07 Jan Don’t Face 2025 Without a Game Plan

Why a one-shot planning doesn’t work any longer 

The days when companies go for a one-time yearly retreat to develop their strategic plan have long gone. The pace of change doesn’t make it feasible to have a lasting plan that can be done at once.

For your information:

• Critical government agencies, such as the Department of Defenses,
• Large corporations,
• Big hospitals, universities, recreation centers, and so on must have long-term strategic directives that guide their priorities, choices, and decisions.

These large institutions project into the future- some 100 years while others a couple of decades ahead. They come up with multiple scenarios and prepare for multiple plausible futures.

However, they can’t ignore the fact that they must revisit their long-term strategic directives more frequently and, most importantly, break down their long-term plans into medium and short-term plans. Otherwise, they may miss the major:

1. Global geopolitical,
2. Regional, and
3. National trends and shifts, rendering their projections irrelevant and useless…

If you are a professional, entrepreneur, and/or investor minding your own life, career, small business, and/or investment portfolio, you may not need to project into the future that far. It may be enough for individuals and small businesses to plan for 3-5 years.

Even then, you must break down your plan into:

1. Yearly,
2. Quarterly,
3. Monthly,
4. Weekly, and
5. Daily.

What is more? You should revisit your medium and long-term plans more frequently and make appropriate changes to stay current and relevant. Your plan should be a LIVE DOCUMENT…

Since we’re still in the planning season of 2025, let me share some tips, some of which may interest you:

1. Engage in both Critical and Strategic Thinking. Unleash your full mental capacity by going beyond linear and one-dimensional thinking. Avoid thinking tactically, too. Rather, engage in critical and strategic thinking.
2. Don’t wait until December or January to plan for the New Year. Strategizing and planning for the New Year should start around October or at least November. Begin slowly by enlisting the major milestones you’d like to achieve next year. You should know your top priorities by January. By the end of February, or at least the beginning of March, you should have a much better, clear, and detailed plan for the New Year.
3. Implement while planning. You don’t have to wait and see whether a particular project/task works or not. While planning, why not test the water, research, and implement small scale? Act while planning, and if something is infeasible or impractical, adjust your plan accordingly and immediately.
4. Set aside quality time for strategizing and planning. The quality of your strategies and planning is determined by the quality of time and energy you’re willing to invest. When is your quality time? In the morning before the sun rises? In the middle of the night, once everyone is asleep?
5. Use some tools. Why not use the 80/20 rule to decide your priorities? Why not tap into scenario planning to project into the future and plan for the long term? The list continues. There are many tools, frameworks, and models out there that can aid your strategic planning exercise. If you have the budget, why not hire consultants to structure, design, outline, and facilitate your strategic planning sessions? Why not hire a coach who helps and makes you accountable as you gain clarity, pick the right priorities, choose workable and effective strategies, plan, and implement?
6. Change your environment. Don’t strategize and plan at the same location and place where you do your routine day-to-day work. Changing your environment and setting inspires you to think differently, critically, and strategically. Why not take time off for a few days to reflect, meditate, and visualize? Why not go somewhere that relaxes you?

Let me know your strategizing and planning habits, routines, and some of the tools you have been using as you strategize and plan.

You may consider requesting our Critical and Strategic Thinking program if you have a team or organization. Click here to learn more…

If you need a coach who will:

• Help you throughout the process of strategizing and planning,
• Support you during implementation, and
• Become your accountability partner, don’t hesitate to reach out via [email protected].

Let’s have a FREE consultation session to learn more about your:

1. Needs,
2. Goals, and
3. What you’re trying to achieve…

Happy New Year! Let the New Year be the year where you achieve your important personal, career, and business goals!