Blog: Set yourself up for success in 2020

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail” – Benjamin Franklin

It’s all too easy to continue with the day to day tasks without stopping to carve out the time and harness the energy to consider alternative solutions, goals and actions. This is especially true as we roll out of the festive period into a new year and, in this case, a new decade.

The To-Do List is long and stakeholders are impatient, so we put our heads down and “keep on keeping on”. However, it is much more effective in the longer term to consider creative ideas, decide on an updated strategy and break it down into clear, measurable goals and actions. We all know this, but actually doing it is the challenging part! If you have not made time to set yourself, and your business, up for success yet this year all is not lost, you can schedule time to review and plan any time.

“A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow” – George S Patton

Don’t fall into the trap of putting off your strategy and planning session because it feels overwhelming or you don’t know where to start; time spent intelligently reviewing your goals is never wasted. Below is a very simple structure to base your planning around:

1. Begin with the end in mind (the 2^nd habit in Dr. Stephen R Covey’s & Habits of Highly Successful People) – where do you want your business to be 6 months from now, 1 year from now, 5 years from now? Allow this to be big picture thinking.
2. Break down the end goals into smaller, incremental goals e.g. quarterly or monthly goals. What needs to be achieved, and by when, in order to be on track for the big goals?
3. Bring yourself back to where your business is now – what do you need to bring in and/ or remove in order to make reaching the small goals possible? This where you can get creative at problem solving.
4. Now it’s time to create your action plan – don’t try to have a fully-formed plan for the whole year – start with the first month or quarter and break it down again into weekly actions with clear milestones.

“Plan your work and work your plan” – Napoleon Hill

The second most common issue people face is not keeping the new strategy “top of mind”. It is much easier to do what we have always done, so if we are going to do some things differently, we need constant reminders.

To avoid this common pitfall schedule in time each month/ quarter to review your progress against your goals. This is also essential to ensure you can make adjustments as and when they are needed…change is a constant and your strategy and plan need to stay current and flexible in order to best navigate the opportunities and challenges that will arise.

“Good planning without good working is nothing” – Dwight D Eisenhower

Finally, get to work! Every great strategy and measurable action plan is only as good as the work that is put in to bring it to fruition.

Once you’ve decided you want to change the way you plan your business, our expert consultants are available to you for a Complimentary Business Consultancy Call to help you on your way…click the button below to book yours.

Published Jan 13th 2020