The Nuns Knew It All Along

Those of you fortunate (?) enough to have attended Catholic elementary schools in the 50's and 60's remember that one of the nun's favorite punishments was to have the "sinning" student hand write "I will not (spit, swear, etc. . .)" up to 100 times after each incident of "criminal" behavior.

Public school alumni consider this: prior to Scott Adam's creating the Dilbert cartoon, he wrote at least 15 times a day, "I will become a syndicated cartoonist."

Lou Holtz wrote down 100 "impossible" goals for himself when he was in his twenties. He has achieved 75% of them, including meeting the Pope and having dinner at the White House. Go, Lou!

So why is the simple act of writing down goals so helpful in achieving success for an individual? Any how does it translate to businesses and organizations?

Scientifically, when an individual writes down goals, something miraculous happens in the brain. The Reticular Activating System begins retaining information it perceives relevant to those goalsand forwards it to the conscious part of the brain. The mere process of writing down goals creates a focus within the individual that allow him to most effectively leverage his time, money, and brain cells to reach his defined success.

Business and Organizations Do It, Too!

In an organization the strategic plan, and the process of putting one together, acts in much the same way!

The process of planning gets the collective brainpower of the organization to consciously agree on what specific goals it wants to accomplish and which ones it will forego for the discussed time period.

The well thought-out and written plan creates and communicates focus for the entire organization. Each and every employee knows where the company is headed and is encouraged to filter out anything from their daily work lives that doesn't bring them closer to contributing to that goal. This clear direction literally creates time in the organization and reduces a lot of stress and anxiety.

Besides setting a clear direction and courses of action, a strategic plan is helpful to a company in other ways as well.

• It reminds a company to regularly measure its progress against specific goals and evaluate what's working and what isn't.
  
  
• The plan provides perspective and can buoy the organization through tough times. This is especially true when a program or tactic falls short of the anticipated results or a month or a quarter comes in lower than expected. The temporary glitch is not going to derail the company that can see the long-range goals being realized in the future.
  
  
• A strategic plan requires that a company's goals and mission be constantly evaluated for relevancy given the changing needs of their market places. It requires the company to think outside itself.

Whatever You Call It -- DO IT!

So whether you call it goal setting, affirmation writing, or just plain old punishment, providing written goals for yourself and your organization in the form of a strategic plan is one sure way to increase your chances for success.
Happy Planning!

Remember, Mosaic creates customers and increases sales for business-to-business companies through specific project work, on-going retainer assignments or individual marketing coaching sessions.

Until next time.....

Rosemary Walter
847-483-5018
Rose1Walter@MosaicMM.com

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"By Rosemary Walter of Mosaic Marketing Management, Inc. Please visit Rosemary's web site at http://www.MosaicMM.com for additional marketing articles and resources on marketing for business to business companies."