Years ago we covered the kitchen with stick on white boards.
It was a business plan of magnificent beauty.
All very detailed and intricate, with intersecting arrows and if this, then thatand so on.
Special stationery was procured from Rymans.
There were many iterations.
And back to the drawing board-s.
The fact was – much of it was worthwhile… and much of it totally wasn’t.
Because as with plans of any type – once you begin, there are plot twists and ‘about turns’.
Things that don’t work and things that work brilliantly and other things that take you off in a different direction you could never have anticipated.
The more important thing… (with a reasonable idea of where you’re going) is that you START.
Our beautiful colour coded display, back then, would have probably got an excellent mark on a business course – but the real World requires real action.
Had we just jotted down a simple plan and got cracking… we would have saved months and countless woman hours trying to predict every aspect of the future.
That’s not to say planning isn’t important – it TOTALLY is, but too much of it, leads to… a screeching halt.
You sit back and admire all your ‘hard work’, pour a glass of Prosecco and feel as though you’ve got somewhere.
But you haven’t yet.
This isn’t just about business – this is everything.
Your time.
The only non-renewable resource.
Once spent. That’s it.
Like being in an exam; reading the paper through is VITAL – you have to have that rough idea of what you are going to do – but if you do that until ‘put your pens down’ time – you’ve failed.
This isn’t just about business – this is about everything.
What’s the one thing you could do, about the thing you are procrastinating about that would make the biggest dent in it?
Write that down.
Don’t think about the big picture for a minute – just that minimum effective dose of something that gets you closer.
Do that.
Do that until it’s finished.
Task completed.
Don’t start anything else.
Don’t get distracted.
Just head down – until it’s finished.
THEN you can step back and admire your work.
A complicated plan isn’t a tangible thing, but that beautiful little nugget of finishedness, IS.
You will have started.
You will have taken a proper step forward, made in-roads – and I PROMISE you – you will know what you need to do next.
The thing about starting, and completing little chunks of success is that it gives you confidence in your ability to bring the whole thing home.
One thing at a time.
Never multitasking.
Always finishing, ticking the box and moving on.
Where in your life do you need to get started today?
If you know that – you’ll know where to start..
You just need to begin.
Have a great day
Tanya & Claire