Sail Away to Start the New Year

January 6, 2020
Executive Coaching

This is the first time I’ve gone on a cruise over the Christmas holiday. It was actually our 40th Anniversary Cruise, so we took the whole family along to celebrate.

 

Something I noticed is that being away makes you do things differently, since you’re not in familiar surroundings.

 

But it also made me use a “blank sheet” process, whereby you have a blank piece of paper and just start recording your thoughts.

 

You don’t want to look at lists of what you need to do or past projects you’ve accomplished. You want to do it as if you’re all new at what you’re doing.

 

Now before you dismiss this process (because it involved going on a cruise and you’re not planning one) know that you can also do the process by going somewhere different for a few hours— maybe a  neighboring city so that you feel like you are somewhere else than where you typically go.

 

Note:  Do NOT do this in your office.  You will tend to think in the same way you always think, since you are normally there day after day.

 

You want a fresh place and to use your “fresh eyes” so that you can plan an awesome year.

 

What to Do with Your Blank Sheets of Paper

  1. Get plenty of blank sheets of paper so that after you start the process you don’t have to take a break.
  2. Start writing down the ideas that  come into your head.  
  3. Don’t worry about the order you’re thinking of them in.
  4. You may want to think about life in general first.
  5. Next, think about your career.
  6. After you write all the ideas down (keep going until you fully exhaust your thoughts for the day) highlight all the ones that you could act on this coming year.
  7. Fine tune each idea so that it is an action step.
  8. You can group your ideas by month, if you wish, so that you can pull from this list all year long.

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Dan Chiodo

Passion. Charisma. Results. It’s those values and a desire to see others achieve them for themselves that led Dan to found iMPACT Training & Development, a firm which offers training to guide individuals into a higher level of performance through executive coaching, motivational speaking, staff training and organizational development.

CERTIFIED COACH

As a Certified Mastermind Executive Coach, Dan teaches courses in leadership development, communication, sales, customer service and time management, with a focus on hands-on learning strategies.

AUTHOR: PerfectTIMING

Dan’s experience and interest in time management led to writing his book PerfectTIMING which is available on his website, as well as Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and other books stores.

COMMUNICATION TRAINER

Dan also serves as the Senior Associate to Dr. Bill Wallisch, founder of MAIN Point, which is a communications firm that specializes in strategic communication skills for organizations worldwide. Clients include astronauts and cosmonauts of NASA, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, General Mills and the White House. MAINPoint also prepares well-known personalities for appearances on national television programs, such as Today, Nightline, Good Morning America and Meet the Press.

EXPERIENCE

Dan spent a great part of his career in the communications field, having served more than ten years as the President & Publisher of the Joplin (MO) Globe, which is one of the largest newspapers in Community Newspaper Holding’s (CNHI) groups of newspapers in the U.S.

Prior to that, Dan held several management positions with Ottaway Newspapers, the community newspaper division of Dow Jones, Inc. He has also worked at communications companies in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Minnesota and Missouri.

ACCREDITATION

Dan graduated from East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania. He also attended the American Press Institute, Reston, Va., the management studies program at Kellogg University, Chicago, Ill., and Leaderpoint Management Development Institute, Overland Park, Ks. He also taught at the Bloomsburg Journalism Institute, Bloomsburg, Penn., and at Ashland Community College, Ashland, Ky. Dan was an instructor for the Xerox Professional Selling Skills program and administrated it for several Ottaway newspapers.

INTERNATIONAL WORK

Dan’s assignments have taken him to countries such as Mexico, Panama, Australia, the UK and Dubai. He has also taught in the U.S. for companies such as General Mills, Nestle, Medtronic, Knutson Construction, the State of Missouri and Freeman Health System hospitals.

JOHN MAXWELL TRAINING

Dan is also on the John Maxwell Team of instructors and coaches, working with John to offer his courses throughout the country.


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