21 May Planning Your Business Month
Later on this week I’ll be moving house; a task which I’m told is one of the most stressful on the “stress test list”. Not surprising, I know I hate it, and have hated it with a passion since my early years.
However, it’s still a week away and I’ve already got the numbers down and gone through the motions of what needs to be done in order to make everything go smooth. Simple isn’t it? When it comes to a huge task such as moving house, we do what we need to do in order to make it go as smoothly as possible.
I know that people fail often in this area.
But why?
Let’s break it down…. I’m moving house NEXT WEEK(!). If I don’t get up off my butt and do something about it, it sure isn’t going to do it itself. Without much effort at all I can easily visualise what the consequences might be if I don’t get everything wrapped up, stuffed in boxes and on the back of a truck by Saturday morning. It’s easy for me to recognise just how bad things would turn out of something like the truck didn’t turn up (which is why I have a backup plan just in case). Can you see that also? Because it’s only a week away, it’s easy to identify what might or what might not go wrong.
But when I look at my business, in truth, I don’t always look at it 12 months from now. I mean, I’m not going to starve am I? Sure I can work a little harder, do things a little smarter… but hey, if things don’t work out, I’ve always got a fall back – it’s called a Job.
How about you?
[Sidebar: If when you first glanced at this article you thought it was going to list “the top 10” blah blah blah, you would have by now realised that “no”, this isn’t one of those. It’s often far more important to look AT the problem and discover WHY before seeking to treat it. That’s what this article is about.]
And so why is that we (as people often do) will make the arrangements we need to make in order to move house this week, this month or whatever; yet, we’ve spent hardly any of that time carefully planning out what is going to happen in our business next month, next year and so on. Why? Because next week is easier to see.
Humans are very easily motivated by consequential thinking when we set out minds to do such. And while yes, there is a school of thought out there that says we should always / only motivate ourselves by “thinking about the positive side of life” (I’ve written many such articles myself), think not for one moment that you cannot use the reverse as a powerful motivator also.
This applies to business, it also applies to life. Both should be in balance.
Ask yourself… what is the absolute WORST THING that might happen you to if you DON’T get your business up, running and profitable in the next 12 months? What’s the worst possible thing that could happen as a result if you don’t *keep* it growing and flowing across the next five years? The worst possible thing…. The ultimate consequence….
Are these things powerful enough to make you get up of your butt, get your mind into some research, and push your body to *do* what MUST BE DONE? If not, then you should re-think being in business because “wanna be’s” don’t get successful with this thing called the Internet. It’s a beast, and there are literally millions upon millions of competitors waiting to eat you up and devour your hopes, dreams and wishes.
However, here’s the key (and there’s always a “key” in my writing)… almost none of those millions and millions are doing what it takes to be successful Online, let alone in life.
So here’s my suggestion to you: Don’t just plan your holidays, your birthdays, the buying of a new car or home… invest the same amount of time (pro rata) into planning your business and success future. Plan how that can also impact your life and your ultimate future. Yes, use dream building and goal setting to get to where you want to be – but remember also that most of us are more aptly motivated by the reverse, the avoidance of pain and consequence. Use both of these wisely to help you conquer your castle and both PLAN and BUILD your business as well as your life.
