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Selfmotivation a Hidden Benefit Within the Strategic Planning Process For Any Business

Guest post by: Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Article Overview: Are you tired of less than spectacular sales results, employees who you believe do not come to work thinking how they are going to muck up the works but their performance is less than stellar and working smarter not harder. Maybe the answer to all of these issues is far closer than you think.

Selfmotivation a Hidden Benefit Within the Strategic Planning Process For Any Business

Self-motivation is a known factor in the success of any business. How do you keep yourself and your employees embracing motivated in the continued efforts to strive forward in spite of the winds of failure pushing you back at every opportunity?

Maybe it is time to think in terms of your life as you look at your business.

Are you where you want to be?
Are you satisfied with your life?
Do you have the peace of mind that you are looking for?
Do you want to have fun? In your life as well as your business
Do you want to stop worrying about having money?

To answer these questions requires the telling of a story that I consistently share with my business coaching, corporate coaching clients and executive coaching clients.

The story begins with a question as many of my stories do. How many of you have ever visited the grocery store? If so, did you take the written grocery list? Have you ever forgotten the written list? Yes, well many of us have including myself. Then what happens when we leave the written list at home? Again, your answers are absolutely on target. The results of leaving that small scrap of paper on the table are:

Purchased more food than we anticipated
Purchased food that we didn’t need
Forgot to purchase items that we need
Spent more money than anticipated
Spent more time than anticipated
Spent more energy than anticipated
Wasted gas and time by having to return to the store
Felt really, really stupid upon returning home and seeing the list on the table

By your own admissions, a written grocery list has value. And by those same agreements, a written grocery list has significant value due to all the reasons just cited a few moments ago. So since a written grocery has significant value, then where is the written plan for the rest of your life?

When you don’t have a written plan, you are on someone else’s plan. In this case, whom do you think is the happiest camper on the block when you walk in without that list? The grocery store owner, absolutely! Given the low gross margin on grocery store’s sales, the more you spend the happier he is because his strategic business plan is driven by high volume and low profit margin. So, welcome to his world or his plan.

If you like your destiny being in the hands of someone else who does not have your best interests at heart, then continue to live your life without a plan. However, if you want to take control of your future, plan your destiny to achieve the potential that you believe to be true, then begin to plan your future and work your plan. End of the story.

The essential purpose of any plan is to ensure that the desired results are achieved. Is that not one of the reasons for motivation? From my experience as a business coach, planning avoids the spray and pray mentality and the accompanying actions that many experience.

Should your business be any different than you life? Just imagine crafting a plan, then revisiting the plan on a regular basis and seeing everything that you achieved. How would that make you feel? If you are like me and I don’t believe that I am unique, you will definitely feel motivated to continue listing all those accomplished goals and making any necessary course corrections.

Strategic planning is a great motivator for business success. Remember, motivation means to come from within so self-motivation is really an oxymoron. Your business results and ultimately business success are being achieved indirectly or directly by your thoughts and actions.

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