A plan should be specific, realistic, measurable, written....and above all, it must be reevaluated periodically. How often you reevaluate really depends on a number of factors. And there are actually several reasons to review your plan regularly.
When I was working full-time and trying to finish up my engineering degree, my plan was longer term and there were only two or three milestones a year. So reviewing my progress and evaluating the plan could be done one or twice a year. However, most plans need it more frequently. And reevaluating your plan is probably the greatest challenge for most people!
Personal plans are typically longer term and don't need as much "tweaking" along the way. Since they usually involve career paths, education and training as well as financial decisions, an annual or semi-annual review should be fine. Of course, when something in your life changes suddenly, it may be critical to review your plan at once. Chances are, changes will need to be made!
Business plans however, need to be much more fluid...and therefore must be reevaluated more often. Of course, you
DO have a plan...right?! And I
mean a written plan...realistic, measurable, etc, etc. If not, you might just want to get on that one pretty quick! The old Ben Franklin quote...
"If you fail to plan, plan to fail"...is as true today as it was then.
In real estate, I would actually review my marketing plan at least every 60 days. Over the last ten years, the real estate market changed so often and so drastically at times, a plan could become obsolete overnight.
Another important reason to review your plan periodically? To make sure you're still following it! Strange as that may sound, there have been times that my day-to-day strategies had somehow gone off course. So even though my plan hadn't changed, I was no longer following the path to make it successful.
Lastly, and maybe the least likely thing people do with their plan, is to make sure their decisions are always in line with it. Particularly in business, events can come at you fast. Along with those events can come incredible opportunities. We can be sorely tempted to jump at one of these opportunities...and it may truly be a great money-making endeavor. However, sometimes a good opportunity takes us in the wrong overall direction and actually takes us away from our plan....away from our goals. So it's important to evaluate any significant opportunity with respect to the plan...to stay on point!
To sum it up, the three important steps you can take to reach your goals are:
1 - Have a specific, written plan.
2 - Periodically review your plan.
3 - Make sure major decisions are evaluated with the plan in
mind.
How well do you plan? Are you able to reevaluate your plan on the fly...and do you weigh your decisions against the plan? I would like to hear your thoughts.
We are all guilty in one respect or another, of determining the measure of a decision by it's success or failure. That seems obvious, right? It happens every day in sports, business and our personal lives. It happens in life and death situations....law enforcement...the military.
Questions we should be asking: What are we trying to accomplish? What options are available to us? What are the chances for success of each option? How much risk can we afford to take, regardless of the reward potential? Unfortunately many of the factors that can affect the outcome are actually out of our control. New products or processes may appear. Technology can suddenly change (who remembers "pagers"?). Markets can shift unexpectedly. In the end, you can only weigh those factors we do know or can anticipate, or have some control over.
