Do you remember back to your business classes where they talked about writing a business plan? What did they teach as important things to include? Did they ever try to emphasize an important point by saying something like: “make sure” or “don’t forget” or “the main thing is”? It all gets a bit tangled up after hearing two dozen people teach the same concept but we all know that a coherent well thought out plan can be a very important piece for success in your business.
In July of 2013 I spent a week with my wife in New York at an engineering course put on by Cornell University. We enjoyed the four Doctors with their wit and practical knowledge about our subject. But the business owner who’s farm we toured as the case study for the course is the man who really got my attention. He told us a brief version of his story from the original concept all the way through to where he is today. He spent one full year, full time, writing his business plan. This astounded me.
I know major planning goes into business success and many things take time to research and develop. I was not astonished so much by that. Taking a year was not such a big shock. I was thinking of something else.
Businesses come and go but life happens to us once . Employment changes on a regular basis but our life is a one shot deal. The best ideas don’t always become big successes. But people spend major time, personal gifts, fortunes, talents, and huge personal sacrifices to make plans for buisnesses. Their motives include profit, fame, power and personal satisfaction. The thing that hit me at Cornell was the fact that people will work hard at a job to create and build a business or an organization of some kind then they will go home to relax, rest, recuperate, play, enjoy, recreate, and get ready to go to work again. That is what home is for. And these things are good. But who invests this kind of mental strength and hard work on their personal life?
I assert that the human being ought to plan his life with purpose! She should make a life plan. This human could sit down for a year of their precious time on the earth and write it down as a working document. She could do research, analyze the data, weigh the pros and cons and form conclusions. Then he could write a mission statement. Formulate a motto. Make a list of governing rules. Set goals with benchmarks and rewards. Have short term and long term sight of the overall plan. She could divide her life into major categories and divide each of these categories into subcategories to further understand ways to meet her original goals. He may be wise to incorporate professional help into this plan to see perspectives he had not previously considered.
Our lives are so much more important than any business! We really ought to focus on this fact. We need to do more in the way of life planning than making a few weak new years resolutions or set some goals to accomplish. If we humans put the amount effort of planning into our personal life plan that I witnessed in the farm I saw at New York this summer the world would no longer have crime, waste, sloth, envy, greed, and laziness. We would be a happy, joyful, lovely, energetic, peaceful race of creatures. Our market research of history, religion and human nature would teach us the need for morality and we would desire it. Our research of the basic needs for human happiness would not be what we expect. We would change our minds about what we used to want and we would desire things that bring real fulfillment. This alone would change the world. Our research about relationships, mental exercise, physical exercise, and spirituality would open wide worlds of knowledge most of us did not know existed. Our research about work, accomplishment, employment, and service would completely remodel the modern class system as people find the power to become themselves. Our research about sex would teach us the depth of vulgarity and selfishness on one hand and the beauty of devotion and intimacy on the other. We would choose the positive lasting bonds of true love and marriage. All it takes is a solid life plan.
Planning for a business is hard work. Following through with the plan until the business startup is successful is even harder. Planning your life with a purpose is much more important than any business plan will ever be. And it will be hard work, rewarding work and it will be worth every minute you sacrifice for this brilliant solid plan for your life.
