What is your five-year business plan? That is a question that has been posed to many by business experts. I am not certain that I could consider that question again. A classmate and I were given an assignment to share our goals. I prepared and wrote something that really would be very good if it were to happen. During our time for comparing and supporting, my friend announced that she did not have any goals. Furthermore, she never did set any goals for her very successful business or her personal life. Her opinion was that plans got in the way of opportunity. “Plans have a way of defining how we look at life and therefore we may miss something else.”
My immediate reply was that she had a goal of being open to opportunity without expectation.
My health in 2009 was a mountain to be climbed. I had three surgeries within 1 year. There was a period of time when I could not walk due to my illness and loss of strength. The staff at the hospital told me to get up four times a day and use the walker and drag the tree with me. I did not want to move. I used my will to get up everyday and do the four tours of the hospital wing. My husband remembers me zigzagging down the halls as fast as I could to get back into bed.
But I had a goal. I wanted to climb one more Colorado 14,000 foot mountain. When I went home, I began training. I got out of bed everyday, showered, dressed and climbed down the stairs to the couch. I would not use the restroom downstairs. I would climb the stairs up to my bedroom. Eventually I walked on the treadmill using the stairs to the basement gym to get to the machine. I began to run in Vibrams. I continued to do Pilates mat or equipment work everyday.
Last Sunday I climbed Grays Peak at 14,211 feet. I consider that this goal is important because I have regained the confidence to achieve and to be happy doing what I love to do. Business is not my life. I enjoy teaching Pilates. My goal is to do whatever I am doing and to be happy while doing it.
I could never have predicted that 2009, The Drama of the Appendix, would be part of the agenda. It was perfect. I have learned many things. Make plans, but always be open to change. Keep climbing your own mountains.
PS. Now I want to bag another Fourteener this summer.