CEO Corner with Tate Holt: Finishing Your One-Page Business Plan

In last week’s post, we described the process of defining your top three objectives for next year. The reason, you may recall, that we limited your list to only three goals is simple: you don’t have the luxury of a single priority, but also can’t afford to try to do too many things. With your list of the right three goals, your business will improve and you’ll have the time and budget to attack your next set of priorities.

Here’s how you finish your plan.
Remember that you can’t DO a goal. What you CAN do, however, is properly execute a series of activities, each with the necessary level of quality, which combine to deliver your objective.

For example, you can’t just “win” a football game. What you can do is create and manage a list of appropriate activities: field a team of players. By position, teach them plays and how to make touchdowns. Make sure they’re in uniform and on the field at the right time on game day. If they execute according to your direction and score more points than your opponent, you will win the game.

So, for your game-plan/business plan, examine your top three objectives. For each of them, jot down the list of activities you need to accomplish them. Sequence the activities, and then make a note on your calendar of when each activity needs to be done, because you need to have a way to monitor or measure your progress.

That’s all there is to it! Shift your focus to doing each of the activities to the best of your ability, and get each activity done on or before the due date. If you included all the correct activities on your calendar, you should accomplish each objective. It works!