Last week, I sat with a business owner who made a striking observation: "Bruce, I spend more time planning my next fishing trip than I do thinking about where I want my business and life to be in five years."

 This wasn't the first time I'd heard something like this. As someone who talks with business owners daily, I've noticed a pattern - we're often so caught up in the operational and immediate demands of running our businesses and managing our daily lives that we rarely step back to consider our deeply held core aspirations.

 Recent research suggests this isn't unique to business owners. Only 39% of New Zealanders have any kind of written plan for their future. We're all guilty of pushing off the "big picture" thinking while we deal with what feels urgent right now.

 But here's what fascinates me: when you do create the space to think deeply about your future, surprising insights emerge. Quite recently, I worked with a couple who owned a successful consulting engineering firm. The husband had been mulling over succession planning for years, always too busy with client work. But what came out in our conversation wasn't really about business at all - it was about his fear of repeating his brother's story, who had passed away before getting to enjoy the fruits of his efforts and retirement.

 This is what I've learned after years of these conversations: the barriers to planning aren't really about time or knowledge. They're about giving ourselves permission to step back and think bigger.  To reflect on and answer questions we'd never considered asking ourselves and our partners questions maybe we've been avoiding. To imagine possibilities beyond the next quarter or financial year or when the kids have finished doing what’s next in their lives.  

 The most powerful moments often come when partners who've been in business together for decades suddenly hear each other's real dreams and fears for the first time. Sometimes it leads to major changes - I've seen people sell businesses they thought they'd keep forever, or completely restructure their work lives after realizing they were on a path misaligned with what truly mattered to them.

 But more often, it simply creates clarity. Understanding why we're doing what we're doing makes decision-making easier. Knowing what really matters to our partners helps align our choices with shared goals.

 The irony isn't lost on me that in our hyper-connected, always-planning world, we've become worse at planning what matters most. We'll spend hours researching our next car purchase but won't take the time to understand what we really want from the next chapter of our lives.

 Maybe it's time we changed that. Not by going down the well worn path of rigid five-year plans that never see the light of day, but by giving ourselves permission to explore what truly matters to us. By having those deeper conversations with our partners and families. By thinking beyond the day-to-day to understand the core purpose of our actions rather than the detail they contain.   

 Because in my experience, the cost of not planning isn't just financial - it's the aspirations never realized, the possibilities never explored, and the conversations never had.

 What about you? When was the last time you really thought about where you're headed? Not just your business targets, but your deeper aspirations? While quiet reflection is valuable, I've learned that uncovering and articulating these deeper motivations needs more than solo contemplation - it needs a structured approach.

That's why I developed the Aspirations Mapping process. It creates a unique space for you and your partner to explore these deeper questions together, helping you uncover and articulate what truly matters for your future. If you're feeling stuck between the daily demands of business and the nagging sense that you should be planning for something more, perhaps it's time we had a conversation.