THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DECIDING AND DOING

”Five frogs are sitting on a log. Four decide to jump off. How many are left?

Answer: five.

Why? Because there's a difference between deciding and doing” Mark L. Feldman & Michael F. Spratt

You have done it. You have a plan. You've outlined priorities; you know what has to get done to reach goal. You are at “go” point when you start getting nervous.

Ok, so JUMP!

Sure, except… “Where am I going to find time? What if I lose my staff? What if plan fails? OR, WHAT IF THE PLAN TAKES OFF?”

Welcome to critical place where many plans hit a crossroad. A plan - whether it’s on paper, or buried somewhere in your PC (or even back of your mind) - may carefully identify strengths, capture a vision and detail steps to make your dreams come true, but if you don’t act on it, it is destined to be just a record of what “might have been”.

None of steps in strategic planning process is as vital as that of taking a plan forward and making it work.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUCCESS AND STUCK

“The most difficult thing is decision to act, rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and procedure, process is its own reward.” Amelia Earhart

When goal is to swim in a new direction, difference between success and ‘stuck’ likely involves change.

They tell us it takes 21 days to break an old habit, and 65 days to establish a new one! The basic truth is - change isn’t easy. We regularly travel nicely established paths formed by our habits. To forge new roads, our old habits need to be replaced. Unfortunately we get used to doing it one way for so long, it becomes comfortable. The transition period during any change initiative is usually uncomfortable – and it is hard to get out of a familiar, comfortable place.

Another reason that it is hard to change habits is that we forget to. You have to have reminders around during a transition period, or you probably won't remember.

A daily journal will save you time, reduce stress and make you more productive.

Several months ago, I visited office of a million dollar producer. I was shocked to find that although he was in charge of an extremely successful practice, his office looked like it had been hit by a tornado. His desk was covered with client statements, yellow note pads, phone messages, post it notes, and two calendar books. In fact, every flat surface in his office was covered with stacks of paper and files.

He loved activity, but couldn’t keep track of his commitments and information because he was drowning in paper. Happily, I offered him a solution to his problem.

Handing him a wire bound notebook, I said, “From now on, this is your daily journal. Each day, I want you to record all commitments you make, your client discussions, ideas, meeting notes, and names and phone numbers. Anything you write down during day that’s not on a form will go into this book.”

I explained to him that he should start a new page every day, date it and use it for all his notes. The following day he’d start a new page, allowing him to keep all his notes and lists in one place in chronological order.

“No more notes on back of business cards or phone messages,” I told him. “No more legal pads or scraps of paper. No more floating paper – period!”

A few weeks later, this successful advisor told me that my suggestion made a huge difference in his daily productivity. He said he felt more in control, less frustrated trying to find important information, and less distracted now that there was no longer paper cluttering his desk. He asked me for more ideas that would bring “sanity” to his day. He said there’s just never enough time in day to get everything done. I told him that he just identified his problem – he thinks he should do everything.