Doing The Right Thing At The Right Time: The Sequencing Catalyst

Sequencing is the idea that the right steps at the right time get you where you want to go. Often, people understand where they are and know where they want to go, but the sequence of steps from here to there eludes them. They proceed forward, only to: (a) make too many wrong turns, (b) circle around one step, or (c) spend too long in that inefficient 20 percent.

Proper sequencing is probably one of the most important steps in life and in business. People who know how to efficiently get from here to there, who can see their way through a process, are more effective than most.

One Thing Leads to Another

Each link in a sequence depends on the one that came before it and affects the one that comes after it. As you go through your day, if the line at the coffee shop is too long, you’ll be late for your first meeting; if that meeting runs late, the noon deadline of a project analysis is shot . . . and on and on.

Dependent events can also be emotional. If your morning starts off rotten, this fluctuation, if uncontrolled, can ripple through your whole day, keeping you moody from start to finish. Proper and efficient sequencing can keep chaos out of one’s day.

The Sequence at Home

The priority at home should be 100 percent love, of course, but the approach should not be 100 percent emotional. If we allow life to come at us, on its terms, it will be chaotic. But if we prepare for situations, with visualization and sequencing of clear and logical steps, we can be ahead of those situations, and live them more slowly.


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That’s what athletes do when they visualize. For most beginning athletes, the world of their sport starts out very fast. It’s only when the game begins to slow down that they can master it. Now, obviously, the speed of the game has not really changed. It’s just their perception of it. That’s the science of sequencing — slowing life down.

At home, this begins right away. You have a choice when you wake up. Are your mornings jarring? Do they start with resistance? Do you bang pots and pans, scramble to cook breakfast, make a quick pot of coffee, or scream for the kids to get a move on? Or is it more gentle and framing? Do you have time to relax — snuggle with your spouse, perhaps — and discuss the day ahead? I imagine you may have laughed out loud at the latter suggestion. But it’s possible to change the conversation, get into the calm sequencing of Yes! Energy, and change your days.

Changing the Sequence of Your Life

Doing The Right Thing At The Right Time: The Sequencing CatalystConsider creating a day that goes like this: Set your alarm for 30 minutes before you need to get up. Before you tend to your family, or start getting ready for work, think about how you want the day to go. Consider that you are choosing to be the best you can be that day — to be happy, to be joyful, to be positive.

Now, you might be reading this and already feel the resentment that comes with defending one’s position. Chances are, you’ve never had the time, or the energy, to step back from the “way it’s always been”... But the old way and the new world have collided. It’s high time to take charge, lead our lives, and commit to finding a better way. That’s the entire point of the sequencing catalyst. It’s new, it’s evolved, and it provides that better way.

The Tactics of Sequencing

So, how does one sequence?

The end product is that you think or write out the actual process in which you will, in the future, engage. There are several ways to approach this exercise. You can start at the beginning of a situation, the middle, the end, or some mix of those. The gist is that you mentally step into a scenario before you actually live it out so that you can consider, see, and then set up the steps for success.

You can sequence any type of situation, from an important but dreaded conversation with a friend or colleague to a six-month preproduction schedule for a new project.

I recommend a combination of three steps to sequencing:

1. View it.

2. Undo it.

3. Time it out.

View It: Visualize

The idea here is that you put yourself into the situation and play it out before it happens, the way athletes do. This can work well in everyday life as well. If you get into it, you will see that the time spent up front does so much more than save you time in the long run.

Undo It: Reverse Technology

When a company tries to understand the product of its competitors, it employs reverse technology, where it literally takes apart a product to understand how it’s put together. Chefs and even amateur foodies, of course, do this, too, uncovering recipes and ingredients by dissecting the entrée.

In sequencing, you can do this visually. By considering the end product, the end result you desire, you can break it apart — “dissect the recipe” — to see what steps would need to occur to create that outcome. The unraveling then becomes the sequence of steps for putting it back together.

Time It Out: Future Pacing

Once you know what you want to do and the steps you need to take, it helps then to time them out or schedule them backward. Even with a simple conversation with someone, I consider how much time I have to talk, what I want the outcome to be, and how much time I have, going in reverse, to hit each point on the agenda. With projects, I look ahead several months, years sometimes, and then walk back along a timeline to make sure I can hit each target in time to do the next step. This provides a bird’s-eye view from which to lead the project.

Flexibility and adaptability are vital to sequencing. If you set each step in stone, you lose the opportunity to go with the flow. Sequencing is a framework, not a cage. If it becomes too rigid, if you’re a slave to your sequence, then you will actually deplete your energy. Once you get the hang of it, though, your energy and attitude will reach all-new levels.

©2012 by Loral Langemeier
All rights reserved. Excerpted with permission
of the publisher,
  Hay House Inc. www.hayhouse.com

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Yes! Energy: The Equation to Do Less, Make More by Loral Langemeier.Yes! Energy: The Equation to Do Less, Make More
by Loral Langemeier.

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About the Author

Loral Langemeier author of Yes! Energy: The Equation to Do Less, Make MoreLoral Langemeier is one of today’s most visible and innovative money experts. Because of her tenacity and absolute confidence in what she teaches, Loral is one of only a handful of women in the world today who can claim the title of “expert” when it comes to financial matters and the making of millionaires. She accelerates the conversation about money, sharing how to not just survive this tough economic climate, but to succeed and thrive. She is the best-selling author of the Millionaire Maker series and Put More Cash in Your Pocket, as well as a leading entrepreneurial speaker and the CEO and founder of Live Out Loud, Inc., a multimillion-dollar company.