(This article is one of twenty-five(25)
contained in Tayo Solagbade’s Ebook titled "25
Articles/True Stories On Self-Development, Entrepeneuring
& Web Marketing To Help You Succeed More Often")
“In
the race for excellence, there is no finish line” -
Malcolm Baldrige
In a past edition of Philip Humbert's(http://www.philiphumbert.com)
TIPs newsletter, he wrote that persons building their businesses
should always strive to make the systems they setup sustainable.
Sustainability he explained is what will ensure a business
started up today can endure weeks, months or years of struggles
till it eventually becomes what many(who are often unaware
of the prolonged periods of struggle endured) call an "over-night-sensation".
Philip's expressed insight captures
the essence of this article. Many times we think only about
what we need to do to overcome the challenges of starting
up a business. We fail to think of what will be needed to
successfully keep it going - profitably -
for as long as we want it(or should I say "forever"
i.e. long after we've passed on like Ford, Carnegie etc?).
If it was not for the use of Best Practice/Continuous
Improvement Systems they developed in order to achieve sustainability,
many Japanese companies would not be as efficient as they
are known to be today. Robert Kiyosaki once wrote that these
sustainable systems keep many Japanese companies running on
low operating expenses while achieving optimal efficiency
in production. They are consequently able to sell higher performance
products at lower prices, thereby attracting more paying consumers
- and increasing their retained profits.
"The world steps
aside for the man who knows where he is going"
- Abe Lincoln
It is important that you make it easy
for yourself to stay on track towards achieving your business
purpose. I once read somewhere
that success is the never ending pursuit of perfection or
excellence. Stop and think for a minute about many
successful businesses that you know have been around for as
long as you can remember - IBM, General Electric, Ford, BMW,
Mercedes. There is hardly anyone of them that has not gone
through some evolution over the years from when it started
till today.
Decision makers running these companies
have to ensure they keep looking for cheaper and more effective
ways of making the companies succeed. And in doing this, they
would need to be able to accurately relate every action they
take to the results they get, so as to competently decide
on the best way(or combination of ways) to proceed. How well
each company does this, determines how successful, and relevant
it remains over the years.
The same requirement for big companies
just described applies to small ones - and even individuals.
One tool I personally use for meeting this requirement - and
which I believe others could find useful, even if with modifications
- is the Action Plan/Progress
Evaluation Checklist. It can help you stay
focussed towards achieving your set objective(s), and at the
same time ensure you can review your achieved progress to
determine modifications/changes you may need
to make to your plan(s), in order to continue towards your
purpose.
You can download an Acrobat PDF copy
of my personal Action
Plan/Progress Evaluation Checklist template from
the FREE resources page.
Below, I provide steps you can follow
in using it, should you be so inclined:
1.
Use a spreadsheet to produce a blank editable version of the
PDF document. (You can make any changes you want to the headings
to meet your peculiar needs).
2.
Decide on your Purpose/Goal
- type it in the space provided on the blank checklist. IMPORTANT
NOTE: You need to be certain about what you
write here. If you are not sure how to accurately decide what
your Purpose/Goal should be, read "The
First Way - DEVELOP A MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION" in
my article "Ten
Ways You Can Use Self-Development To Create The Future You
Want".
3.
Under the "Year"
column, enter the year in which each sub-Goal(see
4. below) is to be achieved.
Try making entries according to the order in which each sub-goal
is to be tackled relative to others.
4.
On a piece of paper, list the specific key tasks/actions you
will need to take in order to achieve your purpose or goal.
These would be your sub-goals
or mini-goals.
5.
Next, you will number/type each Sub-Goal
from 4. above under the
"Sub-Goals" column
in the checklist table, leaving a few rows between it and
the next. This is necessary to allow for entry of description
details for each sub-goal. (Note that you can have more than
one sub-goal in a year - download
the checklist template to see).
6.
Enter bullet point descriptions under the "Action
Plan" column, of the specific Action Plans (Tasks/Activities)
you will need to implement in order to achieve each sub-Goal.
7.
Indicate the specific date you
expect to complete each task under the "When"
column.
8.
Indicate completion status for each task by entering "Yes,
No or Ongoing" under the "Done?"
column.
9.
Decide on a reasonable time interval during which you will
routinely review your progress(each time updating your entries
to reflect the current status. It might help to print out
and file each updated version to track progress made).
The Action
Plan/Progress Evaluation Checklist will force
you to document up front, the various key tasks you need to
perform in order to achieve your set goal over a defined time
period.You will also be able to record DATE ACHIEVED next
to each task successfully completed.
As you pursue your goals, this document
can help you easily keep track of what has been done, and
what needs to be done next. You will also find it to be an
extremely useful reference material much later - especially
when you need to revisit your startup/other experiences in
the future (possibly in coaching someone else).
In the long run, the Action
Plan/Progress Evaluation Checklist will provide you
a detailed historical record of what you did to produce the
results/achievements you recorded, making it potentially valuable
for better decision making(and/or knowledge sharing) in the
future.
With regard to the foregoing, and to
end on a lighter note, writing a book - in future - about
HOW you succeeded in business might just turn out to be easier
than would be normally expected, if you have diligently used
your Action Plan/Progress Evaluation
Checklist! :-) 
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