The Small Business Owner’s Daily Work Plan

Successful business owners regularly assess their progress towards goals to ensure they're on track. This article explains why and how a daily checklist can be a powerful tool to kick off your day.

Written Jan 13, 2008, read 9818 times since then.

We all have emergencies that enter into our world. But if we let ourselves be driven by the latest and loudest, we never make progress towards our long term goals.

If we’re going to ‘advance the ball’, we need to Plan Our Work & Work Our Plan.

Successful business owners wake up each morning, assess their progress towards our goals, and make darn sure they take one step - as small as it may be — towards that goal.

Each day builds on the success of the previous day.

Unfortunately, most of us start our days just by picking up what’s left over from yesterday. We scan our emails, we pick up the latest emergency, and we let ourselves be victims to all the stuff coming at us.

If our work has no context - no meaning - we end up feeling overwhelmed. Worse, we don’t advance the most critical projects to our success and happiness.

It’s what Stephen Covey called putting the ‘Big Rocks First.’

In a famous example from his book, First Things First, Covey tells the story of a teacher in front of a class with a wide-mouth gallon jar. Next to the jar is a pile of fist-sized rocks.

After filling the jar to the top with the rocks, the teacher asks the class if the milk jug is full. The class answers, ‘Yes.’

The teacher then takes out a box of tiny pebbles underneath his desk and then places them into the container, topping it off.

The teacher asks again if the container is full? Tentatively, they answer ‘Yes’ again.

The teacher then takes out a bag of sand and pours it into the container filling it to the top. Then he takes water and pours it into the container.

He says ‘Ok, NOW it’s full?’

When the teacher asks what the lesson of the demonstration is, the class answers, ‘You can always fit more into the container.’

The teacher says, ‘No. ‘It’s that I would have never fit the big rocks in if I saved them for last.’

Why It’s a Problem

It’s a matter of execution.

We can make all the grand plans we like. But if we are unable to ACT on those plans, we will never achieve our goals.

This is the actual DOING. This is taking a positive step forward — ACTING rather than REACTING.

Symptoms

While you have a solid set of goals and a plan to get there, you just don’t feel that you have any measurable progress towards those goals
Your daily work is defined by what’s in your inbox vs. what s on your project list
You’ve become frustrated with goal setting and planning in the past because you never feel like you can get to it.
You feel tempted to start your day by knocking off a few easy items from your tasks list so you get that sense of accomplishment
At the end of the day you’re not really sure what you accomplished.

How To Avoid This Mistake:

As mentioned in the previously, standardization is the basis for continuous improvement.

Successful entrepreneurs have a daily ritual, a checklist of steps they go through before they check their messages, before they review their bank account, before they read ANY email.

Successful business owners start their day by comparing their short & long term goals to the emergency items that need to be addressed today.

I find a good checklist addresses:

Preparing your environment so you can enjoy your work day and focus. Is your desk cleared of pop cans, paper, files, junk that inevitably gathers at the end of the day? Do you enjoy listening to music when working?

Brainstorm of ‘what’s on your mind.’ We all wake up with anxieties, worries, things that are eating at us in some way. Brainstorming these will get these out of your head and onto paper. Once on paper you can then determine what you really need to act on now or what can be deferred to another time.

Review of your goals - Doing this after your brainstorm allows you to weigh these in context to perceived emergencies. It also allows you to make connections from the future desired state to the present.

Avoid just glancing over these to say so you can get past this step. Use this time to connect back to the emotion, the WHY behind these goals. Assess your progress towards these goals and ask questions to understand what’s preventing you from reaching it.

A review of projects & next actions - Ideally, you’ll be able to tie every goal to some project on your list. Identify THE next step you can take, something you can accomplish TODAY.

A review of your calendar - This is pretty straight forward. But it’s a good idea look at today, tomorrow, the coming week, etc. That way nothing catches you by surprise.

A quick scan of your inboxes for urgent items - Email, voice mail, snail-mail etc. JUST review them, don’t answer anything yet. Try to have the discipline to hold off until you’ve completely pulled your action plan together.

Prepare your work plan - Don’t get too greedy here. You’re going to have calls, questions, new emergencies. You still have to deal with the anxieties captured during your brainstorm.

I find I can only plan AND complete 3-5 substantive things throughout the day. Putting 15 things on your list that absolutely must be completed today will be setting yourself up for failure. You’ll feel defeated at the end of the day and who needs that?

Also, a trick I use is to set time estimates on tasks so it doesn’t get out control. So if I estimate 30-45 minutes, I’ll set an egg-timer for 30 min when I’m ready actually to pick up that task. When the timer goes off, I’ll reset it for 5 minutes and try to wrap it up so I can at least pick up where I left off tomorrow.

Even if you only spend 30 minutes today advancing your goals, you’ve ADVANCED them. Try to make this the first thing you do to start off the day. You’ll have greater energy and your chances of completing the task is almost assured.

Learn more about the author, Kelly Andrew Brown.

Posted by Chris Auman, North Canton, Ohio | Jan 16, 2008

Excellent article my friend. Today I've already had a half jar of sand thrown at me and I'm now going to regroup and grab the big rocks. This is an excellent and easy way to remember to start your day with the big picture items whenever possible. Consider buying a nice big rock paperweight and keep it on your desk as a reminder to not get distracted and focus on what's MOST important.
Posted by Ilise Benun, Hoboken, New Jersey | Jan 17, 2008

Great article, Andrew and I have to agree that a daily plan and checklist are important in making progress towards long term goals. Unless you're organized and keep those long term goals in mind, it's easy to get lost in the daily tasks. I've been hearing this dilemma for years from my Marketing Mentor clients. They are all self-employed, and most find they get off track unless they are extremely organized and proactive. Like you said, they find themselves reacting instead of acting. With all the emergencies and emails coming at them, they weren't giving marketing the attention it deserved. I absolutely agree with you when you said, "Even if you only spend 30 minutes today advancing your goals, you've ADVANCED them." It's all about making some time.

I hope it's not too self promotional, but I wanted to put in a plug for our response to the dilemma: The 2008 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan/Calendar. It was designed specifically with the needs of our the creatively self employed in mind. There are two versions, one for Veterans who already have an established business and want to develop their marketing, and one for Rookies who are just starting out. Both calendars are based around daily, weekly and monthly to-do checklists and incorporate a year-long marketing plan to help grow your business and keep qualified leads in your pipeline.

The daily, weekly and monthly checklists include the basics that should be done every day, week, and month. They also include specific marketing tasks, and a place to fill in additional tasks. It helps you stay organized, and it also helps you track what you've accomplished. The calendars have plenty of space to write in each day, and also room for notes and events, leads and prospects. We think it helps people focus on the big rocks while still making time for the pebbles, sand, and water which are also important to the success of their business. Having a plan and a checklist is a great way to stay focused, and we thought this might be a relevant comment for your article. Thanks! (You can find more info here: http://www.marketing-mentor-store.com.
Posted by Dan McComb, Seattle, Washington | Jan 17, 2008

Yeah it's so easy to just bounce around putting out fires all day. It happens to me all the time, and even though I'm aware that I'm less productive when I chase them, I forget the importance of this, so articles like this one are a fantastic reminder to re-focus on what matters, even if it is for only a short time every day.

And just so you know, Ilise, here's how I feel about self-promotion in the comments like this: Any time someone takes the time to contribute something valuable to a conversation, like you have, and fits their self-promotional message into the context of the conversation, that is not only fine with me - that's what Biznik was designed for. To help independent professionals grow their business faster and be more profitable.

Including information about your services in that way says "I care enough about you to respect your opinion, I want to contribute something valuable to you and others, and I have something that I think you could benefit both you and me. Here it is."

On the other hand, when someone simply posts "Here's my amazing solution to your problem" without taking the time to contribute anything to the conversation, they are also saying: "I don't care about you very much, I'm too busy to be bothered to really understand whether my product/service is a fit for you, and maybe I don't have anything significant to say about this anyway."

By the way, you can insert normal html links into these posts, which you should do, so that people can follow the link to your site without having to cut and paste it to follow it. I've done that for you in the comment above.

Follow me on Twitter - @danmccomb
Posted by Dan McComb, Seattle, Washington | Jan 17, 2008

Oh yeah, and as long as we're on the subject of plugging our services, here's something I can offer everyone that's a win-win for everyone: everyone who upgrades their Biznik membership to Supporting membership gets to include a footer like the one at the bottom of my comments with every post they make on Biznik.com.

You can use this to provide a link to your website, which benefits you in the following ways: You are quietly advertising your service to everyone every time you post a comment, without having to explain anything, and you're leaving an in-bound link to your site that Google will see, and that helps raise your site in their organic search results. And here's a bonus: When you upgrade, it retroactively appears in the footer of every post you've PREVIOUSLY made, giving you even more links throughout the site.

It's partly because of this footer link that Supporting members get 26 times more traffic to their websites than free members do.

Follow me on Twitter - @danmccomb
Posted by Akira Morita, Durham, North Carolina | Jan 18, 2008

Here's an interesting article by Marc Andreessen - I try and follow the tip #3 & 4 pretty closely. When I do, I see real benefit (the day spent much more productively, feeling much more "in control" etc.).

Need a Logo? Talk to us!
Posted by Patricia Eslava Vessey, PCC..., Seattle, Washington | Jan 18, 2008

Wow, what a great article. This is so timely for me, having recently retired from a 30 year career in order to build my business. It has been challenging to create a routine with so many areas to focus on - daily.... I have a new respect for self imployment and the self mastery skills necessary to be successful. What has helped me is to write every morning. I have a list of questions I answer each morning that helps to focus my attention. Still, it is easy to loose my good intentions surfing the internet. I will try your suggestions as I create my new self employment routine. Thanks for sharing your wisdom!
Posted by Robbin Block, MBA, Seattle, Washington | Jan 19, 2008

All good advice as long as you've identified what those goals are. Perhaps that goes without saying to this group, but when I ask people in my classes how many have at least written down their goals, less than half raise their hands. And it's also important to know which goals to pursue. That takes top down strategic planning -- asking the right questions so you clearly understand where you are today and where you want to end up. Then defining the shortest path to get you there.
Posted by Robbin Block, MBA, Seattle, Washington | Jan 19, 2008

And to continue the thought, here's an example:

You may have a certain financial goal in mind. If you're just starting your business, you'll want to think big for the long term, but make your short-term goals attainable. For example, figure out how you'll earn your first dollar or customer. Then how you'll get 5 more. Then how to achieve break-even, and then profitability, and so on. From there, set goals for each aspect of your business: management, marketing, operations and finance. By breaking it down into manageable bits, you'll have the beginnings of a strategic plan to help you achieve your goals.
Posted by Kelly Andrew Brown, Akron, Ohio | Jan 19, 2008

Robin, I couldn't agree more.
Posted by Jeff Collins, Seattle, Washington | Feb 14, 2008

I have to give you a ten on this one. It's killing me to see it sitting below an 8.
Posted by Kelly Andrew Brown, Akron, Ohio | Feb 14, 2008

Jeff, me too....so thank you!
Posted by Angi Carlston, Seattle, Washington | Feb 18, 2008

Thank you! Great article. I feel like you just climbed inside my head. I am so grateful that there are people like you out there who can analyze and organize information like this with clarity and then articulate them to the rest of us in a way that we understand. Yay!
Posted by Juanita Schmitt, Seattle, Washington | Apr 23, 2008

I appreciated this article and the comments that followed.

Thank you!
Posted by Dawn Lawson, Romeoville, Illinois | Oct 21, 2008

Great Article! Thanks for the insight Kelly. E-mail has always been step one of my daily routine and sometimes an hour has gone by without me even realizing it!
Posted by Theresa Wilson, Windsor Mill, Maryland | Jun 19, 2009

This is a great article. As a writing group leader and coach, I spend a great deal of time getting members to realize it is more than writing. They are in the publishing business. Whether traditional or self publishing, they need to be proactive in promoting their work. It is one of the most important aspects of publishing. I love the comments "each day builds on the success," and "prepare your workplan." Success just doesn't happen. I plan to share it as part of my post update on www.twitter.com/WritersCoach21 Thanks for sharing your worthwhile insight on a powerful tool. Please also visit my writers web site at www.writersinthemarketplace.org
Posted by Harry Che, Vancouver, British Columbia Canada | Oct 23, 2009

this is a great article. it's very important to keep track of your goals.

http://www.goalsontrack.com
Posted by Jason Womack, Ojai, California | Nov 25, 2010

My coach, Ms. Allyson Lewis, taught me how to identify the "5 before 11." For me, the idea of identifying 5 todos I would finish by 11am was a big boost to my success.

Of course, my challenge was finding small enough things to do, that were big enough to matter! Since then, I've started coaching our clients using the "MIT" methodology. It fits right in with what you say here:

"I find I can only plan AND complete 3-5 substantive things throughout the day. Putting 15 things on your list that absolutely must be completed today will be setting yourself up for failure."

My MITs are my Most Important Things

And, of THOSE I usually only pick 3 or fewer. I actually write them, using a white-board, dry erase pen, on my bathroom mirror in the morning. Then, in the evening, I get to check in and ask, "Did I do what I said I would do?"