Open Doors: Let’s Plan With Hope in Our Hearts

The end of May is our time to evaluate things here at Frontdoors, followed by time I take each June to set goals for my personal life. This year, I find myself with more lead time to prepare for this annual exercise but, wow, there are so many questions swirling as I create the long list of items I want to review that it’s nearly impossible to plan anything. So, I am letting hope in.

A friend described her process to me: KEEP, LOSE, ADD. It’s a simpler version of my usual analytical tools and I like it. Whether it’s your business, your job or your personal goals, I believe exchanging time that would have been spent doing things that have been “canceled” for a strategic clean-up session will fill you with hope too. I’ll describe how I am using this tool for business evaluation, but applying this exercise to personal goals is an easy switch.

KEEP the things that work, that your brand is known for, that your customers and clients count on, the core of your mission. This list reflects why you do what you do and the things that drive the success of your business or organization.

LOSE the things that pull you away from that core, the idea you gave a try but never took hold, the things that have become distractions or don’t add to the bottom line in any way.

ADD is the space where you can brainstorm … the place for ideas you haven’t had time to execute, systems you need to implement, the place for long-lead goals for the coming months and year.

Handling the “what ifs” of the coming days, weeks, months and year is mentally exhausting. It always is, and even more so after eight weeks of social distancing. Posting your final KEEP and ADD lists to look at as you juggle reality will lighten the load, I promise. We can only handle so much. For me, writing these things down and allowing myself to be hopeful for the future is an annual prescription I count on this time of year …  now more than ever!

I also want to take a moment to express my deepest thanks to the board and staff of Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust. I am forever grateful for their trust and willingness to partner with the Frontdoors team during this unique moment in history. 

Hang in there and stay healthy,

About Andrea Evans

Andrea Tyler Evans is the Publisher of Frontdoors Media. She can be reached at publisher@frontdoorsmedia.com.

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