Personal Strategy Compass - Issue 5: April 2025
Navigating your success your way, one quarter at a time
Personal Strategy Compass - Issue 5: April 2025
Navigating your success your way, one quarter at a time
Declaring Your Major: The Power of Focused Intention
What if one decision could turbocharge your next Personal Quarterly Offsite and your next quarter? Discover your next PQO needs a “major.” Toolkit included. (~ 8 minute read)
Greetings, Personal Strategy Compass Readers,
Last month, we walked through setting up your first successful Personal Quarterly Offsite (PQO). Now, let's explore a powerful technique to both focus your next PQO and amplify its impact: Declaring a Major for the quarter. That’s not a bad combination, is it?
Are you feeling pulled in too many directions? Like you're making tiny steps of progress on a mile-long list of goals? You're not alone. This month, we combat that by borrowing a concept from academia – choosing a single, significant area of focus and declaring it as your major. As a result, you can trade scattered efforts for deep, meaningful progress.
In This Issue
• Why Declaring a 'Major' Transforms Your PQO (And How to Choose Yours)
• Practical Tools: PQO Major Finder Toolkit
• AI Strategy Corner: Using AI to Brainstorm Your PQO Major
• Personal Reflection: How 'Strategic Simplification' Became My Breakthrough Major
• Ask Me Anything
• PQO as a Practice
• Final Takeaway
• Recommended Resource
Why Declaring a 'Major' Transforms Your PQO (And How to Choose Yours)
In the context of your PQO, 'Declaring a Major' means two related things. First, choosing one significant area of focus as the topic for your next PQO. Second, at the end of your PQO choosing one significant of focus for your next quarter.
Think of it as your primary field of study – be it Business Development, Mastering a New Technology, Deepening Client Relationships, Health & Well-being, Exploring a New Career, or something else entirely. As in so many things the concept is easy, but the devil is in the details. However, it is so worth the effort.
The Benefits of Declaring a Major: Why does this work?
• Reduced Overwhelm: Focusing eliminates the mental fatigue of constantly switching contexts and trying to keep too many balls in the air.
• Simple Step; Big Results: The simple act of choosing and, most importantly, stating a major helps you commit and creates the impetus to act.
• Depth Over Breadth: Concentrated effort on a major allows you to dig deeper, gain real traction, and achieve more significant results in one area, rather than making minimal progress on many.
• Clarity & Simplified Decisions: Your major acts as a filter. When new opportunities or demands arise, you can ask: "Does this directly support my major?" If not, it's easier to decline or defer.
How to Choose Your Major
Your PQO reflection (reviewing the past quarter) is the perfect starting point. Look for clues in:
1. Your Long-Term Vision/Values: What areas would bring you significantly closer to your bigger goals or align best with your core values? Does one stand out?
2. Your Biggest Challenge/Pain Point: What's causing the most friction, stress, or inefficiency right now? Making that your major can bring immense relief.
3. A Timely Opportunity: Is there a window of opportunity (e.g., a conference, a new market trend) that requires or might benefit from focused attention now?
4. A Critical Skill Gap: What skill, if developed, would unlock the next level in your career or practice?
5. Something You Are Avoiding: What is the biggest issue I am avoiding?
Ask yourself: 1. What ONE area, if I spent a significant chunk of my next PQO on would provide me the with the greatest insights and potential for forward momentum? 2. What ONE area, if I made significant progress in it over the next 90 days, would have the greatest positive impact on my work and life?
Integrating the Major into Your PQO
Once chosen, your major becomes the centerpiece of your planning:
• Goal Setting: Your primary goals for the quarter should directly relate to advancing your major.
• Action Planning: Break down those major-related goals into specific, scheduled steps.
• Resource Allocation: Intentionally allocate your most valuable resources (time, energy, money) towards activities supporting your major.
By declaring your major, you give your quarter clear direction and purpose, paving the way for meaningful achievement.
I’ll talk about my choice of major for my last PQO later in this issue.
Practical Tools: PQO Major Finder Toolkit
Use these tools to identify and commit to the most impactful Major for your upcoming quarter.
Download the PQO Major Finder Toolkit Worksheet here: https://www.denniskennedy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/445/2025/04/PQO-Major-Finder-Toolkit-Worksheet.pdf
This worksheet includes:
• Reflective Questions for Major Selection: Prompts to guide your thinking (e.g., "What accomplishment this quarter would make me feel most proud?", "Where is the biggest gap between where I am and where I want to be?", "What opportunity excites me the most?").
• Simple Major Selection Matrix: Compare 2-3 potential Majors based on "Impact," "Energy/Excitement," and "Timeliness."
• "Declare Your Major" Commitment Statement: A template to formalize your choice.
Committing to a major is the first step towards a more focused and productive quarter.