Best Laid Plans and Good Intentions

It’s 8 a.m. on this holiday Monday and the thermostat on the deck reads a balmy 77.9 degrees–with 77% humidity. According to weather.com, we’re expected to top 95 by day’s end. We’re smack dab in the middle of a heatwave in Hotlanta that seems to have no end. Back in June, the AJC gave this analogy and it fits:  “Think of Atlanta as a pot of water being heated, not an altogether difficult concept to envision. The heat is ignited in late May; the water starts to hit its peak boiling point in late June and then keeps that energy for a couple of months.” This was back in early June, when we were already seeing 90 plus-degree days. By the end of the month, we had racked up 28 days with 90 degree-plus temps, with the other two days coming in at a mere 86 and 88 degrees. Point? It’s damn hot…and it’s not going to quit.

Apparently, this weekend my air conditioners decided they’d had enough of this nonsense. Yes. On a weekend where temperatures are creeping near 100 degrees, and cooling and air repairmen charge holiday rates, my house is a virtual sauna.

Since we just returned from a lovely escape to The Sunshine Coast, with daytime highs that hovered around the 70 degree mark, the stifling air inside my house is amplified. I am still unpacking sweaters from my suitcase…and having flashbacks of sitting on the deck of my friend’s home wrapped in a blanket. Oh, to be in the north again.

I don’t dare blow dry my hair. Even on the best of days, when there is cool air  breathing from the vents in our master bath, the heat from the blow dryer fills the room so quickly that I always feel the need for a second shower AFTER I’m finished getting ready for the day.

The plan for the weekend was to catch up on laundry, organize my office and clean out my bedroom closet. None of which can be done without some level of effort, ie: Movement. And even with the ceiling fans blowing and box fans in this room and that, the thermostat is holding steady at a balmy 88 on the main floor — and nearing 93 on the second floor. Clearly, I need a new strategy for the weekend.

In an ideal world, my weekend plans seemed simple enough. Short-term goals were set, and I didn’t feel that I really needed a back-up plan. Seemed easy enough. But reality, however, is rarely neat and tidy. Circumstances change and one must be prepared to make midcourse corrections and have the flexibility required to roll with the punches. Whether in your business or in your personal life, things are ever-shifting.

According to the MIT Business Review, in business we should think of strategy as an iterative loop with four steps:  making sense of a situation, making choices, making things happen and making revisions. And I’m seeing that this same non-linear process fits pretty well with my particular “situation” as well.

Take my closet clean-up “plan” for example:

Step 1: Making Sense of the Situation- Closet is a total disaster. Disorganization and clutter is causing time management, inventory, and $$ losses. Profit recovery analysis has determined that closet organization will help recover lost $$ (aka the four pairs of flip flops I’ve purchased in the last few months).

Step 2: Making Choices – Get rid of clothing I haven’t worn in 365 days (including the denim shirt with embellished pockets that I I picked up on sale in hopes of visiting a dude ranch one day,) and the bell bottom pants that made a brief return in 2009.

Step 3: Making Things Happen – Contacted the ADA to schedule a pick-up date for clothing donation. Set aside time on calendar on July 3 and July 4 to dig into closet.

Step 4: Making Revisions – (In light of the fact that the closet in my bedroom is at least 110 degrees, post-air conditioner fiasco) Rescheduled closet -clean-up day to September 10 and 11. As it is a time of year in Atlanta where we are not dependent on a functioning heating OR air unit, September is the best month to clean out closet — removing the dependency.

With any project, revisions are likely. The needs of your customers will change. Technologies will change. The only constant–as we all know–is change.

So how are you doing with gear-shifting? I’d love to hear about a time when you had to re-think your strategy due to forces beyond your control. Share in the comments below! I know we’ve ALL been there!