For any sort of planning, whether it’s your Strategic Plan, Business Plan, or Personal Development Plan, you must first know your starting point to plan your journey to where you want to go.
The Now, Where, How mindset helps us recognise where we are now, then clarify where we want to be in the future, and determine how we’re going to get there.
Now
To establish your starting point, you must be brutally honest with where you are now. What is your current financial position? How many hours are you working? What roles have you taken on in the business? How are your business’s profit, cashflow and value looking?
Record the answers to these questions. For a lot of business owners, their current situation isn’t what they wanted their business to deliver. So, what is your ideal future situation?
Where
What’s your vision for the future? What does your ideal future financial position look like? How many hours do you want to be working and in what roles? What do you want your business’s profit, cashflow and value to look like?
Record the answers to these questions. This is what you want your business to deliver to you in the future; your goals. Next, you need to identify what steps you need to take to achieve your future situation.
How
The How is the plan that will help you reach your goals. If your goal is to improve your cashflow, your plan might include a Business Plan, Cashflow Forecasting and Cashflow Management Coaching. If your goal is to reduce the number of ‘hats’ you’re wearing or the number of hours you’re working, your plan could include an Organisational Review to ensure your business is adequately resourced. Perhaps delegation and process mapping are also key to your plan.
Following this formula helps us to move from our current situation to our future position by focusing on a clear pathway of how we’ll get there.
If you need help with any part of this formula, whether it’s establishing what your true position is, identifying where you want to be in the future, or developing a plan for how to get there, get in touch.
“If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” - Yogi Berra
