And by plan I don’t mean have some idea in your head about your business or your career. I mean a REAL plan. A written plan … that you work on frequently. People always ask me how to get started on their plan and it is really quite simple. I like to use what’s called heuristic — or backward — planning that I learned in the military for my planning process. Basically, you start with your objective in mind then work back to where you are now. This type of planning process can be distilled down into three basic steps:

1. Identify your overall objective.
2. Determine the intermediate milestones and supporting tasks to reach each milestone.
3. Measure your performance and adjust your plan.

Let’s take a look at each of these three steps in the planning process.

Identify your overall objective. 
Hopefully, you’ve incorporated your PASSION (see my earlier column) into your overall objective.  That objective can be anything from getting a job in a new industry or at a specific new company to owning a major league sports team. Whatever it may be just make sure it is something you’re passionate about and that it is defined. Once you’ve identified your overall objective, you can begin the processes of achieving it!

You need to be specific about defining the objective. What constitutes success? What would you consider to be a failure? What are all of the components of the objective that you want to achieve? Truly understanding the answers to all of these questions will help you develop your plan more effectively.

Determine intermediate milestones and supporting tasks to reach each milestone.
For any objective you identify, there will be many milestones. And for each milestone there will be many supporting tasks.  For instance, if your objective is to find a job in a new industry, say real estate, then you’d have many potential milestones that could include:  1) obtaining some level of formal or informal Education about real estate, 2) developing an understanding of the different jobs available, 3) conducting a self-assessment and comparing that to what you’ve learned about the industry to determine which roles you’d be most suited, and 4) developing a structured network to assist you in finding, closing and excelling in your new job. These are just a few potential milestones, but based on your ultimate objective there can be many, many milestones and they need to be individually mapped out.  Many milestones can be worked on simultaneously.  For instance, you might get your formal education in real estate at the same time you increase the size of your network in the real estate industry. 

For each of your milestones there are supporting tasks that must be accomplished. The supporting tasks are basically all of the actions you need to accomplish in order to reach your milestone. The more specific you are in identifying tasks and timing for them to be completed, the better you’ll be able to track your progress. 

Measure your performance and adjust your plan
Tracking your progress is critical to success. You can’t know how you’re doing if you don’t measure against your plan. The milestones act as measuring point where you can assess your development and gauge your progress. As part of the process of measuring your progress you may find some interesting occur. You may learn that there are new milestones that you need to put in place to reach your objective; some of the milestones you thought you needed to reach your objective may not really be necessary; or you may even find out that you need to adjust your overall objective. Adjusting your plan is all part of the process and will ultimately enable you to achieve your objectives.

On “The Apprentice” I took a lot of flak for being on the laptop a lot during the tasks.  One of the interesting aspects of the show is that the complexity of each task does not come through to the viewing audience. Before we filmed the show, I remember watching a couple of episodes of season one and remember thinking to myself that it looked pretty easy. Well, I’m here to tell you that it isn’t! We are given very little time and money to accomplish some very significant tasks. That required meticulous planning. Not only did we have to account for every penny, we had to manage some very “strong” personalities.  By tracking our objective, milestones, and supporting tasks on the laptop, I was better able to lead my teammates and contribute to our ultimate success. So think about that … we created a detailed written plan for one task on a reality show. Isn’t your career, your business, your life more important than a task on a reality show? Of course it is.  Start building your plan!

PLANNING is one of the most critical leadership that will contribute to your ultimate success in business and in life.  Remember: identify your objective, set appropriate milestones and list their supporting tasks, and measure your performance so that you can adjust your plan as necessary.

TAKE COMMAND