"Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now"

Alan Lakein

The crowds at the gyms have thinned out; the weight loss groups have lost some members, the plans and intentions, so carefully crafted and written at the beginning of the year are now under a pile of unfinished projects on your desk. I'm sorry to have to bring this up, but I just wanted to ask, "How are you doing on your business plans for the year?"

A plan is only as good as it is executed and if yours is under a pile on your desk, or in a file on your computer and you haven't looked at it for a while, it's going to be difficult to get where you want to be going in your business-know what I mean?

So I'd like to encourage you to invest about 30 minutes and pull out your plan (or vision) for the year and do three things:

1-Take stock on where you are so far.

Look at what you've accomplished, what's worked well, what you've achieved so far to date. And celebrate those successes! Too often we tend to just focus on what we didn't get done and beat ourselves up. You might be amazed at all you've accomplished even though the plan got stuck in a file drawer! Take a look at what hasn't gotten done, and ask yourself, are these things still as relevant today, as they were the day you put the plan together? If so, make a note of them. Figure out where you are and start taking the steps to get you back on track.

2-Analyze the gaps from the plan to where you are today

Review the measurements you may have put in place when you developed the plan and see where you are in terms of: revenue, number of clients, how much you've grown your e-mail list, number of Twitter followers, Facebook friends, number of presentations or speeches you've given, and whatever other measurements you use. Figure out where the gaps are from where you are, to where you want to be. Then right down where you need to start focusing today to narrow the gap. What are the steps (even if they are baby steps) you need to take? So often we don't want to do this step, because we feel we may be so far off our plan, we might never get back on. And that's just not true. Everyone falls off a plan, exercise program or diet. The key to success is how quickly we can get back to our plan, that really counts!

3-Recommit to your plan

Get yourself back on track to working on the things that will bring you closer to your vision for your business. Stop doing things that aren't. We all can fall back into familiar patterns and spend time doing the things that are most comfortable to us. Our vision of playing a bigger game to help and serve more people always takes us into areas of fear and overwhelm. Which is another reason we can sometimes get thrown off our game-we get scared, or fill our time up with the lower priority stuff that can fill up our time.

That's why it's so important to stick with your plan and keep it top of mind. I find it helpful to make an appointment with myself (that I'm totally committed to keeping) at the beginning of every month to review where I am to my intentions, goals and vision. This is a very helpful way to keep the plan alive.

Remember a good plan today, is better than a perfect plan tomorrow!