"Do YOU Have a Master Plan?"

There is so much written on planning these days that
it's hard for nearly anyone to argue against the value of planning.

Some people like to live by the "seat of their pants,"

and no one would argue that a little spontaneity is

great to have in your life. But you do need to plan

something at some point, or your life will simply be

one reaction after another. The non-planner will end up

taking no proactive action to improve his or her life.

The most successful people plan their goals and are

motivated to accomplish them.

Everyone needs a master plan. Do you have one? A master

plan should include long term goals, short term goals,

and objectives. You may want to build in some rewards

to motivate you to accomplish them as well. Let's look

at each item that should appear in your master plan:

Lifetime goals: The first things you should include in

your master plan are your lifetime, or dream goals.

These are goals that you want to do at some point in

your life and they shouldn't be dependent on money,

time, or skill. If you're afraid of heights but have

the goal of someday being a professional pilot, write

it down! Create a long list by finishing this sentence:

"If I had unlimited money, time and skill, I would want

to..."

Short term and Long term goals: Once you have your

lifetime goals list, you should break it down into

things that you can realistically do in the short term

and in the long term. Short term goals might be

anywhere from the present to the next five or ten

years. Long term goals are likely anything five or ten

years and beyond. (Don't worry yet about how you'll

accomplish them; we'll get to that in a moment). Put

them in order from the things you want to do sooner to

the things you want to do later.

Objectives: Once you have developed your goals, now you

need to create objectives for each one. Objectives are

the steps that you need to take to reach your goals. If

you're afraid of heights but want to be a professional

pilot some day, your objectives might be to...

1. Overcome your fear of heights,

2. Ride in an airplane,

3. Take flying lessons,

4. Get your commercial pilot's license, and

5. Buy an airplane.

You might look at this list and say "easier said than

done!" but by breaking down all of your goals into

smaller objectives; it does become easier to do. You

now have some small steps to work on to get you to the next level.

What does all this have to do with your business? Simple:

For many entrepreneurs, a long term goal might be

financial freedom. Building your business might be

one of the objectives to reach that goal.

And within that "main" objective of building your

business will be the smaller objectives that must be

reached to do the building. The more you break down the

steps that need to be taken, the easier it will be to

reach your goal.

KEY POINTS

Why are you in business?

Are you a non-planner?

Are you reactive or

Proactive

Do you have life time goals?

An action plan

Break down into small stels

To see a video presentation on how to create your own MasterPlan

Click here