A major influence on our ability to achieve our full business potential is our focus in relation to what we actually do each day.
There are two elements we, as the business leader, have responsibility for.
One is making sure our business achieves the daily, weekly or monthly productivity required to ensure we get paid and make enough profit to survive.
The second element is to ensure we do what needs to be done to move our business towards the achievement of our big goals.
This requires something of a balancing act to make sure our focus is appropriately given to both elements.
It is often tempting to focus too much on our survival activities, as these are often urgent and in our face.
However, if we involve ourselves too much in working on these activities, we limit our ability to focus on the important work that needs to be done to achieve our development and growth goals.
If we want to achieve our full potential, we must first find ways to leverage ourselves out of survival activities, either by employing others, using technology to create efficiencies or by outsourcing tasks.
This will free us to focus on the activities that must be done by us, to develop our business into the areas of high potential payoff and the achievement of our dreams.
Another aspect of focus that is important to note is that we must stay focused on our big goal and not get sidetracked by every apparently attractive opportunity that presents itself.
It is often tempting to go chasing after new opportunities that look attractive and may make us quick fortunes.
However, what tends to happen when we do this is that we never complete what we set out to do.
Even when we go after a new opportunity, we may get sidetracked yet again by the next opportunity we see, then the next.
If we keep jumping off the tracks all the time when we see opportunities that distract us from working towards our major goals, we will end up limiting our achievements and potential.
So it's important to think long and hard before you decide to delay progress towards your big goal when something else comes along that looks like an attractive option.
Your decision to change course may mean you have to sacrifice your most likely option for success.
You shouldn't make that decision too quickly.
One of the best tools to assist us to succeed in this balancing act of prioritizing the urgent survival tasks and the important development tasks is a business plan that has an action plan of development activities.
This creates a schedule of projects which need to be performed to achieve the growth goals.
Having these tasks scheduled creates a tension that offsets the urgency of the survival tasks and allows you to spend time appropriately at each level.
Without the plan, the urgency of in your face tasks commands your attention and you frequently end up neglecting the development tasks.
So, if you want to get ahead, spending some time to create an effective business plan will most likely be well worth the time and effort you put in.
Statistics show that businesses that have business plans are far more successful than those that don't.
Having a clear idea of what you need to do to grow your business allows you to take the required action when you need to, whereas no plan often means no action, because your focus is locked into short term survival activities.