You already have a plan. It just sucks.
A blank grid notebook and a new pen. The start of many wonderful plans.
Most plans come together the same way. Someone decides that something needs to be accomplished, and then they get to work creating a plan to accomplish that thing.
Unless you are part of creating something absolutely new and original this is the wrong thing to do because you probably already have a plan - it’s just that the plan you have sucks.
At the dawn of each New Year, millions of people go off looking for a diet.
Every quarter, businesses decide they need to increase sales so they want a new marketing plan.
If you want to lose weight*, you might head over to IIFYM.com looking for information on a new diet. The thing is - you already have a diet. It might be a diet, like my old diet, that has caused you to get to the point where you were 100 lbs overweight and not feeling good about yourself, but it is a diet.
If you want to increase your sales**, you might go to a marketing agency or hire a new Director of Marketing. But you already have a marketing plan. It might be a plan that involves nothing more than complaining to your friends about how terrible everything is, but you do have one.
There are often great reasons to blow everything up and start from scratch with a big, bold new effort. But if you’re reading this article you probably don’t have a fundamentally broken system - you just need to make some improvements.
In the book Atomic Habits, writer James Clear talks about the power of small changes. If you want to start running, he says, begin by just waking up and putting on your running shoes each morning. A few small, easy steps can set you on the path to a great journey.
Here are 5 easy steps to make the plan you already have suck less.
Step 1. Determine the Goal
Think hard about the objective you want and why. Be clear. I want to lose 40 lbs of body fat by May 3rd of next year. My company will increase sales by 30% before the end of next year’s second quarter.
Step 2. Document Your Current Plan
It’s time to grab a pen and paper (or perhaps launch MyFitnessPal) and begin documenting everything. What did you have for breakfast? How many calories was that? What marketing messages did your business send out last month? What impact did they have?
Step 3. Identify Easy Winners And Losers
That Sweetgreen Kale Caesar salad you like to have for lunch? That’s an easy win. The 4 beers and buffalo wings you enjoy every Friday night? Maybe a loser. The consistent radio messaging you run every month? That’s likely a win. Not knowing whether or not you’ve claimed your Google My Business Page? Definitely a loser.
Step 4. Do more of what works and less of what doesn’t.
Chicken breast and rice and broccoli taste pretty good once you get used to it (maybe with some Frank’s Sweet Thai Chili sauce on top). A billboard campaign or some advertising on the Meta Ads platform will probably drive some new traffic to your doors. The time and energy you spend doing positive things will naturally displace the negative things. And, if something REALLY doesn’t get you where you want to go, stop doing it.
Step 5. Measure And Refine.
Once you hit Step 5, things are looking up. You’ve already made significant improvements in your health and/or business. Now is the time to get serious about testing. How many carbs can you eat before you start to feel bloated? Does $100 of Tik Tok advertising drive more traffic than a $100 Facebook ad? Why?
Check out my posts on A/B Testing and ABA Testing to learn more about testing.
Conclusion
There ARE reasons to blow everything up and start from scratch, and sometimes that IS the right choice. Your existing plan, however, has years of real-world results that you can learn from. There’s an old saying that you gain experience by making mistakes and that you avoid making mistakes by having experience. When you are open (and maybe vulnerable) enough to embrace those mistakes and push through… that’s when you can really make magic happen.
*Disclaimer - I’m not a doctor or a nutritionist. Don’t take any health or diet advice from me, though I have personally used both MyFitnessPal and IIFYM.com and like them. Seek out a trained and certified fitness pro and check with your doctor before beginning any new fitness plan.
**I’m really good at doing this. You should try this advice.