Creative Changes Blog : Organizing Solutions for Home & Office

Thanks for visiting the Creative Changes Blog. Here you will find organizing tips, links to other interesting blogs and websites, organizing news and commentary from me, the chief organizer at Creative Changes. I also will be offering free goodies from time to time, so check back once in awhile so that you don't miss out. Happy perusing.

I don't mean to raise a touchy subject, but how are you doing with those goals that you set for yourself at the New Year?

If you are like so many of us, you did think about your goals, and you even wrote them down, but did you take the next step, which is to create a plan of action?

It is interesting that I did not fully appreciate my own weakness in the planning department, until I sat down to write about planning! I have learned new insights and strategies for my own life and business while writing this, and I hope to inspire a few of you to do the same.

February is National Time Management Month, and there is no better way to manage our most precious resource, than to work from a plan. The flying by the seat of pants method of time management turns out to be very inefficient, and the worst part is that we are relinquishing control of our lives to all the various needs and "emergencies" of other people. What is more important - your time, or their time?

Poor planning on YOUR part does not constitute an emergency on MY part... or even worse... Poor planning on my part does not constitute an emergency on your part, because that means WE are responsible for the stress!

That feeling that you are just rushing from one task, or minor emergency to the next with no real sense of accomplishment comes from working without a plan. This is not to say that everything will go exactly "to plan". The plan is just a guideline - not strict rules that absolutely must be adhered to.

Without a plan how will you know what you need to achieve to reach your goals, and then how will you know when you have made progress towards your goals? Without a plan you leave your time, your life at the whim of outside forces - making you feel out of control.

In the face of the current economic challenges, this is NOT the time to be reactive and contracted in our approach to business and life. An effective plan will create positive, directional structure, with enough freedom for spontaneity. Develop a framework for daily and weekly schedules so that there is structure, yet flexibility to take advantage of opportunities as they may arise. No matter how dire the media paints the picture, there are always opportunities for those of us who remain open minded and flexible.

Creating long-term plans is more difficult in times of such chaos, but I believe the simple principles apply, as always.

1. Capture the data. What are your numbers? Analyze opportunities for improvement.

2. Organize. Get and stay current with your paperwork.

3. Review daily / weekly. Where are you now?

4. Engage. Pick an action and do it.

Take Control - Make a Plan

As with any quest for improvement - the first step is in recognizing where you are NOW. When it comes to improving my planning skills, the ah-ha came when I realized that as a detail person, I have my head down, (tending to those details) therefore I may be missing the big picture.

The reality is that one needs to have a big picture overview FIRST, then an outline of how to achieve it (the Plan) and finally the details.

In his book the E Myth, Michael Gerber identifies the three personalities of a small business owner - there is the Entrepreneur, the Manager and the Technician. Each play an important roll in a successful business, but most small business owners are really strong in one of these areas, and the other aspects of the business suffer when we try to do it all, or just skip over the areas that are outside our comfort zone.

Managing life is not so different from managing a small business and I believe that many of these same ideas also apply to life in general. For those of you who are big picture visionaries, the details of balancing the checkbook may seem mundane and therefore a burden, or simply avoided. For the detail minded, the checkbook is a cinch, but planning for the future seems completely daunting.

I am finding my new, more structured schedule less stressful and it feels more productive as well. I still have work to do with my long-term planning skills, but I'll keep you posted on my progress with that.

Comments??

Until next time,

Sandra

Labels: planning, Setting Goals, time management, time management for small businesses