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It is always wise to look ahead

"It is always wise to look ahead but difficult to look further than you can see"

These words by Sir Winston Churchill are stuck on our wall. They caught our attention in a magazine and still get us thinking each time we read them.

We often hear that SME owner managers should be working on the business as opposed to in the business. Taking time out to review where you are now, where you want to be and how you are going to get there is one of the keys to business success. Why is this so?

To demonstrate the power of focusing on what you want and that "it's always wise to look ahead", we came across some research undertaken by two American universities. The original research project covered a selection of graduates leaving Yale University, USA in 1953. Each person was interviewed and the results recorded as to their backgrounds, education and what they wanted for their lives. This determined that only 3% of graduates had written goals and a further 15% had goals but not in writing.

Not every person lived through the 20 years, but in 1973 the group was interviewed again. Those with goals, but not in writing, had on average about double the wealth per person of those with no goals. However, those with written goals, the 3%, had greater monetary wealth than the rest of the 97% added together. There were other differences but the significant difference between the 3% and the 97% was that the 3% had written goals.

Further research was undertaken in Harvard University on graduates leaving in 1979. Of the young people leaving, just over 10% had set goals and plans for themselves but these were not written. Again, another 3% had written goals with planned actions and the rest varied from no plans to just wanting to enjoy their lives.

In 1989, the former graduates were interviewed again. The group of just over 10% were on average earning twice as much per person as the main group of people with no goals. The 3% with written goals and plans were earning approximately 10 times as much as the earnings of the 97% combined.

So why, if planning and goal setting create such amazing results, do so few people spend time in this area? Perhaps the concept of wealth is unappealing, or just maybe the answer lies in the words "it is difficult to look further than you can see".

Many businesses struggle to predict what their sales will be next month, let alone next year and beyond. Most business owners don't see the point in planning, when reality will almost always differ from expectations. Consequently they let themselves be sucked into dealing with the here and now, micro managing the day-to-day issues impacting on their business, never considering the bigger picture.

So it is difficult to look ahead. Nobody disputes that. But if you have no goals, how can you expect to stand out from the 97%?

In our next newsletter, we further consider the value of strategic planning and outline some goal setting techniques. In the meantime, think about what you want from life or from your business. What's stopping you putting some goals down on paper?

Remember, if you have no vision, it's safe to say you?ll never get there!

Trevor Wilson, The FD Group

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