 Imagine you have a boat.
You’ve just set sail and you’re headed out to sea - full of optimism and excitement. Captain of your destiny. Master of your fate. But where are you headed? Wherever the current takes you? Slave to the tide and the prevailing wind? Or have you plotted a course to take you to your dream destination? Now imagine that boat is your business. How well prepared are you for your business journey? How clear are you about where you’re headed - your destination - your goal? Have you thought about your ports, your milestones and how you’ll deal with any difficult waters and get around hazards? What about your anchor - a mentor to help you through difficult times when the sea is raging or there’s no wind in your sails. Who’s in the boat with you? Are they well drilled? Eager to perform their duties? Business navigation is no easier than navigating the ocean, but just like sailing the high seas, you’ll always be better off with robust preparation and planning, so give some thought to the following: What’s the name of your boat? This will say a lot about how you see yourself right now. If you had to name it today what would it be ‘Destiny’, Endurance’, ‘Unstoppable’? Or might it be ‘Sinking Fast’ or ‘All at Sea’? Have you set your course? What are your goals for 2017; for the next 90 days? And what about action plans to achieve them? How will you recognise that storms are coming before they hit? What have you put in place to pick up on problems - to anticipate and overcome them? How will you fill the gaps in your knowledge and experience? Who or what are your anchors that will keep you from going under? These are often the people who keep you grounded, keep you going, maybe develop and inspire you. Perhaps they are words from a loved one that you carry with you. Or perhaps it’s a faith, a belief in something greater than yourself. What are the Values that will keep you on a true course? Those things that make you and your business tick, that show the world what you stand for. Do one thing: Think about where you're headed in 2017, and ask these questions to check that you’re prepared for whatever comes - good or otherwise. Wishing you a safe and splendid passage through the year. ps Looking for support to ready your boat for the tricky waters ahead? Then join us to learn how to build strong foundations, to systemise like McDonald's, and to build a high performing, highly engaged team who don't need you looking over their shoulder to perform. Click here to learn more. For more information on how MPL can help you visit www.mariannepage.co.uk or contact me on hello@mariannepage.co.uk
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 If you’re going on a long journey in your car, what do you do?
You think about where you are now, what your starting point is. You think about where you want to get to - your destination. You think about when you want to get there, maybe when you need to get there. And then you plan your route. You work out which way you’ll go. You plan where you want to break the journey, for a coffee or to fill up. For longer trips, you may build in a stopover. You’ll know how long the journey will take, with and without traffic, and you’ll be prepared for things not to go to plan. Things often don’t after all. You do all this planning for a pretty straightforward car journey. Why would you not put the same effort into planning your business journey? If you want to scale, grow or sell your business, you need to plan. And it all has to start with you, and what you want for your life! Personal Planning To be honest, we didn’t used to do much personal planning when I was at Macs. Yes, we talked about personal development, and how we could become better at our role within the business, or progress to the next level. What we wanted out of life; what we saw as our ideal future? - not so much! Maybe we were all too young, too focused on progression, to recognise that you only get one crack at this business called life, or that, if you plan for it, you can have both - a happy, successful life and a successful business. I do get why people say they don’t want to plan their life though. I worked with someone once who had her whole life mapped out - she was going to be a Restaurant Manager by 22, married by 25, have her first child by 27, that sort of thing - and she stuck to it, right up to the point that life got in the way, and the wheels came off her perfect plan. With any plan, you have to recognise that things happen, things change, and that every successful plan needs to be adjusted and tweaked when the opportunities, or the challenges come. But there are 3 essentials to the sort of planning that will make a real difference to your life.
We’ll come back to your Personal Management System in a future blog, but for now… Do one thing: Take some time to answer these crucial questions: - What are my True Priorities? - What are the Values I want to live by - When I am successful who will I be, what will I be doing, and what will I have? [Taken from Marianne’s new book Simple, Logical, Repeatable, coming out in March this year. Want to learn more from Marianne’s experience with McDonald’s? Click here to learn more about her, and how you can join her for a day.] For more information on how MPL can help you visit www.mariannepage.co.uk or contact me on hello@mariannepage.co.uk |
AuthorMarianne is the author of three books, and is currently working on her fourth, whilst regularly writing her blog, we hope you enjoy it :-) Archives
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