Planning results

CONTENTS

Effective planning

Bridging the gap between

theory and practice

Just for today

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Effective planning

A personal plan for success is the way to apply “creative imagination”.

1. What is planning?

Planning means nothing more nor less than “to form a concrete picture (in
one’s mind,with the help of a model or graphically on a piece of paper) of
how something should be”.

A plan is a “mental structure” that shows who has to do what, when, how
and with what objective.

2. Why planning?

Not everything in life can be planned. But the mere striving to set up a plan,
the mere act of visualising what will happen or should happen, gives us
security and a certain amount of freedom of decision.Our plan helps us to
have a sense of direction and to convince and win over others. The more
difficult it is to foresee what will happen, the more imperative it is to set up
a plan.

It’s our plan that makes us the independent captain of our ship on the
ocean.

A reasonable plan helps us to stay on course and to be consistent with

ourselves.

The plan is a ladder

A good plan works like a ladder: If we want to climb a tree without a ladder, to help us
we must constantly look for grips and footholds, and every movement is surmount obstacles!
time-consuming.A ladder enables us to climb much more easily, with less
risk and, above all, to get on much quicker. A predetermined plan enables
us to head straight for our goal.With a plan at hand, I need not be afraid of
stumbling at every step. The various goals to be reached in ten years, five
years, one year, one month, a week, a day, are the different stages of the
plan, just like the steps of the ladder.

In business and everywhere, where co-operation is important, the plan

serves as a coordinator. Everybody knowing the plan knows who has to do
what, where and when. Thanks to the plan, the common objective can be
attained. Well-considered plans prevent us on the one hand from losing
ourselves and on the other hand from going around in circles.

3. Why is there so little effective planning in practice?

Planning requires time!
Mere wishful thinking has nothing to do with planning.A plan needs to be
well and carefully thought out. Serious planning requires a good deal of
time.
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 A plan is thoroughly conceived only if the planner is personally convinced
of its workability.Who on earth would be sufficiently enthusiastic to help us
realise a plan in which we ourselves have no faith? Certainly not our
customers, our manager or our colleagues.

Many planners start building their “mental structure”before the initial

elements such as enough information, a clear concept, knowledge,
experience, in short all factual data, are available. This also takes time, a
Take into account
lot of time.
the 70th idea!
A planner who knows nothing about freewheeling and the “70th idea is the
best” will set up plans that do not consider the 70th idea.

Sometimes a great deal of diligent but noncommittal planning is done.

Only binding planning, decision making and action makes sense!

4. How does one plan properly?

A plan is,like the ladder to climb a tree, a tool.It is a tool to solve problems,
to manage complex tasks and to achieve objectives.

Any plan, be it long-term planning for a company or planning the day for a
Binding planning: manager, technician or salesperson, consists principally of two elements.
first the objective,
then the path One: The objective to be achieved. For the manager e.g.: certain annual
leading to it! earnings. For the maintenance engineer e.g.: the signing of a maintenance
agreement or the reconstruction of a machine. For the salesperson e.g.:
the sales volume to be attained.

Two: The path to be followed in order to achieve the objective.This el-

ement breaks down into WHO,WHEN,WHAT and HOW.

Whether one begins the planning with the development of the objectives or
with the inventory of the ways and means,depends on the planner’s
entrepreneurial qualification. Of course it is also a question of the
hierarchical position in the company.

At the start, we make the following assumptions:

1. Every objective can be attained by every person.The only question

is: How long will it take?

2. The competition is not idle! If my competitors know how to make

better use of time, the lead I have now may easily be lost.

Again, largely a question of time.

You may say: “That sounds good! It’s all just a matter of time!” But it is also
a matter of the financial resources at my disposal and of the faculties I do
(or do not) have.

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You either have the necessary finance (most helpful!),or else you have to
raise it somewhere, somehow.The owners of many flourishing companies
started out with nothing, that is with nothing but the faculty which is
described on Andrew Carnegie’s gravestone:

“Here lies someone who sought out and attracted people who were
cleverer than himself.”

And this is exactly the object of our training: How to deal with people
(employees, customers, supervisors) who will bring us nearer to our goal.

Do we still have to ask ourselves if we should deal first with the ways and
means or with the objectives?

Basically we first decide on the objectives (phase 1) before we deal with

the ways and means (phase 2) that lead to these objectives.

Contrary to popular opinion, for most people the difficulty in attaining

ambitious objectives is not the finding of ways and means.

Most people, in their whole lifetime, never realize that, above all, it takes
time to be able to visualize an ambitious goal properly!

What does “visualize properly” mean?

We must see the desired dream lighting up in our mind’s eye, even if
there is not yet any sign of it. Concrete! Measurable!

More recognisable than the sun or the brightest star in the firmament. More
attractive than the force of gravity.

Do we know now what it means to develop an objective?

5. First planning phase: deciding on an OBJECTIVE Creative dreaming!

Everybody who knows the technique of “creative dreaming” will embark

upon the first planning phase according to this technique,namely:

The first step in planning involves writing down as many answers as

possible to the following questions:

What is worthwhile in life?

1. What do I want to achieve on the one hand?

2. How would I really like to spend my time on the other hand?
3. What are my limitations?
4. Who would I really like to be?
In other words:What is my utopian, ideal long-term objective?

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 The first two questions demonstrate that it is not easy to develop a
valid, ideal, utopian long-term objective.

Perhaps I want to own a castle whilst also wanting to spend my life

meditating in France.Maybe I would like to hold a top position in busi-
What can I learn ness although I prefer to spend 80 % of my working time working
from the past? creatively.

To get complete, valid objectives from the beginning, it is advisable to

consider the following questions in this phase:

– What can I learn from the past?

– How did previous plans work out? What was good? What was not
good? What can, should or must become better?

– What is my present situation? What is my personal strength? What

resources are available to me or to my company? This includes fi-
nancial means, personal contacts, faculties to be developed, knowledge
and ability, patents, markets.What possibilities do I have today? What
problems and barriers are to be expected? What obstacles and
difficulties obstruct my view?
What do I expect from
the future? (concrete,
measurable, The second step involves bringing order into the mass of aspects,
verifiable) possibilities, wishes and objectives. In other words: set priorities.

1. I will devote 50 % of my working days to my favourite activity.

or:

I want to spend 60 % of my working days creatively.

(You may ask:Why? Well, because I like it! Why else? This has to be the
main motive! Everything else is a substitute!)

2. I will keep fit by swimming 500 metres every day.

3. I will devote 4 whole days a month exclusively to my family.

4. I want to operate in business until I am 55.Afterwards…

Can we learn from this what was meant?

6. Second planning phase: Preparation of the WAYS and MEANS

In this phase the same step-by-step approach as in the first planning phase
is recommended, with the difference that we now deal with the ways and
means that should bring us closer to our objectives:

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If my goal is, for instance, to introduce a new product onto the market,the
following aspects have to be clarified:

First step: Collect ideas.

Second step: Organise the wealth of ideas. Maybe certain thought patterns
serve to guarantee the integrity of all the options and to ensure clarity.

1) The main criterion that could argue for the product from the
customer’s point of view.

2) The main criterion that could argue against the product (competition).

3) When is the most promising point in time?

4) What resources are available? etc.

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 Bridging the gap between theory and practice

“For the wise man, every day is a new life.”

1. The road to Hell…

Maybe, you are a past master at discovering worthwhile objectives,

injecting the necessary enthusiasm into your ventures and finding workable
ways of realising your ideas. If that is the case, congratulations! You have
an important advantage in achieving your objective.

And yet, you may not achieve the desired success within a reasonable
time.You may jeopardise the whole venture by only planning or making just
one attempt to carry out your plan and leaving it at that.It is far worse to
think up things you could do and to give them all up after one futile attempt
than to live in a dream world.The day-dreamer may find happiness, but
nothing more than disappointment and disillusionment is in store for people
who set themselves a goal, never to reach it.

The result is dissatisfaction, annoyance or even resignation. They are

on the road which is paved with good intentions.And you know where that
leads – to Hell.

We know very well what would be the right thing to do.We know that we
smoke too much, that we while away far too much time, that we are often
careless and lack stamina in the realisation of our objective.The spirit is
willing, but the flesh is weak. Our flesh? That is the bad habits we have
We don’t just have acquired over the years.
good and bad habits –
we are them! The greatest “I”obstacle,the greatest stumbling block in our way is our bad
habits.And we don’t get rid of them by making New Year’s resolutions. The
only way to acquire good habits, the right way of thinking, clearness of
speech and action is to practise constantly and try to improve on yesterday
and to do even better tomorrow.

Perhaps you have had the opportunity to watch a weightlifter in a

circus.You have seen the man struggle to lift the maximum weight as
indicated in the programme. Why doesn’t he simply settle for a lighter
weight? Why doesn’t he allow himself a reduction of, let’s say, 10 per
cent? Ten per cent more or less would hardly make any difference to the
audience.

Why must the man tax his strength to the utmost?

Admittedly, the effect on the audience would be pretty much the same
whether he lifted 180 or 200 kg. But what about the man himself? If, some
day, he was satisfied with lifting 180 kg instead of 200 kg,it would be 10 per
cent easier for him that particular day,and he would not have to exert
himself so much.

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But it would take only a few days before he was obliged to reduce the
weight by another 10 per cent so as not to be forced to make a maximum
effort for 180 kg. And in a few weeks he would have to look for some other
job because nobody goes to the circus to see a man lift a mere 40–50 kg.

Only if the weightlifter’s objective is to lift 200 kg tomorrow, will he succeed

in not collapsing under a weight of 180 kg today. A high standard of
performance can be maintained only as long as one is determined to go
further! Improve on yesterday and do even better tomorrow.

“Learning is like rowing upstream;

if you don’t advance, you drift backwards.”
(Chinese wisdom)

2. The 365 valuable pieces of mosaic…

Imagine a year to be a large empty frame in which, day by day, you put a
coloured stone. In the end, you will have a beautiful picture. Every day you
let go by without working on your picture will leave an empty space.

The connecting piece from plan to action, the important step from desires,
wishes and dreams to giving, doing and being useful is this very day. We Our total working capital
have to work on the single piece of mosaic so that it fits in the overall available each day: 1440
picture we designed and determined at the beginning of the year. minutes, filled with enthusiasm!

Our total working capital available each day is 1440 minutes, at best filled
with enthusiasm.Are these 1440 minutes and our enthusiasm not worth
enough for us to spend some minutes in planning the best possible use of
all the other minutes?

3. A competition with ourselves…

To plan my day prevents me from frittering away my energies for a

whole day and helps me to improve on yesterday.

There is much that can be said against a daily work sheet:

“Why set up a daily work sheet if the manager, the customers, my col-
leagues,the internal and external telephone,the intercom keep chasing me
all the time? What’s the good? Only to see every evening that I was not able
to live up to it? Would it not be better to save myself the disappointment? I
am a free person and do not wish to be the slave of my own planning!”

To argue in this way means one has actually grasped the essentials.The
plan for the day – the daily work sheet – is the connecting link between
theory and practice, between intention and action. It makes sense only if,
once conceived, it is carried out under all circumstances, unless events

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 occur which are beyond our control. (A hangover, bad temper, a lengthy
telephone conversation with an old friend are not events beyond our
control;they are nothing but “I”obstacles,namely habits, and can be
overcome.) With a plan for the day I hold a mirror up to myself. Admittedly:
It is not always enjoyable to see one’s true face. But it is healthy!

The daily plan:

Have you ever watched children jumping a ditch, back and forth? To get a
a frighteningly
real kick out of it, the ditch must have a certain width. Not too wide to
true mirror!
involve the risk of falling in, or the children will give up before having really
tried. Not too narrow, either, or it will have no attraction for them because
there’s no challenge in trying to jump it.

That’s just the way it is with the daily work sheet:We should not ask too
much of ourselves, but we should not expect too little, either. Like the
ditch for the children, our plan for the day should be a challenge for us while
giving us a fair chance to achieve what we wanted. In other words:The
daily work sheet involves a competition with ourselves.

4. How to go about it?

(The following suggestions give only one example of how to accept

every day as a new life.There are many roads that lead to Rome.)

Should the plan be made the night before? Maybe,the night before, we
should merely check our diary to see at what time to set the alarm
clock.We organise our day in the morning because daily planning does not
simply mean setting up a sequence of various activities and a time
schedule;the main thing is to get up steam early. The distance to be cov-
ered by the engine, as well as the timetable, will have to be determined
later. It would hardly be sensible to steam up the engine before going to
bed. On the other hand it can help to think about the new day in a way that
helps us falling asleep with a reassuring feeling.Personal preference is the
deciding factor.

How is the plan for the day made?

1. As a matter of principle, always get up an hour earlier than ab-

solutely necessary. In other words: Jump out of bed an hour before the time
when getting up would be a must and no longer a matter of your free
will. In this way, all day long you will have the pleasant feeling of being an
hour ahead of fleeting time.

2. Observe a 15-minute period of “meditation” over a blank sheet of

paper. Of course this emply sheet of paper can also be on your PC.

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Perhaps the best ideas come to your mind when it is peaceful and
quiet;perhaps you need a certain amount of background noise like Ernest
Hemingway, who was said to work best with the sound of someone moving
around, of doors being opened and shut, of tables and chairs and implements
being used in the kitchen. Perhaps you feel stimulated by squared paper or
perhaps you need the inspiration of the blank sheet. Many brainwaves come
to people in the bath.

What could be
There are thousands of different ways in which to meditate.Whatever your
choice, if you want to get somewhere, you will have to jot down what comes to done today?
mind.It makes absolutely no difference whether you do this in the bath, in the
hallway or in some quiet spot; whether you use white or blue paper, a pen or a
pencil. But if you don’t make notes, you will risk checking the flow of ideas and
Who do I want to be
going round in circles.
today?

During those 15 minutes every morning, you are the skipper; you set the
course to be followed and the speed to be kept.The day should be full of To whom can I be
zest,verve and rhythm,your rhythm.It should be typical for you. After that, all useful today
through the day, you are only the helmsman whose job it is to keep the direction
and the speed, to follow the captain’s orders.

The thing is to note – in any way – everything you can think of that should be
done that day. (Naturally, matter-of-course activities such as washing, looking
through the mail, signing the mail etc. are not worthy items for the work
sheet.They are of note only for the overall time they require and which must be
taken into account.)

Then, for a moment, consider what your attitude for the day should be: to be
friendly, smiling, in the best of moods.Try to get a mental picture of yourself.

Give a thought to being particularly useful, to whom and how. Also, give a
thought to whom, in particular, you would like to give a boost (your family,
customers, managers, collegues, your secretary, your team members, the On from the 70th idea
caretaker, the postman etc.) and how to do it. to concrete action!
The result of this period of meditation is a disorderly scribbled sheet of
paper, possibly with some sketches like a smiling face, a rising sun, just
because it happens to be raining! Your sheet is the true illustration of the many
aspects of the day.The lesson to learn from it is that each day offers so many
more opportunities than you could possibly make use of. Since, on our
meditation sheet, we note everything we could do, we don’t run the risk of
setting up a pro-forma plan that is merely including obvious jobs that have to
be done anyway. We want to be free to choose a programme for today that
we can start out on with enthusiasm and that will bring us closer to our
objective for the year.

3. Write your daily plan on your PC or on a blank card (somewhat

stiffer than a postcard), format: see picture on the last side!

For the definite plan, the following principles and rules should be observed:

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 – Decide on some job that you can be enthusiastic about and that is
worth an all-out effort!
– Ask yourself how and to whom your actions may give proof of your
principle “make yourself useful”.
– If there is a certain deadline for an appointment etc., this should be
noted.
– Underline everything that has to be done whatever happens and that
depends solely on you personally.
– On any important, future-oriented work spend as much time as is
necessary to finish the job to your own, your manager’s or your
client’s satisfaction. On less important matters spend just as much time
as you define in advance. If, for instance, you feel 20 minutes a day are
sufficient to look through advertising material, then you will limit this
activity to those 20 minutes even though you could, of course, spend
hours scrutinising everything that reaches your desk.

The meditation sheet may be thrown away once you have noted all use-
ul,workable and interesting data either on your work sheet for the day (PC or
paper) or in your diary.

4. Make the diary with your work sheet for the day your constant
companion.

Wherever you go from early morning to late at night, your diary will be with
you. During the day, you can note interesting observations and ideas or matters
to be dealt with on the next day.

In the evening, you can consult that day’s work sheet and be happy to have
made some successful efforts to reach your goal and realise your plans,
despite problems, disturbances and stumbling blocks.

5. What will this do for me?

Everything! Let’s hear what Admiral Byrd, who was stranded for five months
alone in a cottage at the South Pole, has to say about it:“In the evenings, before
blowing out the lantern, I made it a point to map out the next day.This came
down to devoting an hour’s work to the escape tunnel, half an hour to shovelling
snow, an hour to setting up the barrel of fuel, an hour to sawing wood for the
food tunnel, two hours to repairing the broken axle of the sled… It was
wonderful to plan my time in this way. It gave me the great satisfaction of self-
control… Without this self-imposed schedule or something equivalent, the days
would have passed with no purpose whatsoever. If the days hadn’t had a
purpose, they would have ended as such days always end – in decay…”

We should, by careful planning, strive to make the best of every day’s

opportunities, approaching every single one as if it were the opportunity of a
lifetime, if we want to be sure not to miss the real, big opportunity, should it
come along some day. Then we are equal to the Olympic gold medal winner
who trained for years just for that one day, that supreme moment of his life.

Only those who make it a point to reach their daily goal will succeed in the aims
of their lives.
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Just For Today

(Written by Sibyl F. Partridge and printed in “How To Stop Worrying, And

Start Living” by Dale Carnegie)

1. Just for today I will be happy.This assumes that what Abraham Lincoln
said is true, that “most folks are about as happy as they make up their
minds to be.” Happiness is from within; it is not a matter of externals.

2. Just for today I will try to adjust myself to what is, and not try to adjust
everything to my own desires. I will take my family, my business and my
luck as they come and fit myself to them.

3. Just for today I will take care of my body. I will exercise it, care for it,
nourish it, not abuse nor neglect it, so that it will be a perfect machine for
my bidding.

4.Just for today I will try to strengthen my mind. I will learn something
useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort,
thought and concentration.

5. Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways; I will do somebody a
good turn and not get found out. I will do at least two things I don’t want to
do as William James suggests, just for exercise.

6. Just for today I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress as
becomingly as possible, talk low, act courteously, be liberal with praise,
criticize not at all, nor fault with anything and not try to regulate nor improve
anyone.

7. Just for today I will try to live through this day only, not to tackle my whole
life problem at once. I can do things for twelve hours that would appal me if
I had to keep them up for a lifetime.

8. Just for today I will have a program. I will write down what I expect to do
every hour. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. It will eliminate two
pests, hurry and indecision.

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 Example:

Tagesplan · Daily plan · Plan quotidien · Piano giornaliero · Plan diario · Plano Diário
Dagplan · Dagsplan · Päiväohjelma · Plan dnia · Denní plán · Dennýpla’n · Napi terv

Tel.: Miller, Ward, Stevenson, Howard

10.00: Meeting – advertising budget

Question:
What caused mistakes?

12.00: Business lunch with Bill Buchan

2.00: Meeting long-term plan

5.00: Western Co., Nancy James

Documentation: offer, new version

of reference letter

8.00: Speech at the employers’ association

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Which points in this text do I consider to be the most important ones …

… and what do they mean for me, in practice?

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