Strategic Planning Process

Action without planning is the cause of every failure.

By Erica Olsen ⋅ May 14, 2007 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

Successful people don’t try to do everything. They learn to
focus on the most important tasks and make sure they get done,
Brain Tracy, world-renowned time management expert reminds us
of that. His best-selling book Eat That Frog pays homage
to that old saying that if the first thing you do each morning
is to eat a live frog, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing
that it’s probably the worst thing you’ll do all day. Tracy
uses "eat the frog" as a metaphor for tackling the most challenging
task of your day - the one on which you are most likely to procrastinate,
but also probably the one that can most impact your life.

You would probably recognize a lot of the time management ideas
and practices listed below (which are summarized from Tracy’s
book), but he manages to reformulate and present them as part
of a logical sequence that is easy to follow yet encourages
disciplining yourself to stay at the task through completion.
Clear written goals will motivate you, and we couldn’t agree
more. Only 3% of adults have clear written goals. Couldn’t you
use an edge over 97% of thepopulation?

Here’s the time-tested formula for setting and achieving goals:

1. Decide exactly what you want. Don’t do something very well that needs not be done at all.
2. Write it down. Give that goal tangible form. Otherwise it’s just a fantasy.
3. Set a deadline on your goal and sub-deadlines if necessary.
4. Make a list of everything you can think of that you must do to achieve that goal.
5. Organize your list into a plan. Organize by priority and in sequence. Make it as a flow chart.
6. Take action on your plan immediately. Execution is everything.
7. Resolve to do something every day that moves you to achieving your goal.