Why are you asking “how”?
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. You haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know it when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it gets better and better as the years go by. “
Steve Jobs 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University
If you’ve been following this series, you know we’re one quarter into 24 short lessons on exactly what to do to get started if you want to be an entrepreneur or have your own business. Of course, since these are mini-lessons, there will be more than just the content of these articles. But at least it’s a place to start to get from where you are now to where you want to be, in a situation where you have a “business.”
I’ve stressed the point (hopefully in a nice way) that making decisions, and making decisions that result in plans, is essential to anything you do. Without this action on your part, life will happen to you by default. Especially as change comes at us faster and faster, as the need to stay relevant and keep pace becomes a bigger feature of our landscape, making plans becomes imperative. You can change them, but first you have to lay the foundation.
By following the steps outlined so far, you are consciously deciding what you want in your life. You are actively choosing how you want your life to be. You are making plans to get there. And you’re remembering to check in with yourself to make sure you’re feeling peace, joy, contentment, and a sense of accomplishment. Plan your mission, then make it so.
Here are eleven essential and useful planning behaviors:
1. Be honest with yourself: no excuses, no sugarcoating
2. Be responsible: abandon your sense of entitlement
3. Just do it: Don’t be afraid of hard work and don’t wait until everything falls into place, or else you won’t start.
4. Take one day at a time with your actions, but focus on long-term results
5. Don’t be discouraged by short-term setbacks
6. Plans are not the end of your life, you can change them. But first give them your all and stay with them long enough to experience success.
7. Be of service. Have high intention with low attachment. Give without expecting to receive in return
8. Stick to your composition and keep your sense of humor. Roll with the punches. Be the person you would like to be close to.
9. Do not give more details. Simple is good. There’s no need to impress anyone: under-promise and over-deliver.
10. Be proud (not selfish). Keep your word. Know that actions produce results. Take action today, and tomorrow you’ll have the pedigree or credentials you think you need.
11. Be in the now. Give your all to this moment instead of rushing to some end point. The ending will be fixed only if you give it your full attention now. Understand how your actions today contribute to an endpoint you’ve set for tomorrow.
As important as it is to learn and develop behaviors of successful entrepreneurs, some of you may want more tangible instructions. How do you get from here to there? How do you make decisions and plans that move you forward?
Ask yourself HOW and then answer by doing the following:
Every night make a plan for your day tomorrow.
This should be broken down into components:
- Projects you plan to work on
- Projects you plan to delegate, including a completion timeline and to whom they are assigned
- Tasks that need to be done
for the projects your work on, note:
- What purpose are they related to?
- The results
- What are the next action steps you need to take to keep moving forward
Description
Delegate to
Term
Results
next action step
goals
Projects
Chores
- Block your time. The most difficult or most intimidating item should go first.
- Set a stop time! Work on this element until you complete it. It will make you get better at completing things in a shorter time frame as you get used to intense focus.
- limit your Chores at 30-60 min max. Schedule them for after lunch or early afternoon or when your energy is a bit low, as they require less thought and creativity.
- Ask yourself at least twice a day if what you are doing is moving you towards your goals. Remember, you don’t want to be busy; you want to achieve results that produce the results you have decided you want: time, money, health, relationships, etc. As you work, keep in mind the result you are working towards.
BREAK! Be sure to take breaks to move, breathe, eat something nutritious, or have fun. It’s just as important to nurture your creativity as it is to keep going. And at the risk of being politically incorrect (although I don’t think that was the intention) here’s a suggestion for one of your breaks: Why do Indians always ask HOW? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_at9dOElQk
behind
- DO appreciate that HOW you go through the planning and decision-making process, whether you rush it or dive into it, affects how you achieve success or not.
- DO go back and review the who, what, when, where, why steps, as well as this how, as you go through the decision-making process.
- DO recognize that a plan is useful only if it is implemented. The next thing you need is the ability to act so that plan to stay tuned for more articles!
NOT TO DO
- Whose Forget taking some quiet time to reflect deeply on what brings you joy, contentment, peace, and contentment. You are creating a business to serve yourself, not a life in which you serve your business.
- Whose forget to take a step back and look at the big picture and remember that your decisions affect your health, your finances, your family and your future. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be into entrepreneurship. In my opinion, that should get you into entrepreneurship more passionately and quickly! But in all circumstances you are part of a greater whole and in our hectic lives we sometimes forget that. Whose.
ACTION ELEMENTS:
- Be very quiet. Sit somewhere without distractions. Make a conscious decision. Decide that you are ready to do the work to start from where you are today.
- Make a list of the things you know how to do and the things you like to do. Choose one or two short- and medium-term goals that you can achieve in a month and a year. Then pick one wild thing you’d love to do, be, or have ten years from now.
- Begin charting your course. Think about why that will force you to keep going. Now choose three mini-goals, or milestones, to reach your one-month and one-year goals.