GYYIG – Get Your Year In Gear!
2009 is rapidly ending and 2010 is rapping at our doors. Are you ready? Did this year give you what you planned for?
For many this is a trick question as you may have done more planning for what they will wear on a long weekend away than you did for your business during the entire year?
I have a saying that I release to clients regularly that says “Choose what you want or get what you are given.”
If you don’t choose – the universe will – and it will probably not match what you would have chosen.
Mention of the word “PLANNING” makes the eyes of many people seem to glaze over, their speech slur and music from a zombie movie roll through the room.
We all know that planning is claimed to be the highest value activity for a business owner. It is the force that allows activity to be directed strategically – to achieve goals [remember them – what you want to happen by a certain time?]
Who Does Planning?
Everyone does planning at some level and skill. Some plan only the next hour or day. Others plan a week ahead, a month, a quarter, a year, 3 or 5 or 10 years. In Japan there are 100 year mortgages so that families can plan to buy real estate over several generations.
What percentage of your time do you invest in planning your life and business? To answer that you need to define planning.
Let’s look at a general overview of a planning model that I like.
7 Steps To Get Your Year In Gear
Step 1. Decide on your intentions for your life. Sounds tough – but it usually comes back things like – Be happy, healthy, and rich. Ie relationships, wealth and being healthy enough to enjoy life.
Step 2. Now look ahead 1 year and vision [see!] where you want to be, and make a clear statement of your intentions. Use the format “My intention is to…..be/do/have…. ”
Step 3. Define your goals – simply turn your vision into a set of practical and measurable goals.
Step 4. Create the measures – develop a set of measurement systems that will keep you on track as the year unfolds and allow course corrections when you drift off track;
Then – if you want to go for “sophisticated” – add the following steps:
Step 5. Review your plan weekly on Monday morning or Sunday night. Allow it to guide you as to your priorities for the week. Review your vison and goals daily before you start each day. This will boost your time management skills
Step 6. Create a calendar that will allow you adequate rest days, business development days and profit-generating days. Ie Plan to plan
Step 7. Plan your finances – create your “Mother of all Spreadsheets” that will allow you to determine your personal and business income for the year.
That wasn’t so bad was it? It was too hard? OK. Try this:
6 Sheets of Paper = Success
Get 6 sheets of blank paper. Name each page as follows:
1. Personal goals – next 12 months
2. Business goals – next 12 months
3. Personal goals – next 90 days
4. Business goals – next 90 days
5 and 6. Actions for next 90 days
Now – complete the 12 month goals for personal and business. From the 12 months goals work out the goals for the next 90 days for personal and business. Then from the 90 day goals make lists of all the actions that need to be done to achieve the 90 day goals. Schedule each of these actions into a diary or calender – that lists what happens each week. Read it carefully.
If you are ready – SIGN IT and commit to it. You now have a 90 day plan. Get someone to hold you accountable to the plan on a weekly basis.
As Napoleon Hill said “Power is organized knowledge used intelligently.” And without having goals there can be no plan – and will no plan – we cannot use anything ‘intelligently’.
Choose what you want or get what you are given!
James Hooper
Townsville Business Coach
07 4721 0525