Entrepreneur Essentials #2 – Plan or Fail. It’s that Simple

Welcome back. The focus of today's discussion is the importance of planning in your business. I'm sure you've heard the axiom, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. It's true. In today's world of never ending noise and distraction you are not going to stumble into success or accidentally achieve. If you want to get to your destination you must make continued sustained progress toward your goals.

First I'll show you how to double your effectiveness in two simple steps. Then I'll share a few guiding principles to help you in your planning

Step #1 - Plan before you start

Your morning hours are the most effective and productive hours of the day. You need to maximize the effectiveness of these hours. Unfortunately many entrepreneurs waste these hours checking email, social media or other activities that just aren't as important as other things you should be doing.

The reason you do this is out of routine or habit. People wake up, they roll over and they pick up their phone. From that moment they are reacting rather than acting and letting their most productive hours slip through their fingers.

Before you head into each day, plan what you want to get done in it. Pick the most important 5-10 things that you want to complete and then list them in order of most important to least important.

Then when you start out each day, pick up your list, start at item #1 and do it! Knock off one at a time until you are done.

Then use the remainder of your day to do the other less important tasks.

When should I do my planning?

I do both my Step #1 and Step #2 planning in one session each evening. I'll explain more about it shortly.

Step #2 - Be Accountable

How much did you get done yesterday? Was it everything you set out to do? Perhaps. Perhaps not. There is a chance you haven't even thought about it. The second key principle in effective planning is to review each day. Look at your list and see what you have crossed off and what remains still unfinished.

Reflect on why you did or did not achieve your goals. What got in your way? How can you avoid that obstacle in the future. It is these few minutes of thoughtful reflection that will help you to establish better habits and reach your goals. Most people don't change, the reason they don't change is they don't take the time to sit and think about what is going on and what state they would rather be in.

It's also important to take the time to recognize what you have done well. If you kicked your day's butt, be proud of that. Own it. Plan to do it again tomorrow.

Recognizing your achievements will help motivate you on to greater heights.

The Evening Planning Session

Each night I sit down for a few minutes to do my planning. This way when I wake up the next morning, I already know where my day is going. I know what I plan to accomplish and where to start my day.

For the first 5 - 10 minutes I look at what I got done that day. I look at my list and get excited about what I got done and how much progress I have made towards my long term goals.

Then I take any remaining items that still need doing and put them on the list for tomorrow. I then build on this list with anything else I may need to do tomorrow.

Once I have a new list, I review it and order it from most important to least important. Then I'm ready for a new day.

The evening planning session also helps me sleep stress free as I know exactly how I'm going to deal with the million things I have on my plate. It's not one insurmountable pile. It's a collection of single jobs that I'm going to knock off, one at a time, until it's done.

It's also really gratifying to cross things off lists. You should try it. You'll love it.

What is important?

When I first began working as an accountant I would often get overwhelmed by the sheer number of jobs on my desk in any given day. There was never less than two dozen active client files and then a host of other matters. Sometimes I would just sit and stare at the screen paralyzed by the immensity of work still ahead of me. When I asked my father where I should start, his answer was always simple...

Start with the thing that makes you a dollar.

Simple but sage advice. Your business succeeds and earns revenue as you provide value to clients. So make sure that first and foremost you are doing the things that will make your clients happy and result in revenue for your business. Don't let client calls go un-returned. Start and finish jobs so that you can charge for the work you are doing. If you run into a roadblock, make notes on it and then put it on the back-burner. Then move onto something else.

One pitfall to avoid...

Don't mistake motion (or being busy) for progress. You can be busy doing a whole lot of nothing. Make sure your effort is being focused on the meaningful tasks on your daily list.

As you apply these principles you will become a more effective entrepreneur. People ask me everyday, 'Sam how do you find the time to do everything?'

What is everything? you ask. At the time of writing I work a 9 to 5 as an accountant, run an a Sporting Business, publish 4 books a year and am developing a piece of software along with spend time with my family and participate in my community.

The answer is... everything you have just read. So don't flounder about ineffectually. Let's get stuff done!

Written by:

Samuel Stokes

Samuel Stokes is an Accountant and Business Adviser who has been helping businesses succeed since 2005. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in business, is a current Tax Agent and a member of the Certified Public Accountants. He is also a USA Today Bestselling Author.

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