Effective planning in life and in sales is as much about what we say no to as what we

say yes to. It’s like the mind of a sculptor. He is given a piece of solid rock. He knows

that the secret to getting what he wants is what he eliminates. Day by day he takes off

little pieces at a time. He is showing us the art can come from saying “no.” He

achieves his masterpiece by saying no to everything that is not part of his dream. He is demonstrating

the power of saying yes to only those things that deliver that dream and no to everything

else. Keep in mind that activity, even planned activity,

isn’t necessarily progress. The goal of sales planning is efficiency. That means getting

more done in less time, often with less stress. It means doing the most important things first.

An effective plan optimizes delegation and maximizes the value you get from external

resources. It means planning down time, recreational time, learning time and inspiration time.

It means getting these important priorities scheduled and written down first because they’re

your priorities. Your calendar must not become your ticket to burnout. That’s what happens

when your daily plan isn’t based on your priorities.

That two thousand year old question still awaits your answer, “What good is it for

a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?

Use your daily plan to guarantee a balanced life. Use it to connect your purpose and mission

to your daily activities and insure that the success you achieve is the one you truly want.

What are the high priority goals that you wish to achieve? Include personal and business

goals. Now determine the steps you must take to achieve those goals. What is the sequence

of those steps? Do you have the resources to take all the steps by yourself? If not,

note the internal and external resources you need. Include the acquisition of any new skills,

knowledge or tools that you don’t currently have. What are the metrics of those goals?

What defines success for each of them? What must happen today to make meet today’s goal

metrics? Define the daily disciplines you need to drive

results you want by doing only what matters most. Next, take your plan to your planner

and commit to the daily discipline of using the planner. Use your planner to build and

support the habits you want. Now it’s time to track your time for the

next week or two. Tracking how you use your time will help you understand where you need

to be more efficient. You can learn so much about efficiency by just tracking where you're

inefficient. Any of those little conversations going on in your mind about, “Why am I doing

this?” or “This is the fifth time I've done this today!” Those are yellow-light

signals that I want you to reconsider. Next, let’s talk about Interruption Management.

We all need an effective daily plan, but if you don't manage your interruptions, your

interruptions are going to manage you. Think about this for a second. Before every unexpected

knock on the door, there's a moment in time where we still have the choice as to whether

that knock will become an interruption. That moment occurs between the time we hear the

knock and the moment we open the door. Hey, it's a simple decision. You've got to manage

the insanity of interruptions by saying “No” to interruptions.