Planned Leadership (Aim & Shoot)

By Okello Okello

“Failure to plan is a plan to fail,” (Unknown). This statement is misleading and not accurate, failure to plan is not a plan to fail, why so? A plan of any sort is an elaborate scheme or arrangements of a project execution. To fail is to lack a plan. Leaders who do not do well mostly do not plan. Think of a leader of a successful company, he/she reports to his board members, overseas the organization’s operations, holds meetings with his managers, strategies for the future and also takes care of his/her family. Without a plan, this leader is going to fail terribly. It takes a piece of paper and pen to write a plan. As you read this, check if you have a piece of paper and a pen on your desk, pocket, bag etc. That is where planning starts.

Professor Bob Gernon covers this in details in his “Success by Design” plan. I would highly advise any business or organization that faces challenges to consider using “Success by Design” plan.  Let us not confuse this with strategic planning. For more on strategic planning, check the chapter that follows. The part of planning covered on this chapter is a one week plan. I will call it “Aim & Shoot Plan.”

“Aim & Shoot” is a daily/weekly plan that divides portions of a project in fractions that can be worked on and achieved on a very short period of time. “Mile by mile it’s a trial; yard by yard it’s hard; but inch by inch it’s a cinch,” (Unknown). As the name suggest, Aim and shoot is a plan where you directly set an objective and you hit it immediately. Hunters know that when they are in the field, they have to act one step at a time, once they notice a target, they take aim and before the animal or the hunt knows of their presence, they take the shot. That is what you need. Have daily/weekly aims and hit them unexpectedly.

Polar Opposition

Life is full of endless battles. We strive to excel, we want to beat our rivals in the market, we fight for our families, we fight for justice, we fight for human rights, we fight for better pay, we fight for promotions and above all, we fight to make it to heaven with Jesus someday. With all these fights come’s opposition. If we give up and cave in to all oppositions we encounter, then we are going to lose. Failing to plan is a gateway of caving in to oppositions at work place.

Reason why we wake up early and go to bed late is because we want to face all the challenges and be successful. The ability to encounter your challenges and stay on top is what I prefer calling polar opposition. There will always be polarity in the leadership scenario therefore fight it back with a plan, repel it with a strategy.

Split Your Time. 

Take each day of the weak and split it in three; morning, afternoon, evening. You can cheaply find day/weekly/monthly/year planners cheaply in the stores these days. If you do not want to spend a dime then this is so basic, just write it down on a piece of paper you are seeing on your desk. For most of us who like to preserve the environment, you can plan it on your phone, tablet, computer or any other electronic devise that technology has blessed us with with such capabilities.

My best friend Keith Brink an entrepreneur, former school and classmate once told me how he splits his time in potions of 30 minutes with 5 minute breaks after every portion. The 30 minutes are for intense and rigorous work and the 5 minutes are for breaks, exercise, refreshments and relaxation. Find what works for you and divide your day in blocks of hours or minutes.

Top 5 To Do List

This is one of the best advises that professor Bob Gernon gave me. That to work efficiently you should never have more than 5 things to do in your daily list. beyond that it becomes useless. Remember that as an entrepreneur, there is no time to waste, you want to finish everything once and for all.

My personality results according to Myers Briggs Test shows that I am an ENFP. This sometimes pushes me to brinks and as a negative out come, I can wait until last minutes to accomplish tasks but after taking Entrepreneurship and New Ventures class with Gernon, I learned and trained my self to be on top of things and to avoid tight deadlines.

Splitting my work in top 5 or less things to do in a day makes it very easy for me to follow with my schedules and organization goals. I will encourage all readers who have not adopted this practices to not do them but try them and if they yield good results then make them a routine.

Plan for Tomorrow Today

Take the last 15 minutes of your day before you retire to bed to plan your following day. Wake up to a list of set objectives and with a plan in your mind, you are reducing time wastage in the morning, boosting your efficiency and drawing away from burn out. Mind works best in the morning, so do your best when fresh. Waking up to a planned day gives you a rough structure of your day making it easy to show up in meetings in time. They say, the early bird catches the worm, therefore hit your errands as early as possible.

Have Time for Family and Friends

Were it not for the support of my friends, family and everybody in my contact list, you would not be be reading this book by now leave alone the organization I founded. This is not an acknowledgement page therefore let me be precise. You need friends and family in life. Engage with people, and get to learn from them. After every long day of work, the only thing I enjoy is to sit and have some refreshing chats with my girlfriend or play games with friends before we do devotion together. “Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus,” (Romans 15:5-6, KJV). Be there for people who need you and they will be there for you too.

A family that prays together stays together. Be part of a family and enjoy the refreshing moments with your loved ones as you glorify in Jesus name.

Please if you find this blog informative, share it on your social media, comment, follow, favorite and let other people learn from it too. That is the spirit of entrepreneurship. We are here to support each other. No one knows everything that is why we share, exchange and learn from one another. God bless you.