically sometimes I wish I could leap out of bed the same way. But I think mentally we know that we're different people, but we don't have the tools to articulate who that person is, and I think that's what this helps do.
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The Overly Human Podcast is brought to you by Navigate the Journey. Navigate the Journey comes alongside entrepreneurial companies, allowing them to get what they want from their business, their team, and their leaders. Learn more at navigatethejourney.com.
Rob:
So talk a little bit about what is the process. When somebody says, "Traci and Navigate the Journey, I need a strategic life map." What's the commitment? What's it going to look like? What is the structure of that process?
Traci:
Great question. So right now, probably the number one way to go through the strategic life map process is to come and do a session with me today one-on-one session. And we go through probably about 20 different exercises where we look at what got you to where you are today. And we look at some repeated patterns, some self-limiting beliefs, some labels that maybe were given to you early on.
We think about even generational influences. We look at the structure of your family growing up and what were some things that maybe you've carried with you that continue to trip you up, but we also look at the things that have helped propel you. So we look at what innately and naturally comes to you that you're good at, or that a perspective that you have. And we really wrestle through the good and the bad of what has gotten you to where you are today.
And then we do what I call a life compass where we look at what are your unique talents? What are the things that you are best at? And a lot of people who come to me are really just great at a lot of things, but that doesn't mean they should be doing all those things. We want to really zero in on what are you best at doing? And then what are your passions? Where do you like doing those things? What types of people are you drawn to? What are your hopes and dreams when it comes to using those talents? What brings you the most joy and motivates you?
And then we look at your personal core values. We've all done it for business, but have you done it for yourself? And then what's your purpose? What's your purpose statement? How can we kind of merge all those things together and really understand how you can have the most significant impact on a daily basis? And when I say significant, I mean in your own way. It doesn't mean it has to be big, it doesn't have to be a big stage. But even in the small interactions—which I think are the most powerful for us as humans—can you show up well?
And then after we have a really good understanding of that, we even talk about your health: physical, mental, intellectual, spiritual health. We look very, very deeply at your vocation. What is it about your work that you find fulfilling? What are the opportunities that you're wrestling through? And we really kind of suss those things out and we kind of look at a trajectory moving forward.
And then we design a vision statement of where you want to go and an action plan. Very much in strategic planning, we always start broad with our vision statement. So what is life going to look like for you when you're 75 years old? And then we hone it back in three to five-year, one year, and then setting rocks for the next 90 days.
And so it's a powerful process that forces you to look 360 at your whole life, and really understand that you're more than your work, you're not just your work. But that being said, you can live out your purpose in all areas of your life. And this is what really unlocks for people the ability to intertwine work within life and life within work, so that we are designing one great life as opposed to constantly wrestling between this work-life balance mentality where we have to separate things in two buckets, and we just get to visit one bucket at a time. And we feel pooled and we don't feel like anybody's getting the best of us ever. So this is really trying to break that cycle is going through this process.
Rob:
Yeah. And I think that's one of the big things that at least I get out when I talk to other entrepreneurs, other owners, is how do you tease those identities apart about you as a human and you as a business owner? And I think that there is good reason, especially early in businesses for those identities to start to intertwine a little bit and to actually be there.
But I think that one of the things that I've learned over the years is you actually have to untease those again to help make that next stage possible. And some of the people that I've talked to that have gone through this plan, that's a huge part of this is like, "No, no, maybe the most interesting thing about me as a human isn't that I'm an entrepreneur, but I've learned things from that, and they definitely are connected."
Traci:
Yeah. And one of the interesting things we've done with life map is that we have created a version of it that's specific for the entrepreneur, specific for the business owner. So that's where we bring in other tools that really help. One of the coolest tools we do is really helping you identify from three different personas, the type of entrepreneur you are. And then we're able to suss out from there kind of the right trajectory for you as an entrepreneur and as a business owner.
And I think Tom and I even know being entrepreneurs and business owners ourselves the traps that you can fall in, the squirrels that you can chase the shiny objects, and that's great. That's some of the beautiful nature about being a entrepreneur, but how can you vet those things out well? And then also how can you financially understand? And so we have a whole financial element that we also have added in that works really well for entrepreneurs or business owners where we really plan out financially what do you need? And then we have a time assessment as well. It's like, "Okay, if we're going to look at your life in time buckets, let's talk about how you're leaning into those different buckets."
And it's hard to understand unless you're sitting through it, but all the tools are designed to lead to breakthrough, to lead to aha moments, to lead to greater clarity. And to understand yourself as a human, but also yourself as an entrepreneur, yourself as a business owner. And how does that affect the other aspects of your life and your relationships? And then how can you design a future where all those things are aligned? Like I said, versus feeling super separate.
It can be such a valuable and wonderful part of who you are, so how can we make that work in all areas of your life? And so we're super excited about having these options and these other tools that we can pull in. We've created such a huge toolbox of different exercises that people can go through. So we try to customize it. It's like get a little intel on who you are and then just pull the right exercises to make sure you're getting the results you want on the backend. But that's been one of the interesting things is because we do interact in our client base is so full of entrepreneurs and business owners that we felt like we needed to really hone in and be unique in that aspect of our offerings.
Rob:
Hey Traci, what is your favorite thing about the Bureau?
Traci:
Community. I just love meeting people and then learning, learning from each other. How About you?
Rob:
Yeah, it's very much meeting people in some of the relationships that I have, including you and I meeting there has been a huge benefit to my company and my career, and just my own personal well-being. So that's a lot of credit to give to a sponsor, but in this case, it's actually true.
And if you haven't heard the Bureau, go check them out on bureauofdigital.com. They just released their 2023 event calendar with all their in-person events and over 50 free online events for members. Memberships are going up, so don't wait. Visit bureauofdigital.com.
Rob:
Yeah, that's probably a good segue to talk a little bit more about the results people can expect. What promises do you make upfront and what have you seen? What are we going to get out of going through this process?
Traci:
Well, for most of my clients, it's kind of funny because I feel like after going through the first process of how did I get to where I am today, that people have had so many aha moments. I've had so many clients say, "Well, that was worth it. I don't even need to go through the rest." Which is I think super interesting to hear because they haven't come necessarily for that part. They haven't really come to kind of wrestle through those things. But I think because we have so many tools, I mean, I have my master's in psychology, I'm technically a trained psychotherapist.
So there are elements of really tapping into your psyche in the beginning and really understanding your repeated patterns. And I don't think people are expecting what's going to happen, or what they're going to see or find out, and how that's actually going to help them in their career. And so that's a big aha for people.
And then I think the self-awareness piece is huge for people because most of us, especially mid-career midlife, we kind of know who we are. We know what we're capable of, but we have a really hard time articulating it. And so these tools give you the words. And so I think for people that's super powerful. They're like, "Oh my gosh, I knew I could do, I just didn't know how to say that or define it." And so that's super exciting for people.
So it's fun to see people getting out of it something that they didn't expect. They just expected that they were coming in to figure out their career next steps and walk away with a plan. And they do figure that out, but I feel like they get so much more. And so my goal and I set off from the very beginning of understanding what your pain points are and understanding what your needs are and making sure we meet those. And that's why we have a big tool toolkit that we can pull from different exercises to meet people.
So for me as a facilitator, my goal is just to connect the dots for you to make sure you get the answers you need to get. And so when it comes to results, I feel like I'm going to meet you there, but give you more.
Rob:
Yeah, I like that a lot. What about impact? So talk a little bit about…because one of the things that you've kind of said is you designed this process specifically for owners and entrepreneurs. What impact have you seen on the business that they represent after them as an individual goes through and unpacks all of this?
Traci:
Yeah, I feel like there's two kind of main things that happen. Because typically when owners or entrepreneurs or leaders are coming, they're trying to figure out what to do with the rest of their life, and how does their company fit in? And sometimes they're coming because they feel like they've fallen out of love with their company, they're not sure if they've outgrown, it's outgrown them. And so they're sort of wrestling with those questions and that's 100% normal. I kind of wish that so many entrepreneurs and business owners knew how normal that is.
And so what I usually see on the back end after they go through the process is they either realize they need to move on. I have one owner that had two segments of their company and he realized he really needed to get rid of one, sell one off, and just concentrate on the one that he loved. And so that was a process. I've had owners realize they need to sell the rest of their company to their business partner and start something new.
I've had owners who have fallen back in love with their company. They've realized that they're doing things they shouldn't be doing, and they're not using their unique and best talents. And so they get clarity like, "Oh my gosh, this is why I have so much angst is because I keep doing these things and I need to pivot back to what I love." And so they've fallen back in love with what they're doing and they show up a new human to their leadership team. And that's been super exciting to see.
So I've had different outcomes, but they've all been almost like, especially for people who realize they've been stuck in a rut, they realize they knew all along, but they just didn't know how to face the facts, or they just didn't know what to do next. And that fear of not knowing what to do next or that fear of not figuring out who they are, and where they can best use their talents kept them at a standstill.
And there's nothing worse than being stuck and watching life pass you by. And I think that's one of the reasons why we wanted to have this conversation now at the new year is don't let another year go by where you just are going through the motions, or you're just sort of letting life live you or letting your company live you. Life's way too short for that.
And on the flip side, life's way too long. You have a lot of life hopefully ahead of you. People are working longer, living longer, healthier longer. So we shouldn't put ourselves in these traps or these buckets and think that they're going to solve themselves, or work themselves out, and then wake up five years later and think, "What just happened? I'm exactly where I was five years ago."
And that doesn't mean you necessarily need to shift companies, but it does mean you need to grow. You need to become a better human and you need to be a better leader. And this process has that all wrapped into it is invest in yourself and figure it out and be a better version of yourself. And for some people, they want that, but they don't know how. And so this is kind of the how behind that.
Rob:
Very cool. And I know you've done a lot of writing about this and there's a bunch more information on this. If people want to do some reading or get in contact with you about this process, where do they go?
Traci:
They can go to navigatethejourney.com. They can reach out to me at traci@navigatethejourney.com. They can go to tracischubertbarrett.com. And as you said, I've been doing a lot of writing about it, and there's a book coming out, which I know we're going to talk about later, and we'll really outline the process for people as well.
Rob:
Awesome. Well, thank you. I appreciate you unpacking that.
I know next episode we've got our first guest where Carl Smith is going to join us, and we're going to talk about his process of going through the strategic life map.
Traci:
Yes, I'm so excited.
Rob:
Yeah, that'll be great.
All right, well, thanks, Traci.
Traci:
Thank you.
