OUCH, that really hurt!
I just finished working on a game plan for 2010 for my business. In doing this, I started by looking back of 20o9 and doing an autopsy. The knife of reality is sharp and cuts deep.
Some people may ask, “What is gained by going back to look at 2009 results?” The first reason would be that it’s easy to forget what you did the past year. Quick can you tell me what you did on January 12, 2009? Probably not, I know I can’t without looking at my organizer. The second reason is that you’ve got to know where you are in order to map out where you are going. For example, if you decided to drive to Dallas, TX, you don’t just grab a map and say, “I see I-35 goes into Dallas, I believe I’ll take that Interstate.” Okay well I might because I’m in Oklahoma, but that would not work if you were in Florida. It’s the same with with all areas of your life.
As the title might indicate, it was pretty painful to see the results, or lack thereof for 2009. There were plenty of goals that our team did not reach. However, I choose to look at these results in a positive and optimistic view. To do this I had to get out of that small here and now and look at the overall vision and direction that my team has taken and what I found is an improvement over 2008. So as frustrating as it is to look at just 2009 information, we are making incremental progress in the right direction.
2010 is a year with a lot of potential growth and the plan is to build tremendously upon the last two years. This plan will require that both me and my team will have to stretch and grow, but it is obtainable.
This is an exercise was something that was easy to do, hard to swallow for me personally but in the long run, I know that it will be one of the most beneficial things that I have done for 2010 to take my business to the level I have dreams of it becoming.
I would love to hear from you if you have done something similar or are doing so now. If you have past experiences with this, I would love to know your outcome.
