Gratitude Practice 2022 Nov 21: The Power of Planning in Solitude

In the summer of 1995, after completing my first year of college, I was hired for an entry level job at Franklin Quest. Franklin, as it was known at the time, was one of two successful Utah based "time and life management companies" and my job as a Catalog Sales Representative was to answer phone calls and place orders for the very 90's product known as "A Day Planner." This silly job not only provided a stable income it provided a credible foundation for my career solidifying my deep seeded nerd tendencies for strategic planning, calendering, goal setting and all things organization. I worked at Franklin for several years and climbed a very tiny corporate ladder which upon reflection was really more like a humble but valuable step stool which has proven to be significant in many ways.

At Franklin, I learned how to work, how to attend meetings, how to communicate in a business setting, how to manage projects, how to sell a silly product and in the process developed a handful of life long friends and meaningful associations. Working at Franklin was both fun and fulfilling and provided a safe nest for me to begin stretching my little work life wings…that was until the fateful winter of 1997…oh, you know what I'm talking about…perhaps you've heard about the epic nerd throw down of the late 90's…the ground shifting merger of Franklin Quest and Covey Leadership…talk about a full societal Rubicon.

In 1997, as a young and eager cubicle dwelling corporate drone all hell broke loose when these two Utah based rival day planner companies merged together creating a jarring juxtaposition for the world to boldly consider…which approach to day and life planning is truly superior…daily planning or weekly planning…BOOM! Yeah…you read that correctly…this conflict…this preposterous proposal…this intellectual paradox was not only earth shattering for our faithful customer base but the idea of merging these two aragontly separate methodologies was (and dare I say remains to this day) the ultimate nerd cage match. It was a battle royal in the corporate productivity world and quickly became the absolute definition of…epic!!!!

What IS better?... Daily planning or weekly planning? Which is more effective? Which is more responsible? Which is true-r…Franklin Quest's ten noble principles or Covey Leadership's seven pesky habits? This heart stopping dichotomy rocked the type-A nerd nation world in unimaginable ways…and to be honest the rippling aftershocks can still be felt in small remote pockets and communities of dedicated planner users across the globe. As luck would have it I somehow had a front row seat.

To help facilitate the success of this daring merger the combined leadership teams decided to identify a small handful of employees from each existing company and cross train them on the opposing philosophy and then send these brave dogma soldiers into the ranks to help promote the controversial good word and mitigate an ever growing intellectual turf war. Whew! As luck would have it, I was selected to become an in-house certified corporate trainer and was asked to preach Covey Leadership's Seven Habits to my fellow skeptical Franklin-ites. Who would have thought that 27 years later this compelling work would still resonate?

Little did I know the lasting impact this additional work task would have on my career. Who would have thought I would become a true believer? Who would have imagined? Over the next two years, I probably taught those pesky seven habits to several hundred Franklin employees. This work project was the first time I formally taught anything and without me knowing it honed a skillset that I use and refer back to daily. Teaching this silly 8 hour seminar over and over and over provided ample opportunities for me to crash and burn in a safe environment and helped me become confident in communicating, teaching and facilitating in multiple setting and set me on a course that helped me identify a meaningful career of teaching. AND…as luck would have it the content I was asked to teach was not too shabby either. When I look back, I consider it a very fortunate coincidence that I spent two focused years in my early twenties, when my mushy gray frontal lobe brain matter was just beginning to solidify, scuba deep studying positive psychology, organizational philosophy and human behavior …teaching and unpacking and sharing those silly 7 habits week after week. Somewhere along the way these concepts took root in my sloshy brain and almost thirty years later I still use these practiced terms and super cheezy phrases as I move through projects and tasks and workplace assignments. I've learned (the hard and humbling way) to keep this inner nerd dialogue…mostly inner because…nobody wants any of this mumbo jumbo kind of stuff spoken out loud, right?

So why this and why now? Because the last two years have been absolutely beyond challenging for many of us. When life hits hard for me I go underground. I seek solitude so I can sort and sift as I seek out safety. Due to a series of absolutely unimaginable events, experiences and circumstances I've hollowed out a whole new level of vulnerability and I'm just now coming up for air...raw and real and reflective and ridiculously overwhelmed. Sad and angry and so very broken. Personally. Professionally. And spiritually. In the last two years, I've tanked in a way I did not think possible and in the dark murky mess of it all these stinking seven habits keep rising up…these contrived yet compelling diagrams and models and phrases and philosophies first discovered 27 years ago have slowly come forward in the last two years of life and I could not be more grateful.

One concept in particular has totally saved me over the last year. Somewhere in the habits is a phrase…. "planning in solitude" and out of absolute desperation, I have applied this concept religiously and it's been a game changer. Almost every morning for the last year, I've taken my brokenness, my anger, my sorrow, my confusion, my disbelief all held together with metaphorically scotch tape and string, to Liberty Park and I walk. I walk and I walk and then I walk some more. There is a life sustaining pond, a handful of trees, a few favorite benches and some long stretches of boring flat sidewalk that have become safe and sacred ground for me. This is a solo stroll for me to get quiet, to get still, to get real, to get focused and this silly decision to plan in solitude has made all of the difference. I'm not planning with my trusty collection of highlighters and pens and planners and spreadsheets…I'm planning and sorting and organizing ideas and beliefs and perspectives. I'm trying on new possibilities and it's been a sacred practice for healing and restoration. Planning in solitude is often meditation and prayer and ragey journal writing and unashamed out loud talking to myself. It's podcasts and carefully created play lists. It's breathing in and out and wiping away lots of red hot angry tears and it's absolutely working. It's absolutely worth it. I'm not there to break a sweat but I am sure as hell walking around that park in sacred solitude to break a cycle or two, to break down thinking patterns, to break through some award winning heartache and pain. And it's working. Turns out this kind of work...this kind of personal planning works best both daily AND weekly...so there you have it and 27 years later we finally we know. Who would have thought that a few silly corporate buzzwords learned and taught and then learned again over two decades ago would have such a lasting reach and impact.

Grateful for the healing grounds of Liberty Park. Grateful for first jobs with big impacts. Grateful for the power of solitude and the short and long term impacts planning in solitude can provide. Grateful that 27 years ago, I stumbled upon some silly concepts and grateful for the unexpected impact they have had as they have morphed and changed and grown with me

Grateful for the unsuspecting yet profound decision I made to apply for a call center job in the summer of 1995 and for the years I spent anchored to a phone line pimping over priced office products to a country of type-A over-achievers. Grateful for the good people I met along the way, for their kindness, and work ethic and examples. Grateful for the steady income those years provided and more importantly for the vision the job gave me for a future of financial independence, accomplishment and contribution. Grateful for the risk and gamble they took in asking me, an untrained punk twenty-something, to teach and facilitate so many workshops and at a critical time of culture building. Grateful that the good stuff stuck …that those silly seven habits continue to creep in and guide me in ways I'm a bit too prideful to admit. Grateful to have been introduced to these timeless yet incredibly cheesy concepts so early in my career…I think the new generation calls this phenomenon…"coming in clutch." While these dated ideas and concepts no longer have a front row seat in my head…they are definitely swirling around in the mix and they always seem to rise to the surface and always when needed the most.