Make A Simple Plan For Your Business With Three Questions

If you’re reading this, you may not be much of a planner.  In fact, for most people setting plans and goals sucks.   So with that being said, thanks for reading this far.  Planning can be difficult as you sit and try and figure out what the right goals are and not make those goals feel arbitrary.  For you haters of planning, here are three simple questions to get you started.  Answer these and you are well on your way to having a plan that will make your year better.

These questions are questions that we ask ourselves and our clients frequently.  It’s also part of our Alignment Blueprint that we do with clients this time of year.

Here are the three questions.

What are you going to keep doing? 

It’s easy to focus on the negatives when we look at our lives but I want you to start this process off on a positive note.  This is the time where you look at what worked in your business during the past year.  What are those activities that added to your business in a big way and that you would be crazy to stop doing?

What are you going to start doing?

These aren’t to be confused with resolutions because this needs to be shit that you really need to start doing.  These are not things that you hope to do like go to the gym and piss people off who go to the gym all year and now can’t work out for a couple of months.  For instance, one thing we decided to focus on for this year was the market that our business operates in.  We realized that we need to build more relationships within our own community.  What are those things that are going to be essential for success this year.

What are you going to stop doing? 

This is one of the most important productivity questions that you can ask yourself.  We tend to get in our own way when we engage in activities that aren’t ultimately critical to business success.  Particularly at the stage of business that you are in.  You don’t have the luxury to waste time and effort.  Do you need to hire someone to handle  certain things?  Are you engaged in too many efforts and need to refocus on one goal?

So how are you going to make time to answer these questions?  This is a great activity to work through during your morning routine or power hour.  This exercise shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes of focused effort.  After you do the exercise, comment on this post and let me know some things that you are going to change for next year.  I am curious to hear what everyone came up with.