It’s graduation time, and around the country, a specific group of people is planning what they will do next. High school students are thinking ahead to college in the fall, while university graduates are hoping for the magic call that means a job offer. While the rest of us—what are the rest of us doing?

We made goals a long time ago, but then, as life settled down into a routine, we stopped thinking past this week or this month. Our goals became relatively simple: make enough money to pay the bills, keep our boss (or clients) satisfied and maintain our relationships so everyone is happy.

The problem is that we have lost sight of the big picture. In fact, many of us don’t even know what the big picture is. We don’t think about each day as a step toward anything in particular but simply a movement along a straight line.

But more often than not, that straight line develops kinks. They could be in the form of health problems, relationship issues or money woes. Or the “kinks” might not be challenging events but opportunities: a career choice or a new love, for example. In either case, because we don’t have a clear idea of what we want to achieve and where we want to go on this road called “life,” we aren’t sure what to do—how to handle the problem confronting us, whether to take the chance offered us or let it pass by.

That happened to me recently. I was asked to host an Internet radio show (which would involve a commitment of time and money) but couldn’t decide what to do. It had never been one of the items on my list to consider and I had to think long and hard about how this would fit into my overall life plan.

Because I knew what I wanted to accomplish with my career, I decided to go for it, since the show would strengthen my platform as an author. But five years ago, my answer would not have been the same. As a soon-to-be author, I didn’t fully understand how to build a platform or even why I needed one. (More on platform building can be found at The Writer’s Place blog.)

This experience underscores why it’s essential for us to take time each year to evaluate our life and goals, and decide if what we are doing now is taking us where we want to go. And if we don’t know what we want to accomplish with the time allotted us, there is no time like the present to figure it out!

If you need help in drawing your “life picture,” stop in at my Make a Change blog for some tips. And if you’re one of the fortunate ones who knows where you are going and how you want to get there, share it with the rest of us by clicking on the COMMENTS link.

Are you looking for ways to shift your thinking or bust out of your rut? Try one of my workshops! I’m currently in the planning stages for a “Rut-Busting”™ Workshop Weekend Retreat. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.

Writers should sign up for the Writer’s Place Update—my e-newsletter with changes and additions to my The Writer’s Place as well as information about The Writer’s Place current blog topic.

All my seminars and workshops are available to companies, groups, organizations and schools nationwide. Contact me at 330-793-3675 or via e-mail for details or to schedule a class. But do it soon—my schedule is filling up fast!

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Make the most of the changes to come!

PS Did you read The Gifts of Change yet? If so, drop me a line with your comments and feel free to post a review on Amazon too! If you haven't read the book yet, what are you waiting for? (If you want to be removed from this mailing list, just click on Remove Me Please. But we'll miss you…)