On Assets & Aspirations
- Caroline Mauldin
- Oct 28, 2023
- 4 min read
Notions and Contemplations
As Goes One’s Closet, So Goes One’s…Life?
It’s October, the temperatures are dropping, the leaves are turning, and I am nesting. Or more specifically, I’m cleaning out my closet: swapping summer for winter and feebly attempting to “Marie Kondo” everything I own. Though I can only bring myself to earnestly take stock of my belongings once, maybe twice, a year, I must admit a certain pleasure in editing the outer trappings of my life. I am delighted by the idea that we humans get to reinvent ourselves, even if only on the margins, whenever we please.
And yet, rarely do we actually take the time to consider our course. Instead, most of us default to the direction set by the momentum of our lives. Maybe we made a decision, say, five years ago–about a job, about joining a board, about eating a certain way, about anything really–and, thanks to Sir Isaac Newton’s first law,* we stay in the job, on the board, and/or on the diet without thinking much about it. There’s so much else to think about, right? Right.
*We interrupt this newsletter for a Middle School Physics Recap: “An object at rest remains at rest, and an object in motion remains in motion at constant speed and in a straight line unless acted on by an unbalanced force.”
A Personal Strategic Plan
What would it be like for us to consider the motion and direction of our lives as much as we did our seasonal wardrobes? Whereas companies and nonprofits regularly develop strategic plans that align their unique assets with their aspirations, seldom have I met individuals who engage in strategic planning for themselves.
In the meantime, each of us has an invaluable, limited asset: time. Are we consciously using that asset to achieve our best and highest purpose? Do we (each of us) even know what our best and highest purpose is?
Maybe the idea of determining your highest purpose provokes the latent anxiety of that age-old question of youth “soooo, where do you see yourself in five years?'' Don’t worry–me too. That’s why we start the personal strategic planning process with an honest evaluation of our current state: how are things going? Where are you finding energy and joy? On the flip side, what is draining your life force?
Then, we zoom out: setting aside current obligations, what are The Big Things you want to achieve with your time here on Earth? No need to self-censure or edit: this is where we get to return to the imaginative dreaming that too many of us were trained to leave behind as children.
Next, we break it down: given where we are now, and where we want to be, what are the actionable steps we can take to move from here to there.
For example: “I want to help transform my hometown” is a Big Thing, which may lead you to set a goal of introducing yourself to a certain number of civic leaders every quarter who share the same purpose. Alternatively, “I want to be a memorable grandparent” is another Big Thing that could lead you to set aside in advance certain weekends throughout the year when you visit or host your grandchildren.
The point is: each of us can set and fulfill a personal strategic plan when we align our aspirations with our most valuable asset (time). And, contrary to Newton’s Law, we don’t need to wait for “an unbalanced force” to shift the intentions and behaviors that change our direction.
Rubber, Meet Road
Of course, achievement requires accountability, a cup of tea precisely no one likes to sip. Here are two evergreen tips to lighten the load:
Marie Kondo’s advice is every bit as relevant to setting your aspiration/purpose/goal as it is to that threadbare sweater in your closet: if it brings you joy, run with it. If it doesn’t, toss it.
No matter how you cut it, time is and always will be limited. To say yes to your purpose, you must say no to things that don’t serve it. The sooner you learn to say no, the faster you’ll be high-fiving yourself for winning the race against…yourself.
Finally, if this process appeals and you’d like some help along the way, drop me a line! I’ve helped over a dozen clients develop their own personal strategic plans, and I’d love to support you, too.
On My Kindle + Feed + Calendar
Supporting Civilians Caught in the Israel-Hamas Conflict.
This week’s inhumane violence in Israel and Gaza is devastating for all of us, and especially for communities already wrestling with historic inequities and multi-generational trauma. With no obvious solution in sight, it’s hard to know how to help or where to find hope. Join me in supporting local first-responders and efforts to sustain peace efforts.
On the positive side of the historical ledger.
In a win for the arc of the moral universe, the National Cathedral (of which I was a member for several years) in Washington, DC has replaced stained glass windows of Confederate Generals with Civil Rights heroes.
Book Recommendations!
I asked, you answered. Many thanks to readers who responded last month with their latest and greatest reads. Sharing here for posterity, with the hope that you’ll keep’em coming!
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson
The Man Who Swindled the World by Yepoka Yeebo
Three Dangerous Men by Seth Jones
Trouble the Water by Rebecca Dwight Bruff
The Hours of the Universe: Reflections on God, Science, and the Human Journey by Ilia Delio
Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery
The Science of Leonardo by Fritjof Capra
American Wolf by Nate Keslee
Cave of Bones by Lee Berger and John Hawks
Putin's World by Angel Stent
If Nietzsche were a Narwal by Justin Gregg
The Astonishing Hypothesis by Francis Crick
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