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The week between Christmas and New Year's Eve is "Reflections Week" for me. There are pauses in the regular work schedule to tie up the loose ends of the year, relax a little and do some reflecting on what has happened in the past twelve months.
When you reflect on your past year, you may discover you want to get the important things done in your business in 2009 at a faster rate. Consider making a small investment in a time management device that costs less than $20.00, requires no batteries and is always "on".
The device I'm talking about is the full year wall calendar. It shows the 12 months and 365 precious days of 2009. If you haven't gotten yours yet, go get one in the next few days or order it online. You need to know what's in store for the entire year, NOW. Here is a story about why a full year calendar helps you get to where you're going faster.
While visiting relatives recently, I was driving on parkways near New York City built decades ago to handle much less traffic at much slower speeds. The curved, hilly and wooded parkways are still dreamy landscape today.
But, they can be traffic nightmares.
Everybody is in a hurry to get to their destinations, but can't move at optimum speeds because of traffic congestion.  My brother-in-law pointed out that traffic movement is predictably slow and erratic when the drivers' views are limited by trees, curves and hills.
He said highway engineers call it limited sight distance. Simply put, you'll drive at a speed that is proportional to how far you can see down the road.
Today, drivers of modern high speed vehicles on those early design parkways with hills curves and trees, must reduce their speed to compensate for the unclear path ahead, especially those not familiar with the road.
As you map your strategy for the year for your business, the same thing can happen. Being unfamiliar with your new path and delay by every day business distractions is akin to driving with a car full of noisy passengers. Your pace will be slowed, too.
The full year wall calendar creates "at a glance" the visual you need to reduce your limited sight distance and drive your business at full speed.
Hang your full year calendar on your office wall or in a conspicuous place for you and everyone who has a connection with you, to see any time. Here are the planning steps for you and your new full year calendar:
- Choose your days off and mark them first.
- Decide on dates for all events that you are responsible for creating and planning. Clinics, camps, horse shows, events, rodeos, trail rides, demonstrations, seminars.
- Next, pencil in club meetings, dinner meetings, trade shows and seminars, auctions and sales you won't be organizing but will be attending If you have a regular schedule for farrier and veterinary visits, mark those days as well.
- If your employees will be away or off on certain days, code those days too.
- Record all family gatherings, birthday, weddings, graduations. Your personal life and business life are inseparable.
Creation of a full year planning calendar is a brain dump and decluttering process which will improve your sight line toward your annual goals.
Without it, be prepared for stop and go driving, inconsistent speed and plenty of deer in the road.
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You haven't seen this newsletter
in your mailbox for a few weeks; I took the month of December off from writing.
