If you are a mid-size to a small business owner or even a sales professional, now is the time to strategically think about today’s results and tomorrow’s goals.

Zig Ziglar said, “attitudes are habits of thought.” His definition is one of the best to describe what a habit actually is.

Habits Are Repeated Thoughts

Small businesses achieving success understand the necessity and value of certain habits, especially planning. President Dwight Eisenhower said, “Plans are worthless; planning is everything.”

The challenge is many in business, as well as in life, do not plan. This lack of planning creates failure and erodes self-esteem, self-confidence and self-worth and growth.

Sometimes I believe the word “plan” is one of those four-letter dirty words banned from public television and gentile conversations.

Dream and Plan Wall

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit with Greg Farrall, of Farrall Wealth in Valparaiso, who showed me his Dream and Plan Wall.

He actually has taken pictures of it and posted those to Instagram, allowing him to continually see his current dreams and future plans. This Dream and Plan Wall is nearly 10 feet long and 8 feet high.

What is interesting to observe is how much energy this Dream and Plan Wall gives to Greg. As he shared the various pictures and diagrams, the energy in the room actually increased.

Possibly because some view planning as energy-draining, they are reluctant to engage in it. Then again, others may have heard some negative feedback about strategic planning sessions and believe, “Heck, if the wheel ain’t broke, why fix it?”

Yes, to engage in a sophisticated, strategic planning and thinking process is a minimum time commitment of 20 to 40 hours depending upon the size of the mid-size to small business, it’s solutions and it’s customers.

This time commitment becomes a “Can’t do planning” barrier. Yet, most business people from my experience admit to wasting 12 minutes a workday, which amounts to 50 hours per year.

So time is not an issue, but rather an excuse not to take action.

Another thought about the reluctance to plan is possibly the fear of taking other actions. Maybe, something will surface during this planning experience that the small business owners do not want to confront?

This belief is much like the chair sitting in the office corner that has always been there, serves no purpose, but remains.

Do You Plan To Fail?

During our conversation, Greg mentioned a quote that he lives by: “When we fail to plan, we plan to fail.”

He understands planning keeps him from engaging in Einstein’s definition of insanity and allows him to continually push his business to that next level.

If you are a mid-size to a small business owner or even a sales professional, now is the time to strategically think about today’s results and tomorrow’s goals.

Be forthright about your thinking process, especially if your results have remained the same for the last few years or you have experienced significant growth.

Consider having your own Dream and Plan Wall where you can continually stay focused on what you need to do to move your business to that next level of success.