Big picture

The new year is still several weeks away, but now is the time to start planning your way through what could be your best year yet. The strategy? Big picture thinking.

‘Big picture’ is another one of slightly ambiguous terms that weaves its way through just about all facets of life, isn’t it? So in this month’s newsletter I am going to take you through what it actually means, what it actually looks like, and how you can tangibly apply it to your planning in order to stride confidently into 2022.

Here’s where you’re going wrong.
Let me ask you something. Have you ever set goals for your business and then become too busy to actually implement them? There’s a cart-before-the-horse scenario if ever I saw one! But fear not, this is a common issue that business owners face. Don’t wait until the time is right to solve it. Make time to solve it now.

But how,?    I’m glad you asked.
Here’s what you can do right now to tighten up your day-to-day.

  • Write down your top four or five business goals for the next 12 months
  • Write down the things you and your team are doing on a daily basis
  • Ask yourself if everything that’s happening on a daily basis is contributing to the goals you’ve set yourself.
  • Address the tasks that fall short – are they really necessary? Are they contributing to your goals?
  • Share this information with your team so that they understand your vision and your pathway, and so they feel good about being on the journey with you

Congratulations, you’ve just applied a big picture lens to your business planning.

The aim of the game is to be doing the do on a daily basis in a way that is purposefully working towards achieving these goals. When we get stuck in the detail without considering a broader perspective, we’ll be going around in circles until somebody falls over – and we all know you can’t afford for that to happen.

It invites perspective, which encourages judgement, which leads to purposeful work.

Why I’m big on big picture.
It could be said that I am something of a pro at big picture thinking. The fact that I don’t dwell on details is only part of the reason why. It’s powerful to think big, broad and with vision. It affects our ability to set goals that drive us to be more successful.

In my role as a business mentor I have spent years subtly adjusting my clients’ day to day goings on in order to help them reach bigger goals than they thought possible. In fact, most of the time I set goals for my clients and I make it my mission to get them there. Sometimes I even tell my clients what those goals are.

What I’m getting at is, you don’t realise your potential for reaching bigger things until you’ve had a taste of how logical the process actually is.

My top tip for right now.
Now it’s time to get back to putting this into practise, because the new year is coming, and it’s coming fast. This is a time of year that often becomes stressful for business owners: it’s busy, there’s an urgency to get things finished, and you haven’t the foggiest idea about how next year will kick off. Sound familiar?

What you can do right now is make time to stop and apply the big-picture thinking process listed above. Otherwise, you risk getting sucked into the end-of-year black hole and spat out sometime in February without a clear pathway ahead.

“Obstacles are frightening when we take our eyes off the goal.”

If you focus on the obstacles, they quickly become problems and the goal becomes hazy. When you are focused on your goals and you know where you’re going – and why – you don’t worry about what is between you and those goals.

If you need help working through this process to ensure a strong start to 2022, get in touch. I’d love to help you.    I offer a 45-minute free Discovery call.   Email me at heather@unleash-yourbusiness.com  and together we can build your roadmap for 2022

The power of sharing your wisdom.
In case you haven’t realised it by now, I’m a big fan of information sharing. I seek knowledge, and I recognise the power in sharing knowledge with others. The same principle applies to you as a business owner.

I touched on it above, but what I’m getting at is inviting your team to be part of the process too. They don’t necessarily need to be part of the decision-making process (though their insight and perspective could be useful), but research tells us that if your people are aware of a your business goals, and how you’re planning to reach those goals, they’re more likely to help you get there – even if it’s subconscious.

Now, I’ve been strategically staying away from the crucial element known as time management because, truth be told, it needs its own special type of attention (and a whole newsletter all to itself). Next month I will be sharing part of my time management toolkit, all in the name of getting more done in less time. It might sound too good to be true, but it’s possible!   Goals and Time Management are in alignment… you need them both working together to be successful

Call Heather