Plan and then act, don’t react

Oct. 13, 2014
How many of you have great ideas but never act on them? Of course we need to react to situations during the day, but reaction soon becomes such a habit we lose sight of all else. Take five to 10 minutes to write down one to three goals you want to achieve today working ON your biz, not IN it.  

I'm goin' a little Tony Robbins on you today, taking a stab at being motivational. I've been promoting ideas. Now I'm going to promote action. While at Comfortech in Nashville I learned a valuable lesson: Knowledge is no longer King — action is. Did I mention that before? If so, it bears repetition.

How many of you have great ideas — in the shower, layin' awake in bed, driving along the freeway, sitting on the ... nevermind, just wherever — but never act on them? Well, pull the damned trigger for just once in your life, before all your chances sizzle and evaporate like water on a hot skillet.

Here's an example: I had two clients who were in the mode of ready-fire-aim. That’s not a misprint. You know — we start our day and the phone rings, or Joe calls in sick, or a truck breaks down, or Bill's wife gives birth to quads, and all-of-a sudden it's 5:00 or 6:00 or 8:00 PM and we look around dazed, like a deer frozen in the headlights of an oncoming big-rig. What happened? No plan is what happened.

Of course we need to react to situations during the day, but reaction soon becomes such a habit we lose sight of all else. Studies show we actually become addicted to the adrenaline of reaction. So here's one little idea for you to try that can begin to break, change, then overcome the reaction habit: Take five to 10 minutes to write down one to three goals you want to achieve today working ON your biz, not IN it. Just write 'em down. Even if you don't get to them because of a crazy day, you're beginning the habit of being proactive. Then get someone to hold you accountable.

Nothing may change in the immediate future, but this new habit will get you out of the mode of bein' a loose canon, firing away all over the place, and get you into the mode of planning and focusing (ready-aim-fire). Five to 10 minutes a day followed by being accountable can change your life. I hold the folks I work with accountable by texting reminders each morning, nagging them to write down their goals. Who holds you accountable?

In this modern era, we have instant access to the world of knowledge like never before. This access — otherwise known as the Internet — is on our hips, in our pockets, or in our purses 24/7. We're even able to wear Internet access as earpieces or glasses! Who'da thunk it? The upshot is: We're all equal as far as access to knowledge goes. The downside is that there's so much information coming our way many of us are like the aforementioned deer in the headlights.

How do we tame this information monster? Easy, by cutting through the morass and getting to the one, small, simple step that is the first in your “journey of a thousand miles.” Some of the biggest tech companies — Microsoft, Apple, Hewlett Packard — were all started in garages. I don't know if Mr. Gates or Mr. Jobs intended to create world-changing businesses, but they certainly weren't afraid to take that first step. You?

Clint Eastwood, in one of his iconic Dirty Harry movies, once stated, “A man's got to know his limitations.” Forced to be a reductionist because of my dyslexia, Dirty Harry's admonition worked for me. To Flat Rate or not to Flat Rate? That was a monstrous proposition. I could, however, Flat Rate the 10 most common jobs I performed. That was was doable. From that one, simple, reductionist point of view a whole company culture developed almost on its own. Don't try to make an apple pie by staring at your mom's apple pie. Get out and buy some apples!

Write one goal, just one that doesn't s-s-s-scare you, and that's so easy to accomplish you'd have to work hard to not git-'er-done. Then have someone hold you accountable — not for implementing the goal, but for writing it down in the first place. See what happens. What's your goal for today? Like a pebble thrown into a pond's still waters, watch the ripples from that one goal grow and expand. Enjoy the magic.

Ed O'Connell is the founder emeritus of O'Connell Plumbing Inc. He is the subcontracting business coach for smaller contractors and a Service Round Table Coach. He can be reached in Auburn, California, at home/office: 530/878-5273 or at [email protected].

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