CONCLUSION
What Now?

In the beginning, we promised that the big three would increase your performance and productivity by at least 30 to 50 percent. Now that you have read the book, can you see and feel how powerful the big three are?

Let us get more specific in terms of what this can mean for you. In Chapter 7, we illustrated how someone doing pre-week planning accomplished an average of 20 to 30 more activities/tasks during the week (with less stress) than someone who did not do pre-week planning. Over a month, that equates to an additional 80 to 120 activities. In a year, that equates to an additional 900 to 1,400 activities.

Imagine the cumulative impact of maintaining these three habits for the rest of your life. Over 40 years, that equates to an additional 30,000 to 40,000+ activities that likely would not have been accomplished without these habits!

On paper, those are numbers. Yet, every one of those numbers represents a meaningful activity in your life. It could represent an exercise, a gesture of kindness to your spouse, an important activity related to your job, taking care of something for a client or team member, or something you do for a son or daughter. The point is, every one of those numbers represents something important to you.

The beauty of the whole thing is that while a person is doing what matters most and accomplishing more, stress and task saturation decrease. In other words, peace increases, productivity increases, and stress decreases.

Steve’s Journey

None of us know how long we will have in this journey of life, but whatever time we have, we will likely look back and say, “It passed us by as if it were a dream.” To illustrate this point, we will share one final and personal example from Steve’s life. At the young age of 55, Steve’s wife, Roxanne (Rob’s mother), was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. This diagnosis was unexpected and suddenly changed nearly all their long-term plans. You can certainly imagine how you would feel if your lifelong partner was given a final sentence that would change every one of your “golden year” plans. Early-onset Alzheimer’s is a terminal disease that usually takes the person’s life within about ten years from the time of the diagnosis.

Sure enough, at the time of this writing, it has been about ten years since Roxanne’s diagnosis. During the past ten years, the decline in her cognitive skills and functionality has been slow and steady. At this point, she is in a care center, can barely utter a word, does not recognize her family, and is wholly dependent on others for food and care. It has been a difficult and challenging process to watch the slow degradation of such an amazing woman to one who is now entirely dependent on people she does not recognize.

Yet, in this process that nobody ever wished for, I (Rob) have watched my hero father focus on his vision, goals, and pre-week planning. It is the combination of the big three that helped him control what he could control and stay focused on what mattered most.

In the early stages, Roxanne and Steve set new goals to travel the world together and make memories while they could. Roxanne accompanied Steve on many of his speaking engagements and corporate training events.

Through this challenging time, Steve’s focus on the big three has helped him stay focused on what matters most. Fast forward to today, and Roxanne continues to be Steve’s highest priority. Every night he visits Roxanne in the care center and patiently takes care of her—he treats her like a queen. Even though she no longer recognizes him, he brings her flowers, chocolates, and picture books, and tries to brighten her day in some way.

Part of his new vision is to help her feel comfortable and live the final part of her life with dignity, feeling happy. He strokes her hand and helps her do one of the only things she can do to express herself . . . smile. He often sits with her and reviews picture books they created from their trips and time together. The only benefit to Alzheimer’s is that every day is a new day, and they can look at the same pictures as if Roxanne had never seen them before.

The big three are about far more than professional success. In Steve’s case, he has balanced his time between running multiple businesses, spending time with his family, and taking care of his beloved wife of more than 45 years. When Roxanne was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Steve’s vision changed. Rather than focus on the negative, Steve adjusted his vision and set new goals. Even today, it is the consistent habit of pre-week planning that helps him stay focused on what he can control and do what matters most.

No matter what curve balls life may throw, the big three will help you make the best of whatever comes your way!

How to Sustain the Momentum

Now that you have finished the book, the most common question is, What do I do now?

Here is a list of things you can do to maximize your success and sustain the momentum:

1. Take or retake the performance and productivity self-assessment found at BYBassessment.com. If you took it as you started the book, we invite you to retake it after you finish your vision and goals and after you have been doing pre-week planning for at least one month. A simple way to make sure the retake happens is to schedule it on your long-range calendar right now. We invite you to put it on your calendar for at least one month from now and include the website link. At that point, all you need to do is go the website and take the assessment. Once you do this, compare where you were at the beginning of this book against where you currently are; we are confident you will see a big difference in almost every area of your life!
2. Finish a draft of your written personal vision as well as your roles and goals. Once you finish your vision and roles and goals, you can put them in front of your weekly planner or in a place where you will see them each week when you do pre-week planning. Also, share your vision and goals with a handful of people who you respect and admire. At the end of the year, report back to them on how you did—this will increase accountability.
3. Commit to doing pre-week planning for an entire year. Remember, pre-week planning is both a mindset and a skillset. It will require discipline to commit to pre-week planning every week.
4. Get the physical BYB planner or the digital planner for Chrome or Outlook. The people who are most likely to develop the habit of pre-week planning are the ones who have the right tools. Therefore, it’s much easier to do pre-week planning if you have either the physical planner or the digital planner for Chrome or Outlook. Either option is a one-stop-shop to keep your vision, goals, and pre-week planning in one place. To get your planner (physical or online), visit DoWhatMattersMostPlanner.com and use it for at least a year.
5. Subscribe to our free weekly podcast. You can listen to our weekly podcast via iTunes and Stitcher, or you can listen to it when you visit our website at BecomingYourBest.com.
6. Join our Peak Performance monthly coaching program. As part of this program, you will join a group of highly motivated people and we will meet every month. The monthly coaching program is a great way to keep moving forward, to add accountability, and to share new research or ideas. We priced this program so that anyone serious about their success can afford it. People appreciate the new ideas, the collaboration, and the accountability that is all part of this program. You can get more details on the homepage located at BecomingYourBest.com by clicking on the drop-down menu in the upper right-hand corner.

These are a few things you can do right now to maximize your success and sustain the momentum!

Wrap Up

Congratulations on finishing the book!

The reality is that this is not the end; it is just the beginning. The art is in the start, and now is the time to start. Developing these habits will be a journey that transforms every area of your personal and professional lives—as it has for us and thousands of others.

We invite you to share this book with your coworkers, friends, and family members so that they too can develop their vision, roles and goals, and the habit of pre-week planning. Additionally, we invite you to share your story by emailing us at [email protected]. We would love to hear what the experience was like for you after you develop the big three.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, a famous author and poet from the late 1800s, shared a thought that applies to each of us:

One ship [sails] east and another west, with the selfsame winds that blow. ’Tis the set of the sail, and not the gale, that [determines] the way [they’ll] go. Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate; as we voyage along through life, ’Tis the set of a soul, that decides its goal, and not the calm or the strife.²³

In the spirit of Ella’s quote, there is a wind blowing at each of our backs. The question is, How will we each choose to set our sails to catch it?

The big three empowers each of us to hoist and set our sails, catch the wind, and do what matters most!