A BFO About Planning

I had a major comeuppance and Blinding Flash of the Obvious (BFO) this morning related to one of my monthly activities, instigated by a Darren Hardy video I watched yesterday.  During my holiday break the week between Christmas and New Year’s, I worked on a few administrative tasks in advance of their normal schedule.  Among them was a look at my Accounts Receivable (A/R) aging.  I printed the A/R Summary Aging Report from QuickBooks and thought about how I wanted to collect from each of the few past due client in the report.  After deciding on several different collection strategies based on the past due amount, age and client situation, I put a code next to each past due client.   For example; some were going to receive a statement via email followed by a call, a few would get a mailed statement and a call, etc.  I must admit, I was very proud of myself for addressing this unpleasant, but necessary task earlier than usual.

This morning, almost two week later, I realized that after planning my collection strategies, I put my collection plan into my A/R folder without implementing it!  My BFO:

Planning to do something, and knowing how it will be accomplished ….

Is Not The Same As Actually Doing It!

There is no doubt that planning is essential, as the saying goes, “Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail.”  However, failing to work the plan is actual failure.

In Darren Hardy’s video, he presented a weekly Sunday Planning System (http://dh.darrenhardy.com/win-the-week).  As he explains during the video, he was given the system by a billionaire he was introduced to a few years ago.  In addition to the Sunday Planning System, the billionaire told him that in order to focus and maximize his effectiveness and results, he works on one, and only one major item per day.  He addresses that item until it is complete.  Based on this system, and my BFO, my plan going forward is to plan and finish whenever possible.  No more plan, put aside to finish later.  By the way, Darren Hardy is one of the keynote speakers at the 2018 Business Excellence Forum and Awards (http://www.thebusinessexcellenceforums.com/events/?event_id1=7) February 18th to 20th in San Diego.

As we begin 2018, I encourage you to plan and act to achieve your goals.  My ActionCOACH colleagues and I are presenting GrowthCLUB 90-day planning workshops in the coming weeks.  These powerful and very effective workshops will accelerate your journey to massive results in your business and life.  Plan to register, attend and implement your ActionPLAN.