5. WORKING THROUGH THE PROGRAM
THE FIRST WEEKS
Week One
You are now ready to launch your Personal Plan. Before beginning, you need to have already set out your Program goals, broken these down into manageable weekly targets, found a willing “buddy” and planned a workable schedule around your lifestyle commitments.
IF YOU HAVEN’T YET COMPLETED ALL THE ABOVE PRELIMINARY TASKS, STOP NOW AND ARRANGE TO COMPLETE THEM BEFORE ENTERING INTO WEEK ONE OF THE PROGRAM
The first week of the Plan's Program is, perhaps, its most important week. This is why it is essential that you are fully prepared for it. If you succeed in meeting all your Targets in Week One you will, by the end of that week, experience a real sense of pride and achievement which will provide you with a strong motivation to continue in the Program’s subsequent weeks. If, on the other hand, you make a half-hearted or carelessly planned attempt at your Week One plan, managing only to achieve partial success in meeting your selected targets, then you are more likely to lose confidence in your ability to stay with the Program for its eight week duration.
It is important that at the end of Week One you set aside some time to assess your progress. If you are satisfied with what you have achieved, take heart that you almost certainly have the commitment and competence to complete the entire Program successfully. If you are not satisfied with your progress at the end of Week One take time to consider fully why this is so. In particular, try to work out what went wrong with your schedule and how this could have been avoided. Discuss any problems with your buddy.
Regardless of whether or not you are satisfied with your Week One progress, you are strongly advised to consult with your buddy and to report to her/him the level of progress achieved, including your feelings about what you have, or have not, accomplished. If, by completing your targets successfully in Week One, you have proven to yourself that the tasks set out for Week One were well within your ability to complete, you may comfortably move on to beginning Week Two as already planned. However, if you come to believe that you have been too ambitious in your plans, or that your regular time, work and home commitments prevent you from achieving your targets, you are advised to revise your targets for Week Two and, possibly, for subsequent weeks. If necessary, discuss this with your buddy.
If, for whatever reason(s), you have failed to complete even a minority of the tasks set down for Week One, consider restarting the Program from Week One. At the same time, you will probably need to look again closely at the targets you have already set out for Weeks Two to Eight and to consider revising the targets contained there. Again, make use of your buddy.
Whatever your situation is, do not move to Week Two tasks until you have made a success of the targets established for that first week, as it is imperative that you proceed to Week Two feeling proud of your achievements in Week One and filled with enthusiasm to tackle the more demanding tasks of Week Two.
Remember, in all your considerations here, your buddy’s views are likely to be most valuable and it is important that you listen with great care to what he or she has to say. Of course, YOU alone must take full responsibility for the non-completion of targets and for whatever changes you make, or do not make, to your Personal Plan.
It is recommended that when you have completed satisfactorily the majority of tasks set down for Week One, you provide yourself with an appropriate small reward. Working this out in advance is probably a good idea.
Subsequent Weeks
It is suggested that you apply this same discipline and approach throughout the Weeks from Two to Eight. Above all, maintain a consistent contact with your buddy and always listen thoughtfully to any advice or feedback provided. Remember, too, that by interacting with your buddy you are very likely to bolster your self-confidence and self-esteem when you are able to acknowledge, in this more public way, the successes you have achieved in your Personal Plan. It is likely also that your buddy will want, and be ready, to congratulate you on your steady progress towards your selected goals.
When you reach the end of Week Four, and assuming you have made continuous and consistent progress on your weekly targets, it is time to strongly commend yourself on what you have achieved to date. Look closely at your re-planned lifestyle and you will be certain to regard it with justifiable pride. Note its improvement since the time you first considered taking up the Phoenix Plan Program. Now is the time to reward yourself in some way meaningful to you. Convey your sense of pride at your achievements to your buddy and express thanks for his/her support. Re-energise your determination to continue to work enthusiastically at the remainder of your Personal Plan in Weeks Five to Eight.
AFTER WEEK EIGHT
Perhaps the first thing to do after completing Week Eight successfully is to again congratulate yourself for having worked through the eight week self-improvement program. Focus on the things you have achieved rather than on any imperfections in your efforts. Look closely at your now established new lifestyle and examine your present feelings about yourself as compared to what these were only two months ago. If you have selected appropriate goals and targets for your Personal Plan and conscientiously worked through the Program steps, you should notice a marked and positive difference between how you feel now as compared to then.
In a sense, you have truly moved from the HERE of pre-Program days to the THERE that you then wanted to achieve.
What you have achieved is no mean feat. Lots of people do not stick with self-improvement programs but give up, for various reasons, shortly after beginning.
It is now most important that you provide yourself with a substantial reward in view of what you have achieved. You certainly deserve it!
Talk also to your buddy about your success in the Phoenix Plan. Your buddy will be rightfully admiring of you, having seen how you have disciplined yourself over the eight weeks in order to improve the quality of your lifestyle. Recall, too, that your success may also, in a very real way, have been made possible because of the support, encouragement and mentoring provided by your buddy. Make an appropriate gesture of thanks to that person who has given you such valuable help by monitoring your efforts to meet the requirements of the goals and targets set out in your Personal Plan. Yet, remember that YOU are the primary architect of your achievements.
At the beginning of the book, I suggested that if you worked diligently and appropriately at the Phoenix Self-Help Life Plan Program, you:
MEASURE YOURSELF NOW AGAINST THESE CRITERIA
If you have followed the Program effectively, you should now be able to note significant improvements in all of the above areas. In reality, you have re-planned, reformed and redirected the path your life is taking. These changes will, undoubtedly, lead you to a higher quality, more enjoyable and more satisfying lifestyle.
Once again, CONGRATULATIONS !!
WHAT NOW?
It is vital that you hold on to the progress that you have made throughout the eight weeks of the Program. Whatever your final goals or targets in the eighth week, they give you a ready-made schedule to inculcate as a permanent feature of your new lifestyle. You should strive to maintain these activities as a regular feature of your weekly timetable if you are to safeguard and retain the level of lifestyle improvement you have built up over the last eight weeks. If you drop your commitment to these newly established goals and targets, you may eventually slide back to the lesser quality lifestyle you had before you started the Program.
WHAT IN THE FUTURE?
If this Phoenix Self-Help Life Plan self-improvement program has really brought you closer to the kind of lifestyle you sought, perhaps dreamed about, before you started to work through it, then realise that it can be a most important resource in your future self-development.
Do not regard the Program as a once only exercise to deal with emergencies, but rather see it as a means by which you can plan and make long term, gradual and carefully selected step-by-step moves towards a better and happier lifestyle. Hopefully, your progress to date will have convinced you that, through using the Plan, you have in your possession a valuable self-improvement tool which you can call upon and implement at any future time in your life.
Your recent progress through the Program, while always a matter for rejoicing and self-congratulation, will inevitably have helped you to realise that the task of self-improvement and development is never really completed but is a life-long and ever present challenge. Even now, in spite of your achievements to date, you will be able to perceive that there are opportunities for further improvement in those areas of your lifestyle which you have already worked on successfully. There will also be new areas for development which have been left untouched to date.
It is my sincere hope that the progress you have recently made by working through the Phoenix Self-Help Life Plan will act as a powerful source of motivation for you to continue further in your work of self-improvement. I urge you strongly to confer with your buddy within at least two weeks of completing your first round of the Program. Attempt, between you, to formulate any further lifestyle improvements that could be attempted and which would enhance the quality of your day-to-day existence. Focus, in particular, on the possibilities for progress that could be developed where these are based on the goals you have already achieved. As before, if you decide to tackle a range of new developmental goals, take time to choose these carefully and use your buddy as a friendly sounding board. However, do not attempt more than you are likely to be able to handle.
Read through Part Three of this book. This deals briefly with some general considerations about life areas that are of significant importance to the quality of the lifestyle a person enjoys. Consider whether or not you have given, or are giving, appropriate consideration to any or all of these matters. Your analysis of your performance in these life areas will help you to establish new or improved life goals which you may want to include in any second round of implementing the Program.
When you have a clear idea of what lifestyle matters you want to work on further, begin the Program a second time. Work through all the steps as set out already and maintain the supportive role of your buddy.
Once again, congratulations on what you have already achieved and good luck with all your future efforts within the Phoenix Self-Help Life Plan.
May your lifestyle become happier, healthier, more rewarding, less stress inducing, more prosperous, be filled with improved personal peace and may you enjoy productive and mutually stimulating relationships with all with whom you come in contact.
IF, SOMEHOW, THOUGH YOU HAVE REACHED THIS STAGE OF READING IN THIS BOOK, YOU HAVE FAILED TO APPLY YOURSELF SUFFICIENTLY TO THE PROGRAM AND THEREFORE ARE UNABLE TO ENJOY THE POSITIVE REWARDS DESCRIBED ABOVE, DO NOT LOSE HEART.
THE QUALITY OF THE EFFORT YOU DID MAKE SHOULD NOT BE DISREGARDED OR MINIMISED. AFTER ALL, YOU DID MAKE A START AND, TO SOME EXTENT, YOU DID TRY TO WORK THE PROGRAM. THAT, ALONE, IS A SUFFICIENT BASIS FOR YOU TO FEEL PROUD ABOUT YOUR GOOD INTENTION TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF YOUR LIFESTYLE.
RATHER THAN GIVE UP NOW, GO BACK AND RESTART THE PROGRAM. LEARN FROM THE ORGANISATIONAL MISTAKES YOU MADE THE FIRST TIME AND ENSURE YOU HAVE THE ONGOING PRESENCE OF A SUPPORTIVE BUDDY.