Simple Yet Powerful - Tips for Planning

I\'ve been fascinated for a long while by the leadership styles and work of those who are or were simple while powerful leaders. And this has become more important to me since my accident. (Facing ones mortality has a way of asking what your priorities are.)

One leader I find fascinating is Jesus of Nazareth. He was very plain. No manual. No writing or blogging. No fancy planning or business cards or website. He simply had his one purpose in mind, told people about it, and spent time in prayer and obedience.

He lived out this simple purpose in the lives of 12 men. These 12 men wrote about Jesus, taught what Jesus taught and trusted in their leader.

William Beausay II wrote a pocket devotional book called \"The Leadership Genius of Jesus: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Business\". It was the first to inspire me to think about Jesus\' life in this way. In it, there are short tiny carefully crafted pages of daily bite sized thoughts on Jesus\' approach to leadership.

For e.g., Beausay speaks of Jesus\' focus- that it was on one thing only - to give life. He encourages the reader to think about summing up and finding one purpose for their lives too. (To get more information on the book or to purchase, go here)

And I got to thinking about that and looking for other ideas on single focus. That is when I found some thoughts on www.about.com around planning and focus.

The article (which is eluding me at the moment) was speaking about how people write their personal and business goals. It said that they are usually huge in their size and in their scope. For e.g. a huge goal would be, \"On or before February 2008, I have $500 000 in my investments\".

Now there is nothing wrong with this goal per se. The main point in this article, though, was that each individual day that goes by with a goal like this might at first be exciting and inspiring. But, after a while, it becomes tiresome and hard to get excited about.

Why is this?

Because, he said, it is impossible to attain this kind of goal in one single day for the average person. And, as a result, it\'s easy for this kind of goal to become ineffective and empty.

Although anyone would want to attain the goal of having $500 000 in investments by February of 2008, it is very important that the daily review of this goal is something you can easily attain - a simple goal. If it is easy to attain, it will be easy to be exited about. If it is easy to be exited about, it will be easier to ultimately reach the bigger goal.

I agree with this idea. I would much rather have a goal that is simple to attain each and every day and still challenging and moving me towards my big ultimate goal than to have something that sucks all the enthusiasm out of me. Wouldn\'t you?

The best way I know how to break down a business goal is found in a great book by Andrea J. Lee and Tina Forsyth called Money, Meaning and Beyond In it, they speak of The Money Game, which helps to melt down the big numbers into something that you can easily chew on and attain.

You play this game by calculating the answers to these kinds of questions:

• How many of your services or products will you need to sell per day to reach your goal by this date?
• How many working days do you have to accomplish your goal?
• How many people will you need to talk with in a given day to do this?
• Can you do this on your own or do you need help to attain this goal?

Once you know the answers to these questions, you write a daily goal using your answers.

Here\'s an example of how your answers can look:

Let\'s say that you want to have $5000 more in your investments by February 2008 (let\'s work with smaller numbers first just to get the hang of it). If you figured that your service costs $100, then you know that by dividing $100 into $5000 that you will need to sell 50 to meet your goal. If there are 100 working days left until February 2008, then you know that for each working day, you will need to sell 1 every other day. This is equal to 2 or 3 a week. If you know from your business stats that it takes talking to 5 people to sell 1, then you also know that to sell 3 a week, you will need to speak with at least 15 people a week. Is it possible for you to do this alone? If so, go for it. If not, then figure out if you can hire someone or get someone to volunteer or...

Play the game until the numbers jive with what you are able to do. (This is recommended. It\'s better to try a variety of answers first before choosing which one you are going to go with. So play the game as much as is helpful to find the best option.)

Let\'s say, for the sake of making a point in this article, that you are satisfied with these numbers. To write your simplified goal into a daily statement, you would then take the number of people you need to speak to in a week, divide it by the 5 working days in a week and you have how many people you need to talk to in a day - 3. You have all the information you need to write a daily statement:

\"By talking with 3 people today about my service, I will reach my goal of $5000.\"

Then each day, review this sentence as much as you are able.

Do you think the chances of you being able to reach this goal is a lot higher than thinking about finding the $5000 right now? Indeed it is. You know where you are going, but more importantly, you know that your focus is on today. In addition, and probably most essentially, today\'s goal is very doable!

Don\'t be surprised if you begin to see a surge of energy and thrill rise up in you as you meet your goal each and every day. How truly inspiring simplicity really is!

Wanda is a forward-thinking pioneer in the arts and in business, desiring to bring them together in effective self-sustaining partnerships.

For the past 6 years, Wanda has directed numerous semi-professional and community theatre productions. She also founded Reinholdt Productions, a theatrical production company specializing in the systemic design of projects. By using her experience, along with her BA\'s in theatre and music, she brings to her company a combination of directing, teaching, writing, and problem solving skills. Wanda\'s abilities are best used in a community where partnerships of theatre and music are formed, particularly through producing and directing.

In addition, Wanda has developed her skills in business partnerships in the form of administrative and strategic relationships, mentoring opportunities and leadership and personal development coaching. These skills act as a magnet attracting resources that enable her clients to contribute with strength to their world.

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