Plan For Success – 4 things you can do today!
As a strategic planning expert, I know if you do not plan for success, you will surely will not stumble across it.
Strategic planning includes:
- Creating your overall vision and mandate
- Setting goals and priorities
- Developing policies, programs and projects
And so much more!
You cannot pull these things out of thin air. You must make the time to plan them out with intention and specificity.
“An hour of planning can save you 10 hours of doing.” ~ Dale Carnegie
So how do you do that?
Plan your work and work your plan.
Take the time to plan and create those to-do lists.
You may think “I am too busy to sit and make a plan”. Trust me, you will save time and energy in the long run. Planning for success is essential for productivity.
- Working the to-do list: First, identify your personal productive time(s) of the day. We are all different. Schedule specific tasks for those times; it is too precious to waste.
- Grabbing low hanging fruit: I like to pick off one or two tasks right away that can be completed quickly. Mainly for the immense satisfaction of crossing them off the list! If feels great and gives me a boost to tackle the rest of my list.
- Eat the Frog: There is always that one thing on your list you would rather work around, put off until later. Well don’t! Just eat the frog already – you will be rewarded with relief, satisfaction, and a confidence boost – after a frog you can tackle anything!
- Carry forward list: When the to-do list has most things crossed off and you need to add more, start fresh with a new page, and carry forward unfinished items. This is for obvious reasons, but also, I find that when things keep getting brought forward over and over, you eventually get so sick of writing the same task down, you are motivated to get it done so you don’t have to write it down ever again! Sometimes that is how you identify the Frog!
For more information on workshops and training in the practical elements of organizational infrastructure contact me here.
~GP
