Auto Repair Shop Owners Putting Plans in Place

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Plan by Rick White, President 180BIZ  (Estimated Read Time 4 minutes 23 seconds)

In this episode, I want to talk to you about planning. Every year, Brenda and I take one entire week to plan for the following year. We just finished our planning week this past week. We went down to the smokey mountains and had a great time. We did spend the entire week planning for sales, staffing, responsibilities, guidelines, benchmarks, etc. We made sure it was all in there. But if you ask Brenda, she’d say it was never enough.

What do you do to plan?  If you say that your plan is to do a million dollars, that’s not a plan. That's a declaration. And too many people mistake a declaration for a plan. Your declaration is the desired destination. You need two more things to help you out there. Number two, you must have a deadline. Destinations must always have a deadline. Why? Because it creates a sense of urgency inside. The third thing you need is a plan. My question to you is when do you plan? When do you step back and actually plan where you want to go? It doesn't mean you're necessarily going to get there. But what it does mean is you have a plan.

Now here's a guaranteed success tool. If you want to achieve your goals (1) have a destination, (2) have a deadline for that destination, and (3) have a plan. And when you apply that plan, recognize that plans change. Like Dwight Eisenhower once said, “In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”  Why? Because things change. What you thought was going to happen may not happen after you do the plan. (4) The next thing you must do is act. Destination, deadline, plan, act. And then there's (5) review, reflect debrief. Part of that reflection is being able to step back at different times, look at what you did, and determine if it’s working. We do it once a week. We step back and plan our week. It’s typically on a Sunday evening and takes about a half hour. And then at the end of each day, we look at our day and ask ourselves how we did. It gives you an opportunity to keep your goals in front of you. It’s to keep that destination in front of you. Reflection is the ability to make sure that you're going and heading the right way.

So after you plan, act, and review, there's one more step. (6) And that's adapt. That's when you step back and say, man, this is working really well, but this part isn't working so great. What can we do a little differently? And it's this constant six-step plan that makes all the difference in the world.

Don't overdo it. Don't over plan. Don't put too much into your day. You must allow for your day to happen. But if you can keep your eye on the ball and review where you're at once a month, you can make small adjustments when needed. Step back and ask yourself, “How am I doing? Hey, I should be here by now. How am I doing with that?” If you're not there, step back and learn. That's all it is.

So, the first thing is having a destination. The second is to have a deadline, and then the four-step process of plan act, reflect, and adapt. That's it right there. And you do that on regular basis. Doing it daily and making sure you're moving things through, reviewing weekly, and making sure you're focused on the right stuff.

It's easy to get distracted. It's easy to get pulled away. Your success is in direct correlation to your ability to stay focused on what you want, where you want to go, and what you're doing to get there. When you get distracted by this issue or that issue, it stops you in your tracks. You're not moving forward anymore. You're going sideways. And it's a distraction. And at the end of the year, end of a month, whatever it is, you feel defeated. Never feel defeated again. Use this four-step process plan, act, reflect, adjust, and make it better every single day. This is the secret to your success. It's having that deadline, keeping it really important to you.

How do you do that with your feelings? Think, “I'm going to hit these goals because..." whatever comes after the word because is your fuel. You have a choice. You could make it ethanol, or you could make it rocket fuel. It’s your choice. The stronger the emotions, the better off you are.

I believe in you. I don't know if anybody's ever told you that, but I believe in you. I believe in your abilities. And I believe you can do this. Don't let fear and doubt get in your way. You must go through them to get to where you want to go. So you will make a mistake. Don't worry about that. Just move forward. There's greatness in each and every one of us, you got this.

So, plan, act, reflect, and adjust. Really. That's all it is every day, every week, every month. And you will be amazed at the difference.

Thank you so much. God bless, stay safe, and have fun. 

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