Leadership Viewpoint

Planning is the first step toward making your goals come to life. There are tons of sources online to help you set S.M.A.R.T. goals. Let’s assume that you have them written as our starting point. If you don’t have them written, go do that before you spend any more time here.

The planning that we’re focusing on here is the type that leads to real action, starting with your annual calendar. Think ahead and get everything you can laid out on your calendar. Be sure to include: key business projects. milestones, vacations and time off, major company meetings, national holidays, key personal dates like birthdays and anniversaries, and anything else of note. Computers have made this so much easier than paper systems ever were, since recurring items can be entered once and appear indefinitely if appropriate.

At the beginning of each month, sit back and review your annual plan and make any needed changes. Then turn your focus to the month at hand. Now it’s time to get really clear about ‘to do’ lists to make certain that everything actually happens. At the beginning of each month, take an hour or so to anticipate what you need to do to make your calendared schedule come together smoothly. Block time on your schedule accordingly – not just for meetings, but also for real focused, quality work time. At the beginning of each week, ensure that your time is laid out well for the week, and do your detailed ‘to do’ list for the next day. Make that ‘to do’ list a daily ritual. Focus on consistently taking care of your top priority activities every single day.

The only guarantee that comes with all this planning is that you will know what ought to be done when an emergency occurs and pulls you off-track! Without good planning, the odds are high that you will stay off-track. With good planning, you’ll probably get back to your important tasks and improve your long term success dramatically. That’s the real point of planning.

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