Business planning love affair forever.
Business planning: How to fall in love with it.
Many people spend more time planning their holidays than creating effective business plans. The concept of falling in love with business planning never crosses their minds.
However, the more attention you put into the business planning process, like any other relationship, the greater the positive feelings about what it is and what it can do for you. If you’ve ever been in love, you know the feelings. And if you have ever created a business plan that made a business function satisfactorily all day, every day. You also understand how it lights your emotions and increases your energy to keep on. You know how it makes your outlook brighter and how good it makes you feel about yourself. Confidence goes up, action orientation goes up, and outcomes are more readily achieved.
Business owners are often too focused on the day-to-day operations of their business rather than planning their time and resources to address their problems and frustrations and make the business grow sustainably. This is understandable and probably effective in the short term, but it’s not a great long-term plan. Many business owners fail to plan simply because they become too busy, and struggling becomes the norm.
Falling in love begins with a spark, a ray of hope, or a significant disruption in your life or business can cause it. It could be how somebody looks when communicating with someone or how someone moves across a room. Whatever it is, there is an initial spark that starts the fire burning in your heart. Believe it or not, you can have a similar experience with business planning if you take the time to understand the concepts and the processes.
Action makes things happen.
When you’re falling in love, paying attention to the details will give you the enthusiasm and motivation to keep going. The more awareness you bring to the relationship’s potential, the better. The more excited you will become about the possibilities opening up, along with the potential outcomes.
During business planning, many forget about the spark or the feelings they had when planning something well. They want their relationship with planning to provide instant gratification without much action. Of course, the time frames or planning horizons are usually longer term. The initial spark doesn’t need to be dramatic; it just has to start and keep you taking action.
Doing a Business Health Check could be an excellent place to start. It can more clearly identify your strengths and opportunities and crystallise your weaknesses and possible threats. You will find that when you clearly understand your weaknesses and threats, they are not as bad as you thought. Certainly not enough to justify all the worrying time you have been putting in.
You are far better positioned to make your future unfold or complete essential projects. You are also better placed to take the most appropriate actions, particularly on the things that are important to you and will have the most significant positive impact on your future. Ain’t love grand?
Change your conversations about business planning and make your business planning relationship and outcomes exciting.
Quotable Quotes
“To fall in love with planning, and for it to be effective, it must be treated as an important aspect of your day-to-day business”. Peter Sergeant
“One good quote or planning tip can change your whole day, business and life”. Peter Sergeant