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Definition of “planning”: A detailed proposal for doing or achieving something.
If you think about it, this could mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. To me it means direction. It means identifying what I have to get done.
You gotta have a plan. How many times have you heard that before? But don’t make a plan just for the sake of making a plan. You make a plan to focus you, to move you forward. Your plan has to contain action to be any good. Otherwise, you’ll just have analysis paralysis.
To be successful, you need to know what your next step is. It should be a clearly defined process. It all comes down to your plan. Success is created by making plans for the future, then acting on that plan every day. If you have clarity, then you can move faster. This doesn’t mean that things won’t disrupt your plan or make you change them. Your plan is your guide, your blueprint.
Related: Why Entrepreneurs Should Plan for Failure, Not Success
Why do you need a plan?
1. Gives you clear direction
2. Eliminates distractions
3. Prevents scatterbrain
4. Allows you to keep yourself accountable so you are moving in the direction of your goals
As you formulate your plan, ask yourself what are your non-negotiables. What do you stand for? The actions you take on a daily and long-term basis should reflect what you value. It seems simple enough, but people can act in direct opposition to what they believe in.
Related: The 8-Step Battle Plan to Succeed as an Entrepreneur
There are three overall plans that you need to be successful. They will help you compartmentalize your goals and move you from one area to the next with more confidence, focus and speed. Each plan builds on the other and strengthens them.
Life Plan
Your overall purpose and goals in life. This is a big, macro look at what you want out of life. What do you want in your career? For your family? For your life? For your health?
This is the plan that gets you closer to a completed cycle of action. Goals, targets, dreams. The thoughts you think control everything, and you need to focus them. One little shift in your thinking can create a mental trigger that drives new actions. Affirming what is possible on a daily basis creates the motivation to act.
Related: The 12-Step Plan for Creating a Rich Life
Sales Plan
This is how you attack the marketplace. This is the plan that makes all other plans possible. It feeds everything else. If you have a bulletproof sales plan, it will help you achieve your life plan. A lot of people spend 20 to 30 years with the same sales plan without changing it. If you learn to produce, then you can do anything.
Related: The Elements of a Successful Sales Plan
Day Plan
What do you need to do every day to create your life and sales plan? What are you going to do today? Write it down. Every time you write out your day, you’ll have more direction and certainty. Planning your day gives control over your it. This then leads to control over your customers or contacts, which equals income. And this strengthens your sales plan.
If you can’t exert control, you can’t make a prediction. You have to take responsibility for your life by controlling it. Using these three plans will create certainty in your life, which leads to more confidence. When you are confident, you feel motivated — and that’s when you stop thinking and take actions. Success is a process. Follow the steps and put in the work.
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