Tired of all the hoopla about business planning? We recently talked about turning your intentions into actions. Today, we're going to stop thinking about... How will you grow? How much will it cost? Where will you be in five years?
Enough is enough! Step away from the crazy five-year plans and pare it down a bit. Make a three-day plan! Have you ever been to one of those all-you-can-eat buffet restaurants and been dumbfounded the moment you set foot in the dining room? Seafood, salad, desserts…where do you begin?
For some people, creating a five-year plan is the exact same feeling. It’s the overwhelming feeling that you’ll miss some of the things you like or needed most because you were blinding by having to take in so many things at once. That’s why it’s time to push the salad to one side and the sushi to the other and make your three-day business plan.
It’s three days! Without even thinking about it, we make plans to go out to dinner Friday night on Monday morning. We drop our clothes at the dry cleaners on Tuesday and pick them up on Thursday. Pretty much anything is manageable with a three-day window, right?
Take your business from buffet to bite-sized in just a few simple steps:
- In three days, what would I like to have crossed-off my list?
- In three days, what would I like to have done that I’ve been putting off?
- In three days, can I clean-out my email inbox and return all of my calls?
You can probably catch my drift. Putting your business goals into bite-sized bits can make the overwhelming seem effortless. Some of us are great deadline workers (i.e. procrastinators) and a short deadline will incite us to action. Others just find value in getting some of the smaller tasks accomplished as it makes us feel productive.
Don't turn yourself into one of those negative people by taking on more than is manageable. No matter how you look at it, a series of three-day plans will create your five-year plan before you know it. And I’m betting it will be easier than you ever thought!
