Planning…Who Needs It?

In the previous article, we concluded laying the SuccessFormula groundwork by reviewing all of the inter-related components of this unique formula present in every success story you’ve ever heard.

Now let’s look at why plan to begin with.  When I ask clients what steps they’ve taken to plan for the growth they want in their life,, business and practice in the year ahead, the most common answer is, “why plan?”

Typically, at this stage of the conversation I ask if they ever worry.  “Of course” is often the answer so let’s begin by defining worry.  To me, we worry because we don’t know something.  And, if we did know it, we wouldn’t worry.  From here, I often ask, “what would you need to know, that if you did know, would cause you to stop worrying?”  Here’s a hint from a previous article…people worry because there is a skill, talent or ability missing…in this case, it is the ability to predict the growth, development and success of their endeavors.

While this may sound simplistic, why not try it?  This is where the process known as planning often begins for my clients.  Also, it is important to remember that business is just a game.  All games are won or lost based on the known vs. the unknown.  So, in the game called “YOUR BUSINESS” what do you have to know that you don’t know?  And/or, what do you have to know how to do, that you don’t know how to do to win the game called business?

When you know what you need to know, you can win in the game of business.  If practice members knew what they need to know, they would win in the game called health.

So, by way of example, let me share with you what I hand hold clients through in our Annual Management Planning Seminar.  The seminar agenda, briefly and vastly oversimplified, looks like this:

PURPOSE OF PLANNING:  Effective and well planned company which causes increased profits and expansion.

1. Business Manual review and update
2. Vision, Purpose and Mission Statement review and update
3. Company organizational chart review and update
4. SuccessFormula applied to each department in the business
5. Management
6. Administration
7. Finance
8. Marketing
9. Sales
10. Production
11. Quality Control
    1. Determine personal income and expense projections
    2. Review and revise Job Descriptions, Annual Goals and Monthly Planners
    3. Pilot Projects: Research & Development

 

We recommend that our clients spend at least 1-4 hours per week planning the upcoming week.  Another 1-4 hours per month planning the upcoming month and we typically spend about 20 hours every December planning where we want to take our business in the upcoming year.  And, because most people will not dedicate the time to actually sitting down and doing this, we hold our Annual Management Planning Seminar where we take 7 solid hours leading our clients through this process.

Next, I want to introduce you to a personal form of planning we call the LifeWorks checklist.  This is a planning vehicle based on your ability to catch yourself doing things right.  Watch this…

How do you feel after a great day?  Great—right?

Sure, and how do you feel after a “bad” day?  At least, not so good, right?

Could it be the other way around?  Could it be that we have bad days because we go into them feeling badly?  And we have good days because we go into them feeling good?  Sure.  So why not figure out who we were, what we felt, how we acted during the best days in our lives, in our relationships or in our practices?

Did you realize that pilots, no matter how many times they’ve flown a plane, still print out and review a pre-flight checklist?  Why do you suppose they do such a thing?  Could it be that they consider that what they do is so important that, just maybe, they shouldn’t leave anything to chance or memory?  After all…lives are on the line.  Could it be that they realize it because of the danger of their job and that you don’t perceive the urgency behind what you do?

Why do we leave our lives, relationships, finances, personal development, business development and practice development to chance when simple planning  checklists can help you have what you want?

Your job is to look back over the course of your life, business, practice, relationship and see what the very best days had in common.  And then, checklist the commonalities so you are creating your best days on purpose and by design.

Here are some suggestions for your daily checklist from mine:

1. Start your day with a celebration of your life.  Most of the time, we just go through life not thinking we can affect the outcome.  We also tend towards self-judgment and being self-critical. Why not celebrate instead?
2. What do you have to be grateful for?  Start by focusing on what you have instead of what you don’t have.  You have indeed been blessed…why not acknowledge your blessings?
3. Create happiness for yourself today.  This is much easier than trying to create it for others.  If you’re happier, you’re halfway there and the chances are good that others will follow.
4. Have fun.
5. Finish what you start.
6. Make yourself a higher priority.
7. Shift your attitude from “what do I have to do today that I don’t enjoy?” to “how can I enjoy everything I am going to do today?”
8. Make someone else’s day today.
9. Speak Your Truth: never forfeit the truth for acceptance. Always follow your heart.
10.   Be open to receive and celebrate your completions and accomplishments.

Your LifeWorks or PracticeWorks or RelationshipWorks (get the idea) checklist is a living document that you would consult and use everyday to insure the best days of your life.  That means, create your own checklists and realize that they are for you to review and revise to make sure that they are accurate for your life at the time.  And, I would definitely plan to periodically review them to make sure that this plan is serving you!