An old friend of mine once told me that when he worked as an executive at the Power Corporation, he had two desks - one in front of his chair - and one behind it. Many of the executives had the same office configuration. One desk was to be used for all day-to-day activities and the other was to be used for long-term, big picture planning.

I think entrepreneurs often get bogged down in the day-to-day activities of the business. Some part of your business is (it seems) always in crisis mode: an important customer is unhappy, a project is behind schedule, or your best employee just announced that she’s moving on. Personally I’ve always shyed away from big picture planning because somehow it just doesn’t seem like real work. It feels removed from the activities that make a business function. To sit and plan seems like something you should be doing when you’ve grown your company so others can take over the day-to-day operations.

This is the wrong attitude.

To be successful, you have to be relentless in your planning and integrate it into your management of your business. I can’t take credit for all the ideas on how to do this (thanks Mr. Lakein, Mr. Ferrazzi, Mr. Wells and Mr. Lank) but I’ll summarize what I’ve learned so you can digest it in the next 45 to 90 seconds.

Set Measurable Goals

Whether your planning the next ten years of your career or that of your business, you must have goals. Goals should be challenging so you really have to work to achieve them. More importantly, they should be measurable so that you can assess how you’re doing. Select a group of indicators, some qualitative, some quantitative that you’ll use to measure your progress. Be selective in choosing indicators that really matter and that you have control over.

Action Plan

Each week I sit down and write out a list of activities that I’m going to accomplish. Next I assess how those tasks relate to my goals. Then I spend the majority of my working day on those activities most directly related to my goals. A To Do List is essential. I also find it helpful to break down those large activities into “process steps” or small easily doable tasks to take some of the dread out of those big projects. Activities unrelated to your goals can and should be put off.

Measure Your Results

It seems silly to have to write this point but I know that I’m terrible at this. Planning the next five years of your life can be a fun, invigorating exercise - measuring your progress (or lack thereof) is not. That’s why I think it’s important to set aside a time each year when you sit down and evaluate your progress. I also use this time to reassess and often change my goals.

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One of my friends jokes that I have a passion for planning. This is partially true. I love the idea of it but I find it hard to practice on a daily basis. So don’t get discouraged if you aren’t able to get as much done today as you would’ve liked. I’m still struggling with this whole process too.

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