Jonathan Nation

Reflect, Thank; Dream, Plan

November 1, 2021 by jon

At this point, in 2021, my wife and I have been married for over 18 years. She is a medical professional & professor with a Doctorate. I advise leaders who impact thousands directly and millions indirectly. We have multiple business ventures. We produce a lot and help a ton of people.  We have elementary aged children, and would not have lasted together if it were not for a few of our practices we do monthly and annually. 

R,T;D,P started early in our marriage. Some years we are great, some years we sorta do it, and a few we have missed. Looking back – the years we do great are great. The years we miss … we would rather not talk about. 

This year, 2021, a book came out that dramatically adjusted this process for us, so much so an update from the 2011 post was called for. 

It’s not about goals. 

It’s not about achievements.
It’s definitely NOT about controlling your significant other.

Rather – it’s about building the best life you can together, and being able to look back and see how far you have come … be grateful. 

Reflect

The first step is to look back on the past year, or longer, and see where you have come from. What all has happened?

Focus on how you have grown in the past year & moments you would like to happen again. 

When you have gone through this previously, really focus on what gains you made over the past year. Where were you a year ago? How have you grown since then? 

Thank

Be intentional about this part. Have fun with it, and set up whatever rituals or practices work for you. 

We center this around the Thanksgiving holiday in the USA because it just fits.

Not only do I celebrate as a family but also reach out to the people who I am grateful for moments over the past year and beyond. 

This is a time of remembering life is a solo journey yet the people around us are a key in how high we can fly. 

Dream

This moves from the past & present side to the future. Dreaming what the next year or longer should be. Currently I use my model based on relationships for viewing your world, so:

– Yourself – physical, mental, spiritual, capabilities

– Family – the special relationships around you

– Business – if you are an employee – you are a business hiring out your services to your employer. If you own or desire to own one, then you have a slightly different relationship

– Society – other people who are not in your business, or family.

What are the dreams for those four big areas? What about the subparts? Can you paint a picture that you are aiming for?

This time is brainstorming – go wild. Look at different time horizons too:
25 years out

3 years out

In the next 12 months. 

What headings do you want to aim for? Big Hairy Audacious Goals?
Where do you want to travel to?
What do you want to learn?

Legacy you want to leave?

Causes you want to support? 


Who would you be thrilled to be a hero to?

Plan

Setting the vision for the next while so you can see how you grow, gain, and make giving thanks easier next year. 

Where the Dreaming time was brainstorming and coming up with options; planning is deciding what you are willing to commit to, eliminating options, and defining how you measure success. 

We have 3 things we put down on paper. The best years, this is three giant stickynotes and a number of posted notes. 

3+ years out
1 year out
Today

We need that long term where we are heading – you can choose 25 years or 3 (or have both). For this we settled on 3 because it’s about 1,000 days. We don’t need to redo the 3+ years out every year, it gives us some guidance and helps us have a staring point. 

The one year is the main focus. We can even break it down into seasons. 

When you know where you are heading in the short term and longer term, decide on what needs to grow. 

If your intention is to have 40 paid off rental houses in 25 years, it’s easy to record how many rental houses you have today, and set an intention of having a specific number in one year. 

If your intention is to be able to run a 5k in under 10 minutes, make sure you record what rate you can run a 5k in today. Then when you get a 5k under 10 minutes you record the date … and if you don’t reach that 10 min goal, you still look and celebrate your improvement next year. 

That is the key:
Being able to see where you were, and how you are better today. 

If you only record goals you will hit most and growth will happen, yet you are setting yourself up for disappointment, not joy. 

Choose joy. 

Moving forward

A while ago I was talking with one of my good friends. I mentioned – yeah, we need to finish our family budget for this month … it’s only the 14th of the month. He was shocked because his family practice was if they did not have their family budget done before the month began they just forgot about it and moved on. 

It does not matter if it’s November or April or another month. Today is the day you can give thanks, start recording what you are grateful for, and set your intention with where you are today. 



Write now, send a message to someone and tell them something you are grateful for in the past year & your commitment to go through this process starting on the upcoming first of the week or month. People have an easier time continuing something that they start on a first. 

Record what you are grateful for, and put on your calendar to set intentions for now until the end of the year on the next first. 

Filed Under: core, fb, featured, Giving Thanks, life, systems, text Tagged With: dream, Jonathan Nation, plan, reflect, rtdp, thanksgiving

Exploring Grace

October 20, 2013 by jon

Will you join me?

I’m on a journey and part of it is trying to develop a habit of getting into spiritual materials every day. Some times I have done well, other times I have sucked, but I am trying to do one thing of keep it small and just be consistent. Where it does not require a lot of effort & little or no will power.

A couple years ago I took up Obstacle Course Races. It was the first time in my life that I consistently ran for any real training & cut 13 minutes off my second Warrior Dash time … in less than six months between them. It was just starting slow, one day at a time, doing just a little bit.

This time

[Read more…]

Filed Under: fb, mine, others Tagged With: bible, plan, spiritual, study

Reflect, Thank; Dream, Plan – our process to success

November 28, 2011 by jon

My family has this process that we started the fall after my wife and I were first married. It stems from my frustration of Thanksgiving being overlooked & disdain for New Years Resolutions. Currently I am calling it Reflect, Thank; Dream, Plan.

Reflect

The first step is to look back on the past year, or longer, and see where you have come from. What all has happened?

Having twin one year olds this Thanksgiving, I can say that the year went by fast. We both have much to be thankful for, especially the growth in our babies and each other — both as individuals, as a couple, and family.

Thank

This part is simple, but important – be thankful & speak to people what you are thankful for. As a general practice I am trying to be encouraging more in the day to day, but there are still some specific people who have had an impact that I try to go out of my way to thank.

Dream

This moves from the past & present side to the future. Dreaming what the next year or longer should be. Currently I am thinking about a model based on relationships for viewing your world, so:
– Yourself – physical, mental, spiritual, capabilities
– Family – the special relationships around you
– Business – if you are an employee – you are a business hiring out your services to your employer. If you own or desire to one one, then you have a slightly different relationship
– Society – other people who are not in your business, or family.

So, what are the dreams for those four big areas? What about the subparts? Can you paint a picture that you are aiming for?

Plan

The practical steps you intend to take to make your dreams reality. Before you fully make plans you need to make goals. Goals are important because they are the measuring stick of how well your plans do, but doing the important work to write out the steps you are going to take to make the dream a reality is also vital.

My family is in the middle. We talked about reflecting and thanks recently. This week my wife and I will talk about our dreams for the next year – thinking in those four big fields. If you can have one dream for each & work on just four things over the course of a year – it will be amazing, as long as you take the steps of really making a good goal and then a plan.

Filed Under: core, fb, featured, life, mine, text Tagged With: dream, goals, plan, process, reflect, success, thank, thanksgiving

Location Independence – posted on SAHceo

November 22, 2011 by jon

For years I’ve valued having Location Independence in the work I was doing.

I enjoyed the time I was in the St Louis Arch and a client called asking about a change to a website. I told him I would get to it when I could & after getting off the call I realized I could from my phone. In moments, from the top of the St Louis Arch I had the site adjusted & an email off to him.

Now that I am a Stay At Home Dad, the ability to work where I am is even more important, but to do so you have to go through some steps.

This post on Stay At Home CEO titled Location Independence goes into three parts: Plans, Tools, Ability

They are not complex steps, but vital if you want to have more freedom and liberty in your life.

Filed Under: fb, featured, mine, outside, text Tagged With: ability, independence, liberty, location, plan, sahceo, tools

Reading Intentions 2011

January 1, 2011 by jon

Starting out 2011 I intend to go through a number of books I’ve been through before & then go through additional books. One additional note: All books will probably be audiobooks. When I first read The Art of Non-Conformity it took me around 20 hours; the audiobook is 5 hours long.

Here are three categories:
1. been through before
2. desire to go through
3. ?? unknown ??

1. been through before

Good To Great by Jim Collins
Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau
Waking The Dead by John Eldredge
Boundaries by Henry Cloud & John Townsend
Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough & Michael Braungart
[something by] Thomas Stanley – one of the many I’ve been through before

2. desire to go through
The Fifth Discipline by Peter M. Senge
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn
QBQ! The Question Behind the Question by John G. Miller

3. ?? unknown ??

I am sure there are books that will come out that I jump on, or more importantly, audiobooks. Here are some I am looking for, or area l ready out and might consider:

Jim Collins – succeeding through turbulence – [some media @JimCollins.com]
Jeff Jarvis – Public Parts – about the good from living a out in public and sharing info
Thomas J Stanley – Stop Acting Rich : And Start Living Like a Real Millionaire
Chris Anderson – The Long Tail : Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More

All in all I expect to go through 12 to 24 books over the next 12 months. We shall see how well I keep up with those intentions.

Filed Under: featured, mine, others Tagged With: books, education, goal, intention, learning, plan, read, reading, vision

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I am always looking to me more leaders, linchpins, and problem solvers. We need more people to take on a business owner mindset, to seek out pains and problems then find ways to provide value to others.

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~Jonathan Nation

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