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The Planner v. The Doer

How to Win the Battle Within Recently, while reading a piece by Marshall Goldsmith, I was reminded of a very insightful principle one of my early coach/mentors taught me. During one of our sessions in the “Rare Book Room” at Eastern University, Dr. Harold Howard described to me the inner battle we all have. The battle goes like this… in the morning I plan to do a bunch of things that are important to me… finish my A tasks (back then we planned our days with paper and pen using an organizational system much larger than my current laptop), start three new B tasks, write 5 thank you notes, spend 30 minutes doing my MBWA (management by walking around) activities, etc. Then my day happens… and of course, I only accomplish, if I am having an awesome day, half of my plan. What happened? What happens most days? Well, Harold described what Marshall calls the planner and the doer in all of us. The planner is wide-eyed and believes you can do so much and starts the day with vigor. The doer…
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