Hey leaders! This is episode one hundred and five! We’ve all heard the saying “Plan your work and work your plan”. However many leaders I connect with have a hole in one of these four areas when it comes to planning for their business results.
These four areas are annual, quarterly, monthly, and weekly planning.
Almost everyone has an annual plan for their business. This is all about the crazy big dreams and achievements they set out with.
Many also have monthly plans. I do find however that many don’t use this monthly plan throughout the month when working in their business. They simply go about their work and however the month ends up is how the month ends up.
Now, this is an advantage for some who have an intentional approach to this. They work in and on their business diligently while focused on their annual goals and plans.
They don’t pay attention to whether it’s the beginning or the end of the month. They don’t focus on “close out”.
They have the same approach every day regardless of the day of the month.
Others however can be less intentional about this and simply, as they self-describe, ‘not be good at goal tracking’ every day & throughout the month.
I’ve had so many leaders take note and say “Can you repeat that?” when I share how I go about planning for my business.
I start with my crazy big dreams. And this is important because it’s uninhibited. I just dream.
Like…it would be amazing if I could serve entrepreneurs. It would be amazing if I had my own podcast. It would be amazing to write a book. It would be amazing to have journals and stationary and supportive, business-branded materials for my clients. And so on.
So these aren’t goals per se. They aren’t your typical “smart goals”. Specific, measurable etc…
These are crazy big dreams. Ideas I would love to become reality but feel a little too big and maybe a little “well that would be crazy” to make happen.
I take these and then I sit down with what I do know about the year ahead. In my personal and professional life. I’m a military spouse and sometimes we happen to know what’s coming and a lot of the time we truly do not know what’s coming. That’s the nature of the work.
Some jobs come with a lot of responsibility. It can be a big job, a lot of travel, a deployment, or a unique set of circumstances. There may be a lot more solo parenting on my part. And then there’s a cushion I have to check myself with because there is a guarantee that something unforeseen will always come up.
My ambition rarely matches our reality. What I am wanting to do professionally and what I am humanly able to accomplish because of our military lifestyle and being the first-call parent of two kiddos, well there’s just a big mismatch there. And that’s ok.
I love that I’m ambitious and driven. I love that I still have goals and dreams with my business. Even if they are crazy and big. Because there was a time, as a military spouse when I stopped setting goals. I didn’t have personal dreams. And I didn’t feel like myself. At all. Thankfully, I didn’t stay there.
Once I have looked at what I know is unfolding in the year ahead, personally and professionally, and then factor in a cushion, I set business goals for the year.
These yearly goals I review every week when I do my weekly planning. I use these annual goals and break them down quarterly. I break down quarterly goals into monthly. I then use the monthly goals to create weekly goals. My weekly goals become what I do daily.
Essentially, it’s reverse engineering how to accomplish what I set out to do.
The hole I see in so many leaders’ business planning is that there is one part of this they don’t do.
Either A) Typically, they don’t use their goals for the year when they do their monthly and weekly planning, and/or B) they don’t do quarterly or weekly planning at all.
What four do you personally do? Annual? Quarterly? Monthly? Weekly?
Most of us have a schedule we keep, but some don’t review their goals for the year. Some don’t look at if they are on track to accomplish those. They don’t look at their annual goals when they revisit their quarterly plan.
They don’t revisit their quarterly plan when they are working on their monthly goals.
They don’t look at their annual plan when revisiting their monthly or weekly goals.
Is everything still on track? Is everything lining up? Does something need to be adjusted? Do I adjust the goal, the work, or the approach?
I look at my annual goals when I adjust my quarterly goals (because they almost always need adjusting based on how things are unfolding. Does it mean my annual goals have changed? No. Not typically. But quarterly things may unfold differently than I had originally planned.
I look at these annual goals when I plan my months and when I plan my weeks. Every weekend when I make a plan for the week I look at and review my plan for that month and I look at and review my goals for the year.
These yearly goals are my compass. They are the driving force behind what I do each day and each week. It helps me know what to say yes to and what to say no to. It helps guide most of my decisions and actions.
Even if there are opportunities that pop up that don’t align with my yearly plan (because there usually always are) at least I am intentional about adjusting my plan.
I can consciously know this original plan won’t come to fruition if I say yes to this new opportunity. Ok. Great. But it was thought out.
And I take a moment with myself to say, “ok, this wasn’t the original plan. This may not happen and that may not, but things are no longer going to happen because I am saying yes to this opportunity over here. Great. I’m going to set this aside for now and let it go.
Because if I don’t. I struggle. I end up discouraged that I’m not accomplishing what I set out to do. I have to set the desire aside for the time being. But my struggle is overcommitting myself and not being realistic about my ambitions and our current reality (life).
This may not be you. Or maybe you’re having light bulbs go off.
Five Questions Every Direct Sales Leader Needs To Ask Herself
Here are five questions to check in with your business plans for the year:
When you take a look at your goals for the year ask yourself first, Did I allow myself to dream crazy big dreams first? Or did I just look at last year’s numbers and set goals for this year based on those numbers?
Second, Did you factor in what’s happening in your life and for your family? Maybe there is something big happening during what is typically a significant time in your business. You can plan for this!
Third, ask yourself, Did I form quarterly and monthly goals from my yearly goals?
Next, Ask yourself, Do I have a weekly and daily plan that supports my monthly, quarterly, and annual goals?
Lastly, do I review my goals for the year when I do my weekly and monthly planning?
There is typically a hole here for almost every leader. Know it’s incredibly common. Know that it’s also an undeniable opportunity to truly impact your business results!
The best is yet to come! Always.
