As we head into the home stretch of 2024, there's a good chance you are involved in planning for 2025. On the work front, it could be a formal process connected to developing your organization's annual plan. On the personal front, you may be reflecting on the year that's wrapping up and jotting down ideas for the year to come. Or maybe you're beating yourself up because you haven't had time to do any planning.

"There are five ideas on this list I'd love you to share with our team."

That's the feedback I heard from a client who asked me to develop a workshop for her team. Her comment inspired me to focus this month's newsletter on ten new ideas I've recently shared with clients. These are the gems that generate the "Hold on, Ben. Say that one more time. I need to write that one down!" reaction. I hope they do the same for you, too!

With the clock ticking down to September 30th and no clear path to completion, the block intensified. Then last Sunday happened. I woke up depleted with a headache.  I got the scorecard out. I wanted to lash out at everyone about everything. To bring a bit of lightness to the day I reminded myself of the first line from Rebecca Ferguson's song Superwoman, "I'm not wearing a cape, these are just regular clothes."

And just like that, it's almost August! Chances are some aspect of your 2024 plan is off track and you've thought, "How can I get back on track when I have 242 things clamoring for my attention?" If that's you, here are three suggestions to help.

Rick and I just did something big. Actually it was very big. We sold our home of 24 years.

It took just over three months from the moment we signed the listing agreement to the moment the last item was delivered to our new home. I realized that's roughly the same amount of time a team spends developing a strategic plan. And that led to three helpful lessons for this month's newsletter.

Like many of my clients, I suspect there's a good chance you're working on something big right now: it could be a major project at work, searching for your next career opportunity, or finding a new home in the next 22 days. (That last one is my 'something big' right now.)

We often avoid having tough or uncomfortable conversations, even though addressing issues head-on can prevent bigger problems down the road. Gay Hendricks calls this the "sweaty ten minute conversation you don't want to have." However, I've found that most communication challenges can actually be resolved through what I call a "Sweaty Five Minute Conversation" (SFMC).