Stepping Up

When was the last time you stepped up? Are you sitting there wondering, what do I mean? Well, for example when is the last time you can recall one of the following:

Volunteered to run a social event (work, school, moms group)?
Took on a task at the office even though you weren’t thrilled?
Were vocal about an election or wrongdoings in the community?
Went to an HOA or civic meeting?
Decided to take a leap of faith on yourself and do what you love?
Completed that exercise program you had wanted to try?

For some these come naturally while others have to work hard. Freedictionary.com notes that stepping up is:

To improve one’s performance or take on more responsibility, especially at a crucial time.
One of a series of actions, processes, or measures taken to achieve a goal.

So where do you want to step up to this year? Many of our clients want to take the step to increase their membership, add revenue to their bottom line and others to implement new programs that will make them stand out. We show businesses how to grow by creating unique events and membership experiences.

One of our favorite exercises to do as a team at The Next Steps is our vision for the future. So, we hope you will do this short exercise and then post a pic or comment on how it looks for you. Given there are two of us in the company we each take time on our own and then compare. This exercise can also be done for your personal life.

Step 1: Draw a large circle on a piece of paper and then draw two lines (vertical and horizontal). Now your circle has 4 quadrants.

Step 2: Visualize this circle is 2017 or event a particular month and think of the following:

Upper Left Quadrant: What do you want to BE in 2017?
Upper Right Quadrant: What do you want to HAVE in 2017?
Bottom Left Quadrant: What do you want to DO in 2017?
Bottom Right Quadrant: What do you want to GIVE in 2017?

Step 3: Pull out your phone and set the stopwatch/timer for 5 minutes and write down everything that comes to mind in each of those areas.

Step 4: Take a look at what you wrote.  Does anything stand out to you? Maybe you have overlap in some of the quadrants. Now, go get all you wrote! Choose just 2 or 3 of those and focus on taking the next step and STEPPING UP.