We all know that failing to plan is planning to fail and a plan with no action won’t get us what we want, but it’s hard to be motivated when we work on our own, particularly as a single person enterprise.

How can we bring in structure to our days, weeks, months and years, keep focused and on track, being clear constantly that we are heading in the right direction? To enable us to achieve and get what we want, it is often helpful to have an ‘accountable buddy’, someone who can be there to pull us up if we are becoming side-tracked or pick us up if we are feeling demotivated.

For some, finding that perfect ‘accountability buddy’ isn’t possible. We may know lots of people who are great friends or work colleagues, but none of them fit the bill. Having a business coach or mentor is another way in which we can provide ourselves with clarity, focus and direction as well as injecting us with that much needed motivation when our self-belief starts to wane. If none of the above are available to us, then we need to become our own leader and manager and hold CEO meetings with ourselves to consider the impact of strategic decisions within our business and how they will help our business going forward.

We all know that as a business owner we need to spend time ON the business as well as IN the business, but often those operational daily tasks get in the way and take-over our time each day. We get into a rut and before we know it the first quarter of the year has gone, and we have no plan in place, then the next quarter and before long another year has gone by and we haven’t planned and then wonder why we aren’t where we wanted or expected to be.

Below are some tips which Steven R Covey talks about in his writings which may help you to plan, design and achieve to get what you want.

  • “Plan your year
  • Design your days
  • Achieve your goals”

by Michael Hyatt and referred to by Steven R Covey

Start the year with the intention of planning in advance, design your days by having a task or to do list and stick to it each day making sure this aligns with your goals, so they are achieved. You can do it!