49. What's Your Telos?
What’s Inside
The Dark Ages
What Do You Want?
Build Your 90-Day Plan (Start here)
1. The Dark Ages
Happy New Year!
I hope each of you had a restful holiday & feel rejuvenated for the year ahead.
I appreciated time away to disconnect and reset.
As cadets at the Air Force Academy, we called the period after the holidays - the Dark Ages.
Less sun, cold days, and just a bit of a slog…
But I also love the New Year. A time to reflect & adapt.
It’s a fresh start.
Here’s one exercise I do at least once a year both personally & professionally...
START. STOP. CONTINUE.
What do I want to START doing?
What do I want to STOP doing?
What do I want to CONTINUE doing?
What does this look like for your business?
2. What Do You Want?
Aristotle wove the concept of telos throughout his life, teachings, and philosophy.
He posited that everything has a telos, or end, goal, or purpose.
You can say that the telos of a plane is to fly, just as a book is to be read.
Philosopher James K.A. Smith takes it a step further saying,
“…our telos is what we want, what we long for, what we crave. It is less an ideal that we have ideas about and more a vision of "the good life" that we desire.”
Consider using these “Dark Ages” to start at the end:
What is my goal?
What is my vision of “the good life”?
How do I want my life to look 1, 5, and 10 years from now?
Maybe you want to travel more, start a side hustle, take some time off, or build a company from the ground up and sell it for a billion dollars.
Whatever your telos, build your life & business around it.
3. Your 90-Day Plan
It’s not just a New Year - it's the start of a new quarter.
What do you want to accomplish by March 31, 2024?
Your 90-Day plan should cascade from an overarching 2024 strategy – which aligns with your longer-term vision.
Don't have one or all of those yet?
Start here with this free resource to...
Define your NorthStar and go-to market plan.
Clarify what you want to achieve over the next year.
Determine what you need to do in the next 90 days.
Invest the time today to create the future business you want.
4. Working Together in 2024
Strategy Power Hour: Tackle a specific challenge your business is facing during a one-hour virtual session. Develop laser-focused next steps to help you move forward with confidence. Includes Top Three Takeaways, near-term action plan, and one 15-minute follow-up call to gauge progress. (Schedule)
1:1 Private Strategic Advisor: Two-hour virtual kick-off session to jump start progress. Define where your business is going & why. Develop long-term vision & near-term priorities and goals. Meet 2x/month during 1-hr virtual sessions to gauge progress, discuss challenges, and determine next steps. Includes spot support between sessions. (Learn More)
VIP Strategy Session for Growth: Virtual half-day session to leverage your expertise for growth. Align your long-term vision & near-term strategy, priorities, and goals. Develop North Star with your go-to market plan. Includes strategic document review before session, in-depth SWOT analysis, & one 30-minute follow-up call to gauge progress. (Learn More)
I am excited for the year ahead and wish you a joyous 2024.
To your strategic success.
~Susan
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