Want to Succeed with Plan A? Ditch Plan B
A client who hired me to help her get a grip on her time management, energy management, & prioritization told me this week that she invested in a second side business as “Plan B” – a second revenue stream – in case her primary business doesn’t work. She told me, “I only spend about an hour a night on it. It’s not that big of a deal.” Actually, it’s a really big deal for these reasons:
1: Those 5-6 hours a week that she’s spending on her second business adds up to 25-30 hours a month she can be investing in her first business. She can be looking for leads, connecting with potential customers, creating content for her blog, working on a book outline, reaching out to strategic partners, doing competitive analysis, or doing long-term planning.
2: How well can she build a second business devoting only 5-6 hours a week?
3: This isn’t just a matter of where she’s directing her time. It’s also where she is directing her mental energy. She’s not “all in” with her first business.
The alternative to building Plan B is to live by the mantra that failure is not an option for Plan A. Building a business is incredibly hard, and entrepreneurs notoriously become attracted to new ideas especially when they are going through difficulty. We get tired and distracted. To quote another successful business owner, “Entrepreneurs frequently jump over dollars to grab quarters.”
I personally know how easy it is to get distracted by a new idea. I launched another company, Leadership & Life last year (for about 5 minutes), after I created the vision to deliver transformational work-life integration programs and communities to leaders so that they may live and lead at their highest levels of potential & satisfaction. Sounds amazing, yes?? Well, even after I told myself I could handle both, and I could split my time in a way that would enable both of my companies to thrive, I quickly learned I wasn’t able to do that. So, I had to have a difficult discussion with myself (I have a lot of those discussions), and I tabled Leadership & Life for now.
I reminded my client that she specifically hired me to get her re-focused and fired up, so that she can achieve her 5-year growth goals with her first company. She heard me, and has tabled her second business for now. We developed a plan for her to re-direct her energy into new activities to connect with additional buyers, create new marketing initiatives, and develop new strategic partnerships. She needs to be living and breathing Plan A. She is once again “all in.”
Perhaps after we get her first business running like a well-oiled machine, she can shift her focus to the second business if this is where her passion lies. She pursued her Plan B not because she was excited about it, but because she was afraid of failing. We never want to make decisions from a place of fear. They are rarely connected to our passion, purpose, or potential. Decisions made from fear are “safety-net” decisions. Our greatest achievements and highest levels of joy are not found in the safety net, and will invariably leave us dissatisfied.
I fully support transitioning from a business – or job – that no longer aligns with our core value system or no longer fuels our passion. This is how I started my first company, Information Experts, 20 years ago while I was working full-time at another company. I worked on IE at night and on the weekends until I had enough work to quit my full-time job. This is also why I transitioned out of Information Experts and launched Successful Culture. My transition included a succession plan to other company leaders that were better aligned with the company’s present state & future state, and this enabled me to smoothly pass the baton as my role dissolved.
Neither Information Experts nor Successful Culture were ever my “Plan B’s.” They were my new Plan A’s when I discovered it was time to move on.
Do you have a Plan B? I would love to learn what is driving you to have that on the back burner. What is happening with your Plan A? What fears do you have surrounding it? What do you think Plan B will give you that Plan A can’t? Please email me at [email protected] and share your Plans.
CAVEAT: Sometimes, life throws us curveballs that knock us to the ground, and basically destroy Plans A, B, and every plan after those. This column doesn’t apply when that happens. When life pulls the rug out from under us, quite often, the biggest plan we can make is to simply make it through the day. We somehow find the faith to know that our crisis is impermanent and that our obstacles & challenges are in fact part of our bigger plan. We learn to trust the process that the chaos will eventually stop so that we can start planning again, and we realize that we do indeed have everything within us to plan for and achieve greatness.
Good luck!
Sign up here to receive Successful Culture’s leadership blog every Friday. All posts contain actionable content to make you the best leader you can be, to help you develop your people to their greatest potential, and to help you build your best organization.
About Successful Culture
We work with business owners, CEOs, and leadership teams that want to achieve their greatest personal & organizational potential. Through coaching, strategic consulting, retreat facilitation, and workshops, we equip leaders & emerging leaders with the mindset, tools, strategies, and processes they need to excel.
Ready to move forward? Email us today at [email protected]
Connect with me on Instragram, Facebook, and Twitter. Engage with me during my morning Periscope sessions as well (@marissalevin).
Please check out my Inc. Magazine columns on my Author Page too.
– In my latest Inc, article, I share The Essential Guide to Avoiding Workplace Text, Email, & Social Media Disasters.
– Learn about the 9 Leadership Behaviors that Lose Employee Trust & Respect here.
~Marissa Levin
CEO, Successful Culture
“Taking Leaders from Triage to Transformation.”
Three Integrated Strategies for Peak Productivity
We all have a set number of hours in a day, with multiple demands always competing for our attention. How do we maximize efficiency & productivity? This is a MAJOR issue with most leaders who are chasing way too many relationships, company tasks, opportunities, and requirements.
Productivity is essential for health and happiness because it allows leaders to get off the constantly running treadmill and incorporate downtime for rest. “Busy” often has a way of looking like “Productive.”
Peak Productivity Results from the successful integration of three things:
1: Time Management
2: Energy Management
3: Prioritization
Time Management
• Say NO. No is a complete sentence. Limit volunteering. Say no to lunch and coffee appointments. Offer a 15-minute skype session/Google hangout instead.
• Make decisions quickly – avoid ANALYSIS PARALYSIS. I’m setting up a media studio in my home for the weekly video tapings I am launching in June, and for my podcast show (summer launch planned). The amount of information available on equipment is overwhelming. I am keeping a narrow focus and working from a checklist to get what I need, and actually MOVE FORWARD rather than getting caught up in a never-ending swirl of decision making.
• Set an agenda for every meeting to make the time together meaningful and effective. If someone can’t identify three desired outcomes for your time together, don’t meet with them. This goes for 5-minute meetings, 15-minute meetings, or 50-minute meetings.
• Set time limits on things that can drag you down a rabbit hole (research, new ideas, networking events). Create a time budget for new activities you are going to explore.
• If possible, bundle your commitments/appointments to get the most “mileage” out of driving. Do not drive 45 minutes each way for one appointment.
• Put boundaries in place with people/activities/groups to allow downtime.
• Don’t reinvent the wheel – leverage things you have already done or created and build upon them. Creation of original content is great, but it’s time-consuming and expensive. Determine when it makes sense, based on your desired outcome.
• Be OK with “good enough.” Perfection” is the enemy of “good enough.” People get sucked into the fantasy of needing things to be perfect. This becomes the enemy of productivity AND execution. The goal is to FINISH…not complete it 99%.
• Delegate. Working on the wrong things sucks time, money and energy, and puts us in a position of not working from our strengths.
Energy Management
• Become aware of your own energy and work with it. Know when you are most productive to handle specific tasks. Some tasks take more mental energy than others, so knowing your own energy rhythm is necessary for peak productivity.
• Become aware of other people’s energy and distance yourself from negativity. Everyone projects energy. Protect your own energy by being cognizant of the energy of other people.
• If you can’t distance yourself, create mental barriers. Know your triggers. Do not allow yourself to be dragged down. Some people are like energy tornadoes; they suck you in. It is not your job to fix everyone else’s problems.
• Become aware of the impact other people’s drama has on you and do not engage. You can say NO when others try to bring you in. We can help others without becoming a drama victim.
Prioritization
• SINGLE-task. Itemize your priorities according to the criteria that works for you (time needed; deadline to be made; money spent; money made; ROI, etc.) and only work on the top few – sometimes only one, depending on the size of it. That’s it. You will get more done, more quickly, with better quality, with much less stress.
Other Important Tools/Strategy for Peak Productivity
Here are a few more tricks to tap into your Peak Productivity:
Mindset
• Practice a mindset of achievement and productivity. There are no excuses for not producing.
• Build a mindset of resilience. Do not let fear or setbacks derail you.
• Start the day in a positive place. Develop habits and own that time.
Goal Setting & Accountability
• Create realistic goals.
• Create an accountability partnership with someone who is in a similar place that you are.
Your Circle of Influence
• Who is around you? What is their daily pace? We run at the pace of our peers. When people exercise, they train with people on their level. It’s the same philosophy with our work pace.
• This is also a cultural issue in organizations. The CEO sets the pace. We are the people that surround us. When hiring employees, does their pace match the organizational pace?
Productivity Hacks
• Technology apps that streamline your most common tasks are essential for productivity. You can now accomplish almost everything you do at your desk with a mobile app.
• Scent/candles: Cinnamon and Citrus stimulate limbic system in the brain and make us more focused.
• Music: Focus music proven to stimulate the limbic system too for enhanced concentration (Spotify and [email protected])
• Physical care: Mind, body and spirit. All three need care & feeding on a daily basis.
For specific tips on neutralizing the effect that toxic behavior has on you, read my blog, Six Strategies for Containing Workplace Behavior.
For more insight on my Peak Productivity tips, visit Washington Business Report’s website to view my regular monthly appearance. My March segment focused on Peak Productivity.
If you would like to discuss how the Successful Culture Prioritization tools can work for you, email me at [email protected] We can set up a Skype chat to discuss how my TransformU tools can move you past your blocks and onto your next level of growth.
Sign up here to receive Successful Culture’s leadership blog every Friday. All posts contain actionable content to make you the best leader you can be, to help you develop your people to their greatest potential, and to help you build your best organization.
About Successful Culture
We work with business owners, CEOs, and leadership teams that want to achieve their greatest personal & organizational potential. Through coaching, strategic consulting, retreat facilitation, and workshops, we equip leaders & emerging leaders with the mindset, tools, strategies, and processes they need to excel.
Ready to move forward? Email us today at [email protected]
Connect with me on Instragram, Facebook, and Twitter. Engage with me during my morning Periscope sessions as well (@marissalevin).
Please check out my Inc. Magazine columns on my Author Page too.
– In my latest Inc, article, I share The Essential Guide to Avoiding Workplace Text, Email, & Social Media Disasters.
– Learn about the 9 Leadership Behaviors that Lose Employee Trust & Respect here.
~Marissa Levin
CEO, Successful Culture
“Taking Leaders from Triage to Transformation.”
