The calendar’s flip to the next page bragging it’s now 2021 won’t magically make everything rosy and right! It’s up to us to define our game plan and prepare to achieve success.

One useful practice is reviewing what we learned over the past year, and certainly there was a lot! There is heaps going on for everyone, both personally and professionally. The same experience will be a celebration for some and a heart-wrenching disappointment for others. Working to get ahead or even to keep heads above water is taking more effort and energy.

I’m a strong advocate of planning, and even stronger now.

Why? Because haphazard activity is exhausting and doesn’t move the needle. Knowing what’s important helps manage that precious, irreplaceable resource called time. There is no shortage of distractions, offers by well-meaning gurus, blasts of opportunities not to be missed, etc. Most are all squirrel and no nuts! Distractions with no return!

An important consideration as you reflect on 2020: Be honest with yourself. Ask yourself the hard questions. What did you accomplish? What were the distractions that took you off your game? Why did those happen? How can you better plan and prepare for 2021? What were the missteps of 2020? How can you plan better to avoid them in 2021? How high do you want to set the hurdles for 2021?

It’s important not to get bogged down in the details, so keep your thinking at a higher level. Take the time to write down your ideas as you reflect and review. Then let a few days pass and refine your ideas.

Make connections between ideas, and think about what it will take to bring your plans to life. If you’re adventurous, think of a theme for the year.  Mine was “commitment” for last year, and it took heavy duty commitment to stay the course with some of the events that occurred.

When you begin your planning process, see that your list has no more than 3 – 5 items that require your focus. A list of 15 things will only bog you down and discouragement never produces great results!

Celebrate 2020. See possibilities for 2021.

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The post 2021 …Get Ready For It! first appeared on Lane Business Consulting.

When the perception of work demands is heightened, overwhelm can easily take over. Some say that there is a tendency to see work as filling every moment of life when working from home. When in-person or in-office work allows for social interaction, this interrupts the concentration of work and is helpful in alleviating the nose-to-the-grindstone feeling.

High achievers tend to more easily succumb to the overwhelm of work pressure

They have high standards, and when they have only themselves to measure performance against, they increase the pressure. Interaction with colleagues can help release the pressure valve high achievers can create for themselves.

Some observers of the WFH (work from home) environment are commenting that without the commute to and from work, some workers are realizing that the commute was a transition time to reflect and step out of the workplace, and enter in their home life.

Comments often heard:

“People tell me I’m constantly working.”

“I can’t switch off work.”

“Work doesn’t let me go. I wake up thinking about work.”

Unplugging is critical for setting healthy boundaries

Sciences of all kinds (medical, mental, physical, etc.) are shouting how important it is, and it’s becoming even more critical to break free every day. Not just on weekends, but every day.

Constant Partial Attention –– CPA –– is a term coined by Linda Stone, a tech writer and consultant. She describes CPA as a modern adaptive behavior of continuously dividing one’s attention. She has clarified that continuous partial attention is not the same as multi-tasking. CPA is the practice of jumping from one thing to another without concentrating on any one chore. Over time, the habit of CPA eventually impacts the ability to pay attention to any task productively.

The goal of recovery is to permit detachment from work and become involved with other areas of your life. Recovery allows for the ability to be fully focused at work or at home. Without recovery, neither work nor home life benefit from one’s full attention and absorption.

Being always “on” is exhausting and stressful. One interesting factoid according to PRNewswire is that the average person taps, swipes and clicks their smartphone nearly 3,000 times a day!

The word, “recovery” implies moving from addictive behavior to freedom from the drug of choice. Work can be considered addictive when it preoccupies your life 24/7. Learning recovery and freeing behaviors are worth the effort. Your life and your family could depend on it.

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The post Overcommitment and Overwhelm – Learn to Build In Recovery first appeared on Lane Business Consulting.

I prefer to look back with gratitude for the many blessings. Of course, like everyone else, there were speed bumps and some lessons to be learned along the way. And, I am grateful for the learning. A life with no challenges would be quite boring, don’t you think?

I am not suggesting a Pollyanna approach to the 2019 farewell wave. Rather an acknowledgement that there were also many achievements, blessings, happy interactions, new acquaintances, gifts given and received, and so much more. Let the year in review be an uplifting exercise instead of a flogging. Go into 2020 with open arms, ready to receive its miracles, gifts and adventures.

If you notice that you didn’t accomplish something – say, for instance, you didn’t reach six figures, and that was a goal for last year. Don’t beat yourself up… just add the word, “yet” to your statement. “I haven’t reached six figures yet in my business.” Instead of weeping over failing, you brighten at the prospect of reaching that goal in the coming year.

I wish you a prosperous and joy-filled New Year.

The post Are You Ready To Rock In 2020? first appeared on Lane Business Consulting.

“But if you haven’t been planning you can’t start to work, intelligently at least,” he said. Let’s apply that thinking to your business. It is critical to plan. And a plan starts with planning. Your plan is like your GPS. There’s satisfaction in arriving at your destination.  It’s certainly better than not knowing where you are going and what roads will get you there efficiently.

A business plan is essential. Following Eisenhower’s thinking, your business plan doesn’t need to be (and shouldn’t be) a 3 ring binder full of prose that you’ll never look at again. We’re not looking for the long commentary and many hours spent writing.

It’s the thinking about what your intentions are for the coming year and noting the actions you’ll take to get to your destination. That’s why a One-Page Business Plan is all you need. You’ll be more likely to take a look at it over the coming months. It’s simple and direct. There’s no room for poetry and prose (unless that’s what you want!)

What’s really important is setting aside some time (an hour is a good start) to think about your accomplishments over the past year and move forward into next year. Complete the One-Page Business Plan Guide and be prepared to rock 2020!

The One-Page Business Plan is available here

The post A One-Page Business Plan Is All You Need first appeared on Lane Business Consulting.