THE PLAN

All I wanted to do was impress a girl.

Here I am, FOUR YEARS LATER, sleeping on a mattress on the floor of a bedroom studio that doubles as acoustic wall treatment when I’m recording, mixing, and mastering…

At this point I can’t even remember which girl I was trying to impress in the first place!??

But I do remember I had a plan. A goal. A worthy goal, in fact.

That worthy goal has not changed, nor will it ever change:

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“Earn a living to support myself and my family by sharing an intimate, emotional connection with you through the magic of music…”
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That, to me, is an achievable goal. And it’s a goal worthy of achievement.

I’ve witnessed business leaders be successful and also fail miserably when it comes to setting goals.

Do you remember the scene from “A Beautiful Mind” when the plan was to ignore the super attractive woman in the bar?

Neither do I. 😉

Its premise always stuck with me. To paraphrase, “The best results come when we simultaneously do what is best for us AND the group.”

I think too often corporate goals fail to take into consideration what is simultaneously best for employees, customers, and the company.

In essence, one group is ALWAYS going to get shafted if worthy goals are not carefully and deeply considered from a wide range of differing perspectives prior to implementation.

Of the 4 functions of management I referred to in my last post, I spend probably 55-60% of the entire time in the planning phase.

I make sure the direction I want to go is on the right path to achieve my worthy goal.

In this way, I’ve found I can more quickly adjust to meet challenges, both anticipated and unseen, as they arise.

What is your worthy goal?

It’s perfectly okay to spend more than a day preparing the course that will lead you safely to your destination.

Better to remain in the harbor until fully supplied than prematurely starve at sea.

After all… this is the journey of a lifetime.