Plan to Work, Work the Plan, Plan to Adapt
Are you ready to burn the boats? You HAVE TO BE.
Plan to work, work the plan, plan to adapt.
What does that phrase mean? My teams have heard it spouted out a million times. I say this almost as much as my favorite moniker, Big Dog!
We are diving in, going deep into what it means to start your every move with a plan, understand that plan completely and then plan to adjust and throw it out at times.
My Captain in the Navy—Captain O’Connor (SW/AW) of the USS Rushmore, LSD 47 at the time—always had a favorite saying to yell as he forced us through our 5 a.m. PT sessions: Murphy’s Law exists, and he will show up. “Murphy is on the way shipmates; show him you don’t care and bring the pain and problems!” He would sing out like a whippoorwill on a Sunday morning.
This, however, didn’t remind me of those Sunday morning chirps in Satsuma, Ala. It pushed me to keep driving, keep running, keep doing the pushups because Murphy, some old engineer turned philosopher I had never heard of, wasn’t going to make this sailor quit.
To take yourself and your team to the next phase, you must plan to get there. But first, you must plan to work your nuts off. That’s phase one. Embrace it.
Plan to Work
The first step to every endeavor in life is planning to work. I know that seems basic, but how often are you prepared for the day?
Most people don’t start producing until well after the day has begun. I used to be one of those people. I would party claiming it was “a part of the game” and really getting started around 10 o’clock was acceptable. I am here to tell you now; it was stupid and despite my talent it kept me from being my best self-daily.
I could overcome and was good enough to be better than 8 out of 10 others in the business dragging ass hungover and waiting to start the party again. That was lazy and far from producing the results myself or those around me wanted. We sought and achieved excellence. To get there we had to plan to work.
Every day, it sounds simple, but PLAN TO WORK. Stop using excuses.
Yeah, you have a headache. Yes, you ran out of coffee. Sure, you and your significant other are fighting still from last night and your “head just isn’t in it today.” Stop that bullshit, tie up your laces and get to work. Nobody cares about your problems but you. Use the problems you see as fuel for your focus—not for excuses to underperform.
Work the Plan
The best athletes, performers, leaders and all winners have something in common—they work a PLAN. Michael Jordan didn’t get to six championships overnight. Tiger Woods didn’t just start stroking eagles, and George Washington didn’t appear in full military regalia and shoo off the British in the late 1700’s.
You must have a plan.
Start this small but build it out big. Start with making your bed daily and implementing morning planning meetings into your schedule. If you and your business are already full steam ahead, look at your current systems for planning and forecasting. Find the missing links that always show up in meetings and reviews.
What are the pain points? Find them, eliminate them by working the problem expectation into your plan.
I can’t tell you what your plan needs to be right now, I don’t know you and your business. Given the opportunity I can and will dig in and help find the answers to your problems, but quite frankly you know and feel them now. It’s why you are reading this.
Start small, work big. Build your plan for your day, week, month, 18-month, 24-month and 36-month focus. Know the road you are building or taking, experience the journey.
Plan to Adapt
I alluded to it earlier—Murphy’s Law exists and will always show its ugly mug. Most often it is when it is most inconvenient and unexpected.
The easiest thing to do for yourself and your business is to build a plan for you to achieve your goals. Truly, it is. You are planning your success forward. We all love to be successful.
But what happens when you get punched in the face by life, your employees, the no from the client you must have to hit payroll or make the mortgage? Everything changes.
Know that eventually everything will go wrong. The difference between continued success is your ability to look in the mirror like Michael Jackson and come to grips with who you are. Overweight? Hit the trails. Depressed? Find the why and face the demons. Have pain in your back? Take some Tylenol and move on, don’t bitch about it.
Being a leader isn’t easy. Guiding a team to success—even if it’s a team of one—is extremely difficult. You will face objections and obstacles. It is how you face them and conquer them that matters. Plan for them to exist and plan to keep pushing. Burn the boats, win the day.
Do you have the guts to keep pushing when it gets tough, and the plan breaks down? Do you have the right people? Find that drive and embrace the coming suck, it makes the win so much sweeter.
Second Rule of Sales—No means not right now.
Some of the best referrals I have ever had are from “no” clients. If you know that you are doing the right thing for the client and are fitting the best solution your conviction can’t let you fail. It won’t let the client fail.
Wear that conviction like a badge of honor and live that with pride. Do the best you can for yourself and everyone you can touch in the sphere of influence around you to bring a solution to the table.
