Attitude and Longitude

Touched By An Angel

Let me tell you... it’s been a blast writing this article series.  In case you haven’t been following along, what I’m doing is relating the stories and mind-opening discoveries I’ve had since starting my 13x4 System in January.  It’s been an amazing year so far!

In my last installment, Turning On The Current Of Currency, I told you the story of how focusing on Money Flows In Easily led to my making three quarters of last year’s income in less than 4 months. It was a result that came even though one of my money sources was decreasing.

The Power of Story
We all know that telling stories is one of the best ways to teach and entertain.  Past masters of philosophy and spiritual teachings often taught through the method of storytelling.  Many still do today.  And, of course, stories are also highly entertaining.  This explains the incredible success throughout history of plays and books... and, later, of movies and television.  Anthropologists tell us that even before humans invented writing and in cultural situations when people weren’t or aren’t literate, oral storytelling was and is the norm.

Telling stories is also a great way to understand ourselves better.  In the FAST acronym, you’ll notice that the “S” stands for Story.  It’s important that you tell a story which illustrates the power of having this focus in your life when preparing your custom 13x4 Wheel™.  Why?  Because when you tell the story of the focus area, it stands out better in your mind about WHY you’re focusing on it.  Also, if you can prove to yourself that you’ve had success in this area before, you will begin with a positive mental state.  You will be more assured that it can be done.

The story of my eighth focus area is very personal, and I almost hesitated to tell it for that reason.  Yet I know it’s one that millions of people share, and they feel as I do.  I know because I’ve seen many examples and portrayals of this common story throughout history.  And I have friends and family who have also been touched by an angel... or two... or more…

Focus Area #8

F-ocus: Helpers

A-ttitude: What is my approach to this focus area – what do I/we want it to be?

About 10 years ago, I adopted St. Benedict’s personal motto, “Open the ear of my heart.”  I wanted to open and hear guidance from my higher self so I could heal, understand what my mission is in the world and direct the course of my life more efficiently in that direction.  In addition to tapping into that higher-self knowing, I also wanted a clearer channel of communication between the unseen help that I sense is always with us and myself.  I’ve heard and read many stories about people receiving supernatural visitations by angels, saints and enlightened masters.  While I’ve never really sought visitations, I’ve always tried to be open to help from such entities.  This focus also reminds me that there is more beyond this life in a body. 

S-tory: What is a story that illustrates the power of having this focus in my life?

When I was a child I was taught that we have unseen helpers called guardian angels.  And since I was raised in a Christian household, we also learned about the angels referenced throughout the Bible, the most famous ones being Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.  As I grew older I observed that many cultures around the world also believe in the existence of unseen assistants and messengers.  The Native Americans call them The Bird People, Hindus have apsaras and devas, Buddhists have dharmapalas, in Judaism they’re called malachim and Muslims believe that everyone has four angels called malaikah (messengers).  Whatever they’re called, they are found in the retelling of human history all through the ages. 

The popularity of television programs featuring angels (both dramas and documentaries) has further proven to me how much we appreciate having or want to have such help in our lives.  Many helpers come not just in the form of angels but also that of saints and masters who once lived human lives, such as Mary, Jesus’ mother, and, of course Jesus himself.

I have always felt as though I have been protected so that I could carry out my purpose in life.  When I was a child, I climbed dozens of tall trees and never once fell.  I went from being a city kid to a country kid between ages 8 and 11 years old and explored the forest almost every day during that period of time.  I saw poisonous snakes but was never touched or threatened by them or any other animals or insects (except harmless ants and mosquitoes!).  Once I asked my mother – when I was a mother myself – how she could bear to let me go off alone like that, and she, of course, said that she had faith I was being protected. 

I also recall several specific instances of spins and accidents, especially during dangerous road conditions, in which it seemed highly unlikely that none of us in the car got hurt or even endured a scratch.  Clearly, I was being protected. 

Then, in 2008, I had a series of encounters with several angels and Mother Mary that shifted my life’s course dramatically. And even though I was a believer, I realized then that I still had some residual skepticism about the existence of unseen helpers.  However, now I’m no longer a believer, but, rather, I’m a knower – and knowers, like me, will understand the power of having this focus in everyday life.

T-ool: What is a tool I/we can use to maintain this focus area?

During that focus week of Helpers, I blocked time on my calendar at the end of every day to relax and consciously subdue my “monkey mind.”  Even if it was for a few minutes, I gave my attention to opening the ear of my heart.  And I asked for help to unhook from whatever negative energies might be weighing me down.

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Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they bring who they are to what they do in life. To learn more, please visit: www.insyncresources.com
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Turning On The Current Of Currency

Time to move along to one of the most amazing focus area weeks of all.  Yes, it was cool what happened when I focused on Collaborate during the previous week (more in Sometimes Two Heads Are Better Than One) and on the focus areas of all the previous weeks, too.  But I’m very excited about what this next focus area has done for me in light of my lifelong mental perceptions. 

And it’s not just the focus area alone that has shifted me.  It’s as though my whole wheel is a secret sauce for my success.  The ingredients all work together in unpredictable but deliciously magical ways.  Every time I write one of these articles, I seem to peel back another layer of insight.  While I’m in the focus week, certain effects on my life are obvious, and then when I reflect more specifically on each area after the fact, I’m amazed at how much more comes to light.

Center Focus Is the Superforce
This next focus area came up in the 1^st cycle of my 13x4 Wheel™ during mid February.  When I look at what has happened due to this focus, I realize the importance of the center focus of Planning.  In fact, Planning has been a powerful foundation for all of the focus areas.  While they have all been cross-pollinating each other at some point or another along the way, my center focus has been the superforce that provides the most momentum for all of them at all times.

Undoubtedly, the Planning center focus has been in my subconscious, as well as my conscious mind.  I know this because a long time ago I realized something about myself.  When I am stressed, my tendency is to go into action mode rather than planning mode.  There have been many examples of this in my life, and this trait was even identified in a personality assessment I took back in the late 1990s.  The actions that I’m prone to take will usually center around what I know has worked for me before.  That is not a bad thing at all, but when I want to go into action, it’s usually a good idea to take a deep breath and do a little planning first. 

I didn’t realize just how helpful it would be to make Planning the superforce behind my focus areas this year.  And, as you are about to see, it has it paid off… literally!

Focus Area #7

F-ocus: Money Flows In Easily

A-ttitude: What is my approach to this focus area – what do I/we want it to be?

Money is energy just like everything else.  And I am using the phrase “flows in” for this focus area because I see that money is like electricity. It’s a play on words too.  Currency and current.  Money currency flows in and electric current flows in.  Though the energy of electricity is usually invisible, I know it exists, and I know I have the means to allow it to flow in.  I don’t exactly know how electricity works, but I know that if I turn on the switch, it powers the light bulb in the ceiling above my head.  I don’t know exactly how money works.  I’m not an economist or a banker, but I know I have the means to allow it to flow in.  I think in a certain way, and it powers my needs and desires.  I choose for it to be that easy, and, therefore, it flows in easily.

S-tory: What is a story that illustrates the power of having this focus in my life?

Let me explain how making this focus area front and center for only one week brought me my best single month in business ever... And during these first few months of 2012, my earnings have already exceeded ¾ of what I made all of last year.  This unexpected result came in spite of a decreasing source of money that could have messed with my mind (and my money flow) if I’d let myself worry about it.

Last fall I was awarded an excellent project that could potentially last up to a year (and which I knew would not).  It brought in a nice monthly sum, so money was flowing in easily late last year.  However the nature of the project was such that the more successful I was in my deliverables each month, the less each subsequent month would bring in earnings. It was the classic “work yourself out a job” situation.  In February, at 4 months into the project, I was doing very well in my deliverable side, which meant that soon there would be dwindling amounts each month to come. 

The timing of having this focus area come up each day for that particular week was very important.  To be reminded that money is energy that flows in easily really helped.  After all, the project and the money from it had come to me easily in the first place.  I paused to do some number calculations and planned some useful actions.  Money that was dwindling from one project could easily be replaced or even expanded from other sources.  And, indeed, it has.  March 2012 was my best month ever financially. Even though the project was diminishing, my inflow of money actually increased.

T-ool: What is a tool I/we can use to maintain this focus area?

I added two daily recurring appointment on my calendar – one at 9:00am and one at 5:00pm.  Basically, these messages to my mind were twice-daily affirmations.  The first said “Hey there! Remember - money flows in easily.”  The second said “$ flows in easily (hurray!)”  So, the first was a reminder at the beginning of the day so that my mind would be on alert.  The second sent the message to my mind, pointing out that that money had flowed in that day and will continue to flow in (it’s phrased in the present tense rather than past tense). The second affirmation included a celebration component, which makes this focus much more fun. 

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Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they bring who they are to what they do in life. To learn more, please visit: www.insyncresources.com
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Sometimes Two Heads Are Better Than One

I’m still amazed by how using my intuition to cast my wheel like I explained in Good Friends, Good Times and Better Balance has led to so many cool synchronicities.  Including the sequence of these last two focus areas and then the one I’m about to describe.  They ended up being related to one another!

One of the most appealing features of the 13x4 model, besides the crossover synchronicities and influences, is its flexibility.  It can be used as a personal effectiveness program like I’m discussing in this article series.  It can be used to put together a leadership effectiveness plan, a career transition plan, a program to increase sales, a plan to improve relationships, a better approach to parenting, etc.  And recently, I met a 12-year old young man who is even using it to set sports goals, as well as goals for improving his grades and for listening to his teachers and parents.

Team Goals
The 13x4 can also be used to set team goals.  In fact, the sixth focus area of my 13x4 Wheel™ reminds me of this aspect. 

Earlier this year, Tom and I conducted an interactive program with a group of architects. Together, they created and cast their team 13x4 Wheel™.  They wanted to blend the overarching goals of the company – the corporate office is located in another city – into their own team’s local goals.

I’m told that they are seeing some positive effects already after 4 months.  The 13x4 gives them a chance to remember the bigger picture during the intensity of performing the tasks and deadlines that are right in front of them.  The focus areas they chose as a team reminds them why they’re working so hard, and it gives them a common purpose.  Gradual, positive changes in their team culture are occurring as each week’s focus area seeps through their busy work schedules and into their awareness on an ongoing basis. 

Focus Area #6

F-ocus: Collaborate

A-ttitude: What is my approach to this focus area – what do I/we want it to be?

This is under the Mind domain because… “Sometimes, two heads are better than one.”  While, of course, this can be true in all aspects of life, my intention for choosing this focus area is career related.  I’ve always enjoyed working collaboratively with others in my field, and I want to continue exploring that in my career.

S-tory: What is a story that illustrates the power of having this focus in my life?

When I was a recruiter, I partnered with other recruiters on candidate searches.  As a career consultant, I’ve had great fun developing and delivering programs, including the online radio show I co-hosted between 2009 and 2011 with other experts.  Producing that radio show was a multi-layered collaborative effort because it wasn’t just the co-hosting.  It was also the interactions I had with our guests before during and after each show. Each time it was a coming together of multiple minds.  

Choosing to focus on Collaborate and underpinning it with my gateway focus of Planning has helped me to envision additional collaborative projects I could do this year.  For example, I branched out and did a teleseminar with DeAnne Pearson.  During this focus week, we did the post event wrap up activities and discussed how fun and helpful it had been to both of us.  That week I talked with two people about the possibility of hosting future teleseminars for later this year.  And I actually put one on the calendar with Tom Cassidy (that we did later on March 27).

By the end of the week, I’d confirmed the venue for the April 21 workshop that Tom and I had been planning to co-facilitate for a year. This was also the week that I put out the call for a freelancer to collaborate with in promoting the April 21 workshop.

Of course, the whole 13x4 concept is a collaborative effort between Tom and me… and as I’ve lately been reading Ben Franklin’s autobiography, I feel like Franklin has with us in spirit as we co-teach!

T-ool: What is a tool I/we can use to maintain this focus area?

I set a daily recurring appointment on my calendar that simply said, “13x4: Mind – Collaborate.”  Each day I was reminded to reach out to those I was drawn to collaborate with or had collaborated with in the past while also inviting the possibilities for new colleagues and partnerships in the future. 

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Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they bring who they are to what they do in life. To learn more, please visit: www.insyncresources.com
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Good Friends, Good Times and Better Balance

During the previous week’s focus of Give First, which I described in My Boomerang Got Bigger, I had unknowingly set up a great dynamic for the 5^th week’s focus area. And the funny thing about it was that I hadn’t realized how the two focus areas would overlap so incredibly or how the timing would be so beautiful…

Casting the Wheel
After you choose your domains and your focus areas, the next step is what I call “casting the wheel.” Simply put, this is when you decide the order of your focus areas week by week. Tom likes to assign numbers to his, starting with the center focus as week one, and then he picks one from each domain in a rotating fashion until he’s ordered all 13. For my first 13x4 cycle, I chose mine by intuition, picking whatever I felt drawn to… and if you’ve been following this article series, you’ve probably noticed the pattern that developed.

I started with the center focus. Then I picked two from one domain, then jumping to another domain – in no particular order – I picked two from there, two from the third and then two from the last. Then I popped around and picked up the remaining focus areas, one from each domain. Not only was it fun to do it this way, it turned out to be really eerie and cool how everything worked together. As I look back on how I cast the wheel in January, I had no idea that the timing would work so synchronistically with the events that later occurred in my schedule, as well as how the focus areas would complement each other according to the order they were cast. Talk about planning without planning… or, rather, planning with faith!

Focus Area #5

F-ocus: Renew/Cultivate Friendships

A-ttitude: What is my approach to this focus area – what do I/we want it to be?

I work… A LOT. Six days a week, my average schedule is about 7am until about 7pm. In fact, it’s 6:23pm right now as I write this. That’s because I love my work so much. When the lines between work and play are blurred, you really have to force yourself to remember to nurture your social and personal relationships. My friends and family give me love, emotional support and intellectual stimulation. Without that, my life lacks balance because the work I’m doing in the world doesn’t provide me all that I need. Let’s face it, if we knew that a giant asteroid was going to hit the planet 6 months from now and wipe out the human race, my work wouldn’t matter anymore would it? Instead of working over the next 6 months, I’d be seeking the companionship of friends and family during our remaining time together. (Though I think I’d still write… ‘cause I can’t not write!)

S-tory: What is a story that illustrates the power of having this focus in my life?

Planning was definitely underpinning the focus area for this week. I planned and enjoyed two lunch dates with dear friends, one on Monday and one on Wednesday. Ironically, these two particular friends actually started out as workmates more than ten years ago.

A friend, who also used to be a colleague, decided to get the old work team back together and I responded to her reunion dinner invitation that week. How interesting that it happened during this particular week…

Still in the spirit of the previous week of Give First…

• A long-time friend reached out with a question via email, and I gave her some advice that she seemed pleased to have.
• I set up a coffee date with a new friend I’d met in December and then introduced him to someone who I knew wanted to hire a contract trainer (and he got the gig!).

And I celebrated a very important relationship in my life – it was my husband’s birthday during this particular week. Yes, casting the wheel by intuition was a great deal of fun, and here’s another synchronistic surprise in the way the timing worked!

T-ool: What is a tool I/we can use to maintain this focus area?

I set a daily recurring appointment on my calendar to “Send a note to an old friend” – and so I did. It also raised my awareness of gratitude for all my loved ones.

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Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they bring who they are to what they do in life. To learn more, please visit: www.insyncresources.com
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My Boomerang Got Bigger

If you’ve been following this article series, you know that I’ve been relating the personal revelations coming from my 13x4 experience.  I started during the first week of January 2012, and it’s been an amazing year so far.

In my last installment, Choosing Healing And Peace Of Mind, I told you about how all the components of the 13x4 are intricately tied together – that they cross-pollinate each other in unexpected ways.  I also discussed my third focus area Everything’s Perfect, which has to do specifically with healing my body since I want to avoid surgery.

The Attitude
In my next focus area, I found that I didn't fully realize the deeper implications of why it's so powerful until I started really noticing.  In the FAST™ Method, which helps you to adhere to the goals you set up in your 13x4 System, the “A” is where you explain what this focus area means to you.  You explore what your attitudinal relationship is to it and why you are choosing it. 

Knowing your attitude to the focus area is critical for choosing what is best aligned with you.  Rather than merely choosing something that looks and sounds good because you saw it on someone else’s 13x4 Wheel™ or were told that you should focus on it, you are called to really think about your reason for choosing it.  In ascribing a meaning to it that is personal to you, you own it more fully.  You set yourself up for greater success in attaining what you desire.

When I chose my next focus area, I thought it was important to me because it feels good to do it.  That is still the case, but now it means more...

Focus Area #4

F-ocus: Give First

A-ttitude: What is my approach to this focus area – what do I/we want it to be?

For me, I have noticed that Give First is attraction energy.  At first, it was about giving because it feels good to give.  However, my attitude about giving first has shifted somewhat.  It still makes me feel good, of course, but now I realize that what I give out comes back to me tenfold (and more).  I give in ways that affect others positively.  As that energy moves around, it picks up or attracts abundance.  It enlarges and then returns to me like a boomerang.  When I Give First, I get back more than I originally gave. 

S-tory: What is a story that illustrates the power of having this focus in my life?

I have always incorporated the practice of Giving First (without specific expectations of reward) into my life because it makes me feel good to give and to be of value and service to others.  What I have always thought that I get back from doing this is a sense of purpose and good feeling.  This particular week was mostly about increasing my awareness of Giving First, and then later I realized there was more going on besides mere good feelings.  There were many giving moments that later increased in the inflow back to me, but here are a few examples: 

I met with several new “networking friends” over coffee… One was an aspiring author who later wrote to me that she was inspired by our meeting to move forward with her dreams.  Another told me he was at a crossroads about his next career steps.  He later emailed me to say that he was pursuing the bigger vision of these two possible scenarios and that there was some definite movement forward on that road.  These two people gave back by reinforcing my chosen work as someone who helps others realize their dreams.

I treated a friend to lunch for her birthday.  During our conversation, she gave me some new knowledge about an area that I’d been curious about for years.  This new knowledge gave me extra insight into a personal experience I’d had in December.  I received way more than I gave... and this was just supposed to be a “fun lunch with a friend”!

I created goodwill in the human resources community by giving away job search advice during a presentation, and the word was spread about my consulting business.  I gave a colleague a jumpstart in her career by hosting a program for her – she has since sent much encouragement to me in support of my own programs and has said many nice things about me to others. 

During this week I noticed that each boomerang I sent out got bigger. And I didn't know what it would look like until it came back and how well it would serve me until I received it.  THAT was fun!

T-ool: What is a tool I/we can use to maintain this focus area?

Each day at noon, a question would pop up on my calendar asking me: “What are you giving first today?”  And then I noticed…

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Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they bring who they are to what they do in life. To learn more, please visit: www.insyncresources.com
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Choosing Healing And Peace Of Mind

In addition to affecting my productivity, my personal 13x4 system is also helping me with physical healing and peace of mind.  Last time in Second Week Of The 13x4 Is Causing Random Urges and Fantasies... I told you about the four domains of my 13x4 Wheel™ and how the first domain I picked from was Body/Physical.  The next focus area I chose was from that domain, too.  Though a case could be made for putting this one in the Mind domain, I have a specific reason for positioning it where it is, as you’ll soon see.

Components Are Interconnected
Of course, all the components of the 13x4 are intricately tied together.  I know that my domains of Mind, Body, Spirit and Community are interconnected.  And my 13 focus areas have all been cross-pollinating in undeniable ways.  For me, during week three’s focus, the mind and body connection was undeniable…

Focus Area #3

 

F-ocus: Everything’s Perfect

A-ttitude: What is my approach to this focus area – what do I/we want it to be?

This is a healing message that I chose so I could train my mind to focus on the outcome I desire rather than on the alternative that I do not want.

S-tory: What is a story that illustrates the power of having this focus in my life?

Last year I was diagnosed with a minor condition that has the long-term potential to result in a major surgery.  I intend to avoid surgery if at all possible.  And even if surgery becomes the best healing outcome at some point, I choose to trust that it is all perfect. 

This focus area helps me to remember that the health state of my body is perfect as it is in the present moment. Tomorrow hasn’t yet happened, and, therefore, to dwell on what might happen is to get wrapped up in illusion (and worry).  The only reality is now.  I am in the now because I can’t physically be anywhere else... and in the now everything is perfect as it is.

During this third focus week, I found myself drawn to Wallace D. Wattles and re-read his expositions on two related topics:

1. “being perfect in each stage yet incomplete” from The Science of Being Great
2. “holding thoughts of perfect health” from The Science of Being Well

Worrying about “what if” while I wait for months in between check-ups with my doctor does me no good.  Stress only increased damage to my body and interferes with my healing.  At the very minimum, I have found that reflecting on “everything’s perfect” has brought me more peace of mind.  It definitely reduced the damaging effects of stress on my body during that week, and overall I feel much better ever since incorporating this concept into my outlook.

T-ool: What is a tool I/we can use to maintain this focus area?

One of my favorite aspects of the 13x4 is its simplicity.  All I did was place two statements as though they were appointments on the calendar.  So, twice per day during week three, I would receive the following alerts: 

• At 9:00am, “Hey there! Everything’s Perfect!
• At 5:00pm, “Remember - everything is perfect”

Each time these alerts popped up, the message was effortlessly reinforced in my mind.

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Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they bring who they are to what they do in life. To learn more, please visit: www.insyncresources.com
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Second Week Of The 13x4 Is Causing Random Urges and Fantasies…

In case you haven’t read my last two articles in this series, let me explain that the 13x4 is a personal effectiveness process originally invented by Ben Franklin back in 1728.  I’ve been using my own customized version of the 13x4 system since the first week of 2012 and am sharing my observations about how it’s literally changing my life and my outlook.

In the last installment, Planning On Autopilot Increased My Productivity Exponentially, I talked about the gateway or center focus of my personal 13x4 system for 2012, which is Planning.  And even though it was the focus of the first week, it has also been the undercurrent theme for the last 13 weeks.  I ended up planning like crazy over those 13 weeks even though I had moved on to other focus areas one at a time and it was no longer in my conscious mind.

Four Domains
If you look at my 13x4 Wheel™, you’ll see that it’s divided into four quadrants or what we call “domains.”  You don’t have to pick four domains like I have because the beauty of working with one central focus surrounded by 12 other focus areas is that you can have three domains… or even two if you’d like.  And they can be whatever major areas of your life or general overview topics that you want.  I chose mine – Mind, Body/Physical, Spirit and Community – based off what Tom uses with only slight variations. 

I chose to start with the Body/Physical domain after I was finished with the first week of Planning. 

Focus Area #2

F-ocus:  Declutter

A-ttitude:  What is my approach to this focus area – what do I/we want it to be?

I want less stuff in my physical working and living spaces.  It’s not necessarily about being more organized, though that would be nice too.  Most of us want that, I suppose.  In fact, Ben Franklin himself said in his autobiography that he never quite mastered this one… he called it “order.”  I am less stressed when I have more open physical space around me.  I think of declutter as having room to breathe and feeling less crowded mentally as well.  I suspect that declutter will lead to more creativity.

S-tory:  What is a story that illustrates the power of having this focus in my life?

The way I process paperwork at my desk tends to go like this:  if it’s in front of me where I can see it, I will work on it; if I don’t need to work on it, it ends up in a stack behind me because I’m super busy.  I’m not big into filing, which can really create a big clutter problem.  And being super busy means that I have a bunch of stacks in front of me, beside me and behind me.  I’m surrounded!

Okay, for one week, the 2^nd week of 2012, I successfully decluttered and removed almost all of the stacks in my office.  Yay!  That was liberating.

During week 9, I had the random urge to declutter again, but this time it was my closet.  More about that later because that was influenced by the focus area of that week in subtle and interesting way…

Now that it’s back to the beginning of the 13 focus areas this week, I’m actually craving next week’s focus of Declutter to cycle around again.  I keep looking around at the various rooms in my house and fantasizing about what I’d like to get rid of – not that I will actually get rid of it all, which is why it’s a fantasy, but I’m absolutely going to clear out some stuff next week! 

T-ool:  What is a tool I/we can use to maintain this focus area?

Very simple.  I added a 30 minute appointment on my calendar everyday during which time I either filed paper or shredded paper.  Since it was only 30 minutes, and it was only for one week, I had no challenge adhering to it at all.

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Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they bring who they are to what they do in life. To learn more, please visit: www.insyncresources.com
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Planning On Autopilot Increased My Productivity Exponentially

Last time, in I'm Getting What I Want... And It's Incredibly Easy, I talked about the 13x4, which is a personal effectiveness process originally invented by Ben Franklin back in 1728.  I’ve been using my own customized version of the 13x4 system since the first week of 2012.  And as I move into my 2^nd cycle for this year, I’ve decided to share my personal observations and report the remarkable results I’ve been having so far.

Like I mentioned last time, I’ll be illustrating each focus area using the FAST™ Method, which stands for…

Your choice of

  F-ocus

that betrays your

  A-ttitude

illustrated by your chosen

  S-tory

handled moment to moment by the appropriate

  T-ool

Focus Area #1
The first of 13 focus areas that I picked to concentrate on for one week at a time this year is Planning.  Since this is also the center focus of my 13x4 Wheel™, it’s the undercurrent theme for my whole personal effectiveness system in 2012.

By the way, as you can see, I’ll be revealing my personal 13x4 Wheel™ one focus area at a time over the coming days and weeks, but if you’d like to see it all at once, go to: http://13x4.com/13x4-wheel-personal-samples  (it's Sample 2).

F-ocus:  Planning

A-ttitude:  What is my approach to this focus area – what do I/we want it to be?

I am eager to move my career transition forward.  I’ve been on a path of transition for the past 5 years.  Prior to that I was sorting out what I wanted that transition to be.  My daughter is now in college, and I can move out of cruise mode and into hyper-planning mode in order to manifest my vision.  I want to increase my planning activities and productivity toward achieving my vision by making this the center focus or gateway focus.

S-tory:  What is a story that illustrates the power of having this focus in my life?

I have a tradition of setting aside a day to plan for the next year during the holiday season.  That’s usually where I would stop my visioning process until the Q2 of the new year. 

However, planning has now become an ongoing process ever since I activated my 2012 13x4 system during the first week of the year.  Throughout that first week of the Planning focus, I fine-tuned my 2012 goals and thought about what other 12 focus areas I wanted to put into my system.  On the last day of the week of Planning I cast my wheel for the next 12 weeks.  I chose the order to place them on the calendar.  Then I decided what tool I would use for each focus and set them all up on my calendar with reminders.  Doing this enabled me to put my next 12 weeks on autopilot.  I also decided that I would use my Planning week of the next cycle to recast the wheel and place all the reminder tools on my calendar again. 

This week is number 13 – the final week of my first 13x4 cycle for 2012.  As I reflect, I realize that I have been planning like crazy even though it’s not on the forefront of my mind as I shuffle through the other focus areas one at a time.  

Here’s a sampling of the planning activities I’ve been doing without even consciously realizing just how much more productive toward manifesting my vision during Q1 of 2012 than I have been in any other Q1 in previous years.

• Created a plan for finishing and then successfully published my 2^nd book (it comes out later this week).
• Planned and got approval to lead an ad-hoc committee for the HR professional association where I serve on the board, and then I recruited volunteers.
• Met with my strategy coach who helped me to set timelines for projects throughout 2012.
• Wrote plans for BPOs (Best Possible Outcome) for several challenging situations… and achieved a better than BPO on each.
• Created a marketing plan to promote several events and recruited someone to help me plan and execute the events and the marketing plan.
• Created a timeline and determined subject matter for next two books I want to write.
• And, here’s a biggie for me… I regularly stuck to my bookkeeping schedule and have even been ahead of schedule for the first time in about 5 years.

Again, this is only a sampling.  I’ve been even more productive than this list shows!

T-ool:  What is a tool I/we can use to maintain this focus area?

All of my focus areas are buoyed by Planning or have this as an undercurrent theme since it’s the center focus – the gateway focus.  However, the tool that I used for the week of Planning was actually planning.  I preset blocks of time on my calendar for each day of the week – Sunday through Saturday – to focus on and perform planning activities.

Next up is week 2 - focus area #2...  

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Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they bring who they are to what they do in life. To learn more, please visit: www.insyncresources.com
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