You know that planning is essential both for success and effective
use of your time. But what if you don't think you have the time
to plan in the first place? It's a catch 22. You need to have
the time to plan because such preparation would free up more of
your time.
You're probably aware of the costs of not planning, such as being
ineffective, fire-fighting, feelings of panic, worry and being
out of control. But if you don't plan ahead ,you'll be unable
to change things.
I've found that many people who don't plan say they don't have
time. But this may be a red herring and not the real reason at
all. Once you manage yourself more effectively and free up some
time to plan, you'll soon see if lack of time is the real reason.
If it's not the time factor, you'll soon be able to identify what
else could be stopping you from planning and choose to change
it.
You may think that planning will take a long time. Perhaps you've
come across other people who spend a long time planning so that's
your only reference point.
I invite you to consider that planning doesn't need to take a
long time. It's not the length of time you spend planning that
counts; it's how effective your planning is. A smaller amount
of time spent planning effectively is more productive than a longer
period when you plan without a purpose, or an objective and you
don't know where to start, what to do or what you want to achieve.
I believe most planning need take only a small amount of time
and once you're in the habit of doing this, it will fit naturally
into your day.
I've found that people think they don't have time to plan because
they see it as a much bigger task. This stops them before they
get started and just focusing on taking the next step. They often
think that planning needs to be formal and sometimes it does:
if, for instance, you're presenting a business plan to your bank
or investors. However, most of the time it doesn't need to be
formal and this makes it easier to keep it fun. Some of the best
plans have started life as notes on napkins or beer mats.
When I work with people who think they don't have time for planning,
I ask if they're willing to take just 5 minutes. This keeps it
simple and easily achievable.
Even if you're planning something fairly big like a new business,
a house move or career progression, even 5 minutes effectively
spent will achieve a lot. What would it take for you to spend
5 minutes a day on planning?
So now you have 5 minutes to plan, let's use this time effectively.
One of the best ways to do this is to ask yourself questions.
You need to ask discovery questions which allow you to enquire,
probe and challenge yourself. Questions take up very little time.
You can ask yourself these questions at almost any time and when
you find the answers, your plan can be added to or changed. It's
surprising what can be discovered, planned and made clearer if
you devote 5 minutes to asking and answering powerful questions.
These 5 minutes a day will give you a good opportunity to plan
your day ahead. For bigger plans, 5 minutes spent on a regular
basis asking yourself powerful discovery questions and listening
for the responses will move your planning ahead consistently.
There are many powerful questions you can ask yourself to enable
you to plan more effectively and here are a few to get you started:
What one specific thing do you want to achieve today?
What do you feel inspired to do today?
What one specific task are you willing to delegate today?
What one specific thing are you willing to say no to today?
Even if you only choose one question to ask yourself each day, I'm
sure you can see that it's not going to eat up lots of your time.
Your planning can be effective even in a very short space of time.
Wendy Hearn Coach
She works with business owners, professionals and executives to
discover and unlock their own inspiration, to effortlessly take
the actions required to have the success they desire.
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Startups: Make Time For Planning 
