1.
The rocket fuel for your business is ‘Inspiration’.
Nothing happens without it. Every working day
morning, I want to give you an opportunity to
be inspired and close the gap from where you
are now to where you want to be. Each day will
give you a key thought or idea for you to
consider or an important action to take. I look
forward to being your guide on your exciting
journey as a business owner.

2.
Many of us will shy away from a ‘fierce
conversation’. Often, however, the very reason
for having that conversation is because we
genuinely care about the achievements of
others, as there is a need for them to do
something differently. Whilst being NICE is
comfortable, real change, which is so frequently
necessary for greater success, requires
‘thoughtful and considered honesty’. Are you
being too nice to your team or are you
supporting them to genuinely grow?

3.
We get one chance at life. The question is, what
steps can we take to ensure that it is a great
one? The quality of our lives is a chain reaction.
The people we work with, the beliefs and
values we have and the knowledge we learn are
the foundation stones in driving the decisions
and results we achieve. What are you doing to
actively surround yourself with great people
and great ideas. There is no-one so powerful as
all of us!

4.
Life can give us many hard lessons. It can also
be a great reflector of what is actually the case.
We all have dreams which we aspire to, but
dreams often begin with knowing where you
really are. What is your life currently telling you
and what needs to change as a result? When
you look in the mirror, what are you
determined to remove? Make a commitment to
yourself today to improve one thing about ‘life’s
reflection’.

5.
Fear is a very important part of our biological
programming. As a key safety mechanism,
however, it is also, potentially, a very significant
brake on our journey to success. Our
imaginations as to what ‘the dark’ contains can
also magnify these fears to the extent that we
convince ourselves that something is actually
worse than it really is. What fears do you have
that you are potentially exaggerating and are
therefore holding you back?

6.
The most primitive part of our brain is designed
to protect us. However, in seeking to achieve
this protection it also encourages us to not
move beyond what we are comfortable with.
Not only does this protect us physically but it is
also designed to guard our own self esteem –
feeling like a failure. Sub-consciously, we can
deliberately set ourselves up to fail so keeping
us within our comfort zone. Search your
feelings deeply on this one!

7.
How do you eat an elephant? The simple
answer is one bite at a time. However, is the
thought of your business’ success so big that it
seems impossible? Don’t focus on the top of
the mountain but simply in taking the next
step. Not only will this give you a greater sense
of accomplishment because you are focusing on
what you have achieved but you will also be
more likely to stay the course and not give up
because the task seems too great.

8.
Are you living the same year over and over
again or do you have a plan for making this year
your best year yet? As humans we are designed
to grow and develop but sometimes life and
our wish to stay in our comfort zones leads us
to stay in the same place. What promise did
you make to yourself at the start of the year
and are you still on course? If not, it is never
too late. Treat yourself as you treat others and
keep your promises to the most important
person in your life – you.

9.
To a large degree we have been conditioned to
think small and dream small. One person who
did not think small was Steve Jobs. He wanted
to ‘ding the universe’. A grand goal if ever there
was one. Another more current entrepreneur
who is seeking to colonise Mars is Elon Musk.
The question is, what are you denying to
others, and yourself, because your dreams are
too small?

10.
Business is a challenge, and often a struggle.
Sacrifices are almost always made along the
way, in order to be able to achieve the goal of
creating a business that can work without you.
Are you planning for this event and taking
active steps to slowly remove yourself from the
organisation, in order to spend more time with
those people that are closest to you? To
maintain the same level of control as when you
were a start-up may not be giving your family
or your team the chance to develop.

11.
We have a strong tendency to focus on the
things that we want to have and we perhaps
spend a lot of time dreaming about these.
However, we often spend less time thinking
about what we have to do, to have these
things, and we devote even less time to
considering who we need to be in order to do
the things we need to do and so have the things
we want to have. Spend more time planning
your ‘Be’ and ‘Do’ and ‘Have’ should look after
itself.

12.
The person we are, who is seen and heard by
others, represents the tip of the iceberg. Other
people will see our actions, decisions and
behaviours, but they will not be able to really
see what underpins these; our values, skills,
beliefs and identity. Our environment is also a
key reason as to why we do what we do. It is
only by working on those things below the
surface that actions will really change. Consider
one thing that you need to change below the
surface to create a better result above, that
others will see and hear.

13.
We all slide ‘below the line’ at times and blame
others or excuse ourselves for our misfortune.
We can also deny that there is even a problem
and so we put our heads in the sand. However,
genuine success always finds itself partnered
with a willingness to own a problem, the
responsibility to take action and the acceptance
of the need to be held to account by others.
When you find yourself complaining about
others or moaning to yourself, ask yourself the
simple question; am I above or below the line?

14.
Newtons first law of motion states that an
object will remain at rest or in uniform motion
unless acted upon by an external force.
Business will sometimes feel like we are trying
to move an immovable object. The necessity for
100% participation, of everyone in the business,
is a pre-requisite for movement. The easier
question to answer is, who is not giving 100%.
The harder question to answer is, why? Are you
above or below the line now?

15.
“Books are what you step on to take you to a
higher shelf. The higher your stack of books, the
higher the shelf you can reach. Want to reach
higher? Stack some more books under your
feet! Reading is what brings us to new
knowledge. It opens new doors. It helps us
understand mysteries. It lets us hear from
successful people. Reading is what takes us
down the road in our journey. Everything you
need for a better future and success has already
been written.” – Jim Rohn.
What book are you reading at the moment?

16.
Teenagers will not hesitate to say, ‘I know’,
usually to their parents when presented with
something they have heard before. How many
adults though will stop listening to someone,
because they perceive they have heard it
before? In so doing they close themselves off to
potential new learnings and insights. Be greedy
and grab the thoughts of as many people as you
can. Replace ‘I Know’ with the thought, ‘Isn’t
that interesting’ to keep your mind open.

17.
A blinding flash of the obvious can come at any
moment, however, it usually requires a spade
to find one! One word can be the key to digging
deeper and finding the real reason; the buried
cause for a situation. That word is ‘Why’! When
faced with a challenge, use this simple word to
get to the heart of the issue. The BFO that
results could be critical in building your
business and improving your life. Make ‘Why’
your favourite word and use it at least once
today.

18.
Memory and Fun are intimately connected.
How easily do you remember a really fun event
and how quickly do you seek to forget a dull
one? As an adult we sometimes perceive that
learning shouldn’t be fun. It needs to be serious
because business is serious. The question is,
does your team feel the same way and to what
extent is this lack of fun holding your business
back? At the end of the next training session
you have, ask the question to your team; how
much fun was that? The answer may be quite
sobering.

19.
The brain loves a problem to solve. When was
the last time you walked away from a puzzle
with the last piece still to be placed? The left
side of the brain enjoys the logical challenge,
whilst the right side is drawn to creating
something whole. Left is numbers and words,
right is colour and emotion. Look for learning
experiences and training that engage both parts
of the brain and create experiences for your
team that really engage them.

20.
In order to learn we need to blend all of our
senses; sight hearing and touch! However,
generally speaking we have a preference. Your
best subject at school is probably an indication.
Was it the practical, kinaesthetic learning of
Drama or Technology, the visual challenge of
Maths or History or the auditory requirement
of languages that you most gravitated to? Don’t
put square pegs in round holes. Uncover your
learning preferences and then utilise these
insights to accelerate your growth. Will you
listen to or read a book today?

21.
Jim Rohn stated – “Success is neither magical
nor mysterious. Success is the natural
consequence of consistently applying basic
fundamentals”.
The reading list today contains those
fundamentals and much more. It represents
many of the best books on personal and
business development ever written. Start
where you have a challenge and get inspired.

22.
Dr Aziz Gazipura in ‘The Art of Extraordinary
Confidence’ says that, “The more we try to
avoid short term discomfort and pain the more
we experience long term discomfort and pain”.
Better to grasp a nettle now than wait for
something to build up and cause even more
problems later. Identify one pain today that you
are not dealing with and are therefore storing
up to give you greater problems later. What
actions do you need to take today to deal with
it and save yourself even more problems in the
long term?

23.
Your subconscious mind is like a huge memory bank. Its
capacity is virtually unlimited and it permanently stores
everything that ever happens to you. By the time you
reach the age of 21, you’ve already permanently stored
more than one hundred times the contents of the entire
Encyclopaedia Britannica. Under hypnosis, older people
can often remember, with perfect clarity, events from
fifty years before. Your unconscious memory is virtually
perfect. It is your conscious recall that is suspect. So,
what is a tap on the shoulder or that ‘nagging feeling’?
It is your sub-conscious mind encouraging you to do
something that you are unaware of. Are you listening
and what action does it inspire you to take today?

24.
What is your level of self-respect and your level of
respect for others? Where it is low, in both instances we
can almost deliberately go out of our way to set up
outcomes where both sides lose, to spite ourselves and
may be to hurt others. Also, again perhaps more
unusually we set up situations to ensure that we lose
while someone else wins, perhaps out of a need to
reinforce a negative self-image. More often, we
perceive that in order for us to win, others need to lose.
Whilst this approach can provide short-term gain, it
does not develop long term relationships. Do you find
yourself slipping into any of these mindsets and what
do you need to do if you are?

25.
Yesterday, we spoke of versions of loss in
business and in our personal lives; lose-lose,
lose-win and win-lose. We have all confronted
each one of these situations in negotiation,
some more often than others, depending on
your personality. It is a business fact, however,
that great businesses are built on great
relationships. Often these relationships have a
win-win foundation to them. I want to win but I
want you to win as well so we can both prosper.
Seek to find ways to enable your customers,
suppliers and team members to win. Your
business will be much stronger as a result.

26.
We can find that being outside of our comfort zone
can lead to higher levels of stress and anxiety. Why
do we feel fired up then, in attending a workshop,
only to find that on returning to the business
nothing changes? The answer is that change usually
takes time and the approval of others and if you
have not created more time to make change
happen or persuaded others of what you want to
do, the decision to avoid stress will unfortunately
be too easy to make. How are you creating more
time for yourself or encouraging others to step out
of their comfort zone to create the change you
want in your business?

27.
When we go to the gym in our goal of seeking to
get fitter, we can often find that our muscles for the
next few days are sore. The reason for this is that in
building them to lift heavier weights or work
harder, we need to break them down first in order
to become stronger. In effect we are adding
something to an existing situation to create a
different outcome. The definition of perturbation is
a ‘reaction to a sudden unexpected outside force or
movement’. When we seek to change, there will be
often be an uncomfortable reaction as we adjust to
a new situation. Are you willing to be ‘perturbed’
every day in order to grow and are you willing to
ensure that your team is ‘perturbed’ as well?

28.
How many times have we heard someone say; ‘it was
the best thing that could have happened to me’,
when describing something unpleasant which
happened to them? When we make a break-through
in our lives we will almost always find that we
overcame a challenge to break through to a better
place. To what extent do you have someone
confronting you to face the unpleasant, and giving
you strategies to deal with it, in order to come out
the other side, stronger and fitter. To what extent
does your leadership team challenge you, and to
what extent do you challenge them? Break-throughs
will only come from challenging and being
challenged!

29.
Over the last few days I have spoken a lot about
overcoming challenge. I want you to think of your life as
a dartboard with the bullseye section being your
comfort zone. When we are children, our comfort zone
is small. Anything out of the ordinary is difficult to deal
with but as we get older, our comfort zone/bullseye
expands. We should all be seeking to expand our
comfort zone by moving into the ‘Zone of Proximal
Development’. When we find ourselves in this new
place, in the ZPD around the bullseye, we feel
uncomfortable, but very soon things become easier and
our comfort zone is expanded. We have grown as a
person! To what extent are you actively seeking to
expand your comfort zone so that others say; how on
earth do they do that or make that look so easy?

30.
Over 30 years ago, Carol Dweck and her colleagues
became interested in students' attitudes about
failure. They noticed that some students rebounded
while other students were upset by even the smallest
setbacks. After studying the behaviour of thousands
of children, Dr Dweck coined the terms fixed mindset
and growth mindset to describe the underlying
beliefs people have about their own learning and
intelligence. When people believe they can get
smarter, they understand that effort makes them
stronger. Therefore, they put in extra time and effort,
and that leads to higher achievement.
What are your underlying beliefs about your
potential?

31.
A “fixed mindset” assumes that our character,
intelligence, and creative ability are static and that we
can’t change these in any meaningful way. Therefore,
our level of our success is determined by this. Striving
for success and avoiding failure at all costs becomes a
way of maintaining our sense that we are smart or
skilled. A “growth mindset,” on the other hand, thrives
on challenge and sees failure not as evidence of
inability but as a springboard for growth and for
stretching our existing abilities. Do you believe that you
can be better, because until you do your business is
unlikely to achieve significantly more?

32.
We go through life with people attaching certain
personality labels to us - extravert, pessimistic, strong
but silent etc. But what about your left-brain or right-
brain preference? The balance between our left and
right brain hemispheres can impact our personality and
the decisions we make. For example, left-brain people
are more organized and systematic in their thinking.
Right-brain people are more creative and intuitive. So
which side of your brain impacts the business decisions
you make and do you have people in your team who
compensate for your preference?

33.
To what extent are you REALLY living your life
with intention? Have you identified your
dreams and worked out the cost of achieving
each one in order to develop very specific goals
within a given time-frame? What plans have
you put in place to achieve the personal goals
which you want to accomplish in the next year?
However, what separates the achievers from
the also-rans is action. Are you letting
procrastination get in the way or are you
stepping out of your comfort zone to make life
happen?

34.
How comprehensive is your business planning
process? Does it stretch out for at least three
years and cover the following; Turnover, profit,
people, products and services, markets,
customers, geographic spread, operational,
marketing and funding issues? If it does and it is
kept up to date your business orbit is
predictable and steady. If you are not clear on
these things you run the risk of spinning off into
space. The consequences could be catastrophic!

35.
We are all familiar with the importance of
establishing goals - the more carefully we define
our goals, the more likely we are to do the right
things and achieve what we want to accomplish.
However, life has a habit of getting in the way of
this important but non-urgent task and we don’t
put the time into it that we should. The
consequence is that we end up reacting to life, and
we then complain about it. Are you revisiting your
goals every day in order to stay on track and keep
to the plan, or are you being controlled by the
goals of others? If you want to feel more in control
of your life so business is fun, look here first.

36.
Top-level athletes, successful businesspeople and
achievers in all fields set, and aspire towards, goals.
Goals give you long-term vision and short-
term motivation . They focus you on what needs to
be learned in order to have the things that you
want to have. They help you to organize your time
and your resources so that you can become the
person you need to be. However, there is an enemy
lurking. Believe it or not, that enemy is you. There
is a part of you which is determined not to achieve
your goals because goals involve change and
change involves moving outside of your comfort
zone which and that creates potential risk and
danger. The question is, which side is winning in
this never-ending contest?

37.
How can I set goals for my business, you might ask,
when so much that is out of my control can
change? Is it not better to just go with the flow?
You may be surprised to learn that in the recent
recession, a significant number of banks did very
well as well as supermarkets and value chain
stores. Also, businesses offering a fun experience
prospered as people eventually got ‘fed up with
being fed up’. One of the common denominators
here was moving with intention and setting specific
targets to navigate these choppy waters. If you
know where you want to go and you tell others,
who can help, you stand a much better chance of
getting there.

38.
We are often told that we should write goals down,
however, what we are not often told, is why? You
have a very powerful ally when it comes to
achieving the things you want and that ally is your
‘reticular activating system’. Another name for it is
your sub-conscious. We are only conscious of 5% of
what is happening around us. Our sub-conscious
deals with the other 95%. Unless you tell the sub-
conscious what to look out for by reminding it
(writing it down) it will never do what it is designed
for, which is to continually scan the environment
for the things you want. When it sees what you
want it taps your conscious self on the shoulder.
What opportunities are you missing because you
are not being bossy enough with your sub-
conscious self?

39.
The desire to move away from something that is
causing us pain is significant and it can motivate us
to do great things. However, this type of movement
is generally reactive and unplanned. When we seek
to move towards something then goals must be set
and plans to get there put in place. The greater the
level of challenge, the more refined these goals and
plans need to be. If these goals feel uncomfortable
then you are moving outside of your comfort zone
and ‘challenging up’. You will never be the same
person again. Are your goals challenging you
sufficiently?

40.
The notion of setting yourself SMART goals has
been around for some time and has now become
something of a truism when setting goals. SMART
appeals to our logical, rational selves, however,
something more is needed if we are really going to
achieve great things, Goals should also be Inspiring
and Emotional in order for us to be sufficiently
motivated to step outside of our comfort zone and
change. Without inspiration and emotion in the
goals we set we may ask ourselves ‘so what’. Are
your goals sufficiently inspiring and emotional? If
not, they may need to be bigger or you may need a
rethink.

41.
In one of the most watched Ted Talks of all time,
Simon Sinek explains that great leaders inspire
others to take action as they ‘Start with Why’. If
you have not watched this amazing video you
must. I will let Simon explain further, however, I
would ask you this simple question. What is your
‘Why’ and to what extent have others bought into
it? If you don’t know why you do what you do,
then why would anyone else really follow you?

42.
Most of us are not very good at making detailed
plans. If you were to ask most business owners
whether they had a detailed plan for the next 90
days, I would estimate that 90% would say that
they didn’t. Now that may be because they don’t
know how to write a detailed plan or it may be
because they don’t have the time. The only way
that our businesses improve is if we improve as
leaders and managers! What steps can you take to
put a 90 Day Plan in place for your business?

43.
Napoleon Hill in his fantastic book, ‘Think and
Grow Rich’, published in 1937, introduced us to the
idea that if we can think it then we can make it
happen in our own lives. Idealisation encourages us
to think of what we want our own lives to look like.
Visualisation then asks us to create that picture in
our minds eye and keep doing so once or twice a
day. Verbalisation then requires us to voice out
loud what we see, usually in the form of ‘I am’
statements. In putting the future into the present
this challenges our sub-conscious self to make it
happen and so we have Materialisation. With over
700 five-star reviews on Amazon, Napoleon Hill
must be on to something.

44.
Yesterday in the Daily Inspiration I introduced you
to the idea of Idealisation, Visualisation,
Verbalisation and Materialisation. Over the next
four days I want to focus a little more on each one
of these, starting today with Idealisation. The
challenge to begin with is to identify what it is that
you keenly desire. Now, this may seem easy
enough but most people find this difficult as there
is a critical need to be specific. What is it that you
precisely want and when? Spend some time
reflecting on this ideal future. The plans for putting
it in place come next.

45.
Yesterday, in the Daily Inspiration I explained more
about Idealisation as part of the IVVM process of
achieving our dreams. Today, I want to think about
the next step; Visualisation. Interestingly, the brain
is unable to distinguish between dreams and
reality. If we create a clear enough picture the sub-
conscious actually believes that this is really
happening which in turn affects our behaviours.
We start to act as if it were indeed real and so we
make it more likely to happen through our
behaviour. Strong visualisation does require hard
work and practice. However, if you don’t believe
me, ask yourself the question, why did Usain Bolt
have his eyes closed immediately before a race
started? And it wasn’t because he was tired.

46.
The next step in the IVVM process is having
established what it is that you do want in the
idealisation and visualisation stages, make a list of
20 “I AM” statements about who you need to be,
to have the things you have visualised. These are
statements in the present tense. Describe the traits
you want to build on or, more specifically, who you
will need to become in order to do the things you
need to do, to have and experience all you want to
have. State these out aloud every single day at
least twice with as much passion, volume and
desire as you possibly can. In describing who you
are in the present tense gets you behaving in the
right way as your sub-conscious will start working
to make it so.

47.
Over the last three days I have been encouraging
you to plant seeds. Each of the three steps;
Idealisation, Visualisation and Verbalisation are a
means of encouraging and bringing about the
things you most want to have. The result is
materialisation. The key to all of this is ‘burning
desire’ as Napoleon Hill states. To simply go
through the motions will not work. What you want
and who you want to be must be felt in every part
of you. Once you work out what is really driving
you, use the IVV process to make it happen. You
are what you think.

48.
Most business owners don’t have a business. In
reality they have a job. The job may be well paid in
comparison to many other jobs and they may have
a little more freedom. However, if your business
requires you to be there to make it run, then you
have a job. Make a decision to decide how many
months it will be before your business can run
smoothly without you having to be there. Write
this date up on the wall and look at it every day. It
will completely change the way that you think
about business development.

49.
Where are you choosing to focus your attention? It
is very easy to spend too much time in the past,
reliving the negative things that have happened to
us. However, these past negative events can be
anchors, weighing us down emotionally. In focusing
on the negative past, we can also make negative
events more likely to happen again in the future.
The sub-conscious brain cannot distinguish
between what we do want and what we don’t
want. If we present it with a picture it assumes that
is what we want and it goes to work to make it
happen. We should look to learn from the past and
then move on. What can you learn from in the last
90 days and then put to one side?

50.
A strong business is built on firm foundations. It is
also built on an acceptance of what things are
really like. What score out of 10 (with 10 being
positive excellence) would you give each of the six
areas, in determining the strengths or areas for
development in your business? If chaos has not
been eliminated (less than 10) this is where you
need to focus your efforts to begin with.

51.
Whilst you may do everything to ensure the
customer does not experience problems, the
question is, do you always feel in control and are
you able to plan proactively for the growth and
development of the business? If the answer is no,
you should buy a copy of the E-Myth Re-visited by
Michael Gerber. The insights you gain will be
tremendous.

52.
What is the value of your time? Calculate how
much you pay yourself a week and from this, work
out your hourly rate? To what extent are you doing
activities in your business which are below your
pay grade? Where lower paid tasks could be
delegated to others you have the beginnings of
team growth plan.

53.
The correlation between business success and
planning is stark. The vast majority of the strongest
businesses have detailed and comprehensive
business plans. They know exactly where they are
going and what they are seeking to achieve. The
80/20 rule applies here as it does to so many other
things. If 20% of UK businesses produce 80% of the
revenue and 20% of UK GDP is produced by 80% of
UK businesses, which side of the fence do you want
to be on? The good thing is, now you know what
you have got to do to get there.

54.
The business owner may clearly see their picture
for the future. Unfortunately, the mistake that too
many make, is they think everyone else in the
business also sees it. In most cases they don’t and
as a result the owner ends up frustrated and the
team members end up uncertain. The result is that
the destination that was so promising is left
unrealised. If you are able to clarify your
destination to yourself and the team, this will
enable you to make better decisions in all areas of
your business.

55.
With the day to day challenges of running a
business, it can be hard to see beyond the
immediate priorities for the business. Few
businesses look beyond a few years in their
planning and even fewer aspire to an objective
more distant. There are precious few that consider
what the business should look like far beyond their
own lifetime. However, the owner of any successful
business is a steward before it is handed to
another. What aspirations do you have for your
business creation that stretch beyond your
retirement and how can you enlist others in
aspiring to achieve this?

56.
We all appreciate the need for a company vision
and recognise that without one, a business can be
something of a rudderless ship. Whilst business
profit is a great motivator, it will not motivate
everyone. The question is; how can you enrol and
inspire your team in a vision for the future? One of
the keys for achieving this is to ensure that the
values of the business are aligned with the vision.
These values; how we do things here, need to be
the centrepiece of the day to day communications
of the business. If you as the leader enact the
values that your team have participated in forming
you are far more likely to enrol and inspire them in
supporting you to achieve the longer-term goal.

57.
The very successful businesses often have a vision
that is so big, that it cannot help but enrol and
inspire others, simply because it speaks to
something very deep within them. While we are
not all looking to colonise Mars, like Elon Musk or
‘Ding the Universe’ like Steve Jobs we can and
should look to create something which can create a
legacy and in some small way make the world a
better and happier place. What could your business
look like in 100 years and what service could it
perform that leaves a footprint that future
generations benefit from?

58.
To a greater or lesser extent, we all suffer from the
blight of procrastination. Taking action with care
and due consideration is one thing but not taking
action out of fear and finding refuge in over-
analysis is quite another. It could be argued that
excessive planning is a form of procrastination.
Whilst someone is planning, they are not having to
take action. ‘Good enough’ planning is what you
should be aiming for. A plan will never be perfect
and will never cover all eventualities. A key feature
of planning mastery is to recognise that the plan in
place is simple enough and ‘good enough’. It is then
that we should take action and start moving
forwards.

59.
If you had to plot a sea voyage that took you
around the world, I would not hesitate to say that
everyone would plan for the ports they would stop
at, in order to make it all the way around. The risks
of not planning the journey in advance are so great
that to not do this would be regarded as reckless at
best and stupid at worst. I appreciate that unlike a
sea voyage, the ports are not guaranteed to be
there in your business journey. For this reason, so
many do not plan their business journey and
simply trust to luck and a fair wind. However, what
if you were to plan with the assumption that
certain things would happen. If you did, you would
be more likely to achieve each stage on the way as
you would be absolutely focused in doing so.

60.
I spoke yesterday of the need for a business plan.
Today I want to expand on what a business plan is.
Effectively, a business plan is a compass. It tells you
the direction of ‘true north’ and where you are
headed. You don’t know precisely what obstacles
you will face along, the way, although, if you know
the direction, you can anticipate and plan for
these. The compass keeps you on track and
prevents diversions. There will be many things that
will tempt you to alter course along the way. The
compass will encourage you to keep focused.
Finally, the compass will enable you to stop and
see how far you have come and what needs to
happen next. Without a compass you could be
going around in circles.

61.
How do you know what to do when you are faced
with a decision? As business owners we all have a
number of reference points for making a decision
and one of the most important benchmarks are the
values you hold. For example, if one of your core
values is to ensure that the quality of the product
you send out is consistently excellent, it will be an
easy decision to eliminate any that are of just a
satisfactory standard. Where there are no shared
values in the business, the profit motive may be
the only source of reference and whilst a decision
made on this basis could have short term benefits,
the possibility is that it could hurt you in the long
term. What are the touchstones for your decisions?

62.
Yesterday, in the Daily Inspiration, I spoke of the
importance of values in the decision-making
process. That will be important for you in making
decisions, however, it will be the case that your
team also will regularly make decisions and if you
are someone who does not believe in micro-
managing, you need to feel confident that your
team have a common frame of reference. The key
again is to establish a set of values, but this time
the creation of these values needs to be a genuine
team effort where you all have a part to play in
shaping what the business believes. Whilst it takes
time and patience in the short term, the long-term
gains far outweigh the time initially spent.

63.
What does it take to be the master in your
business? You may be surprised to know that
whilst the real business masters are prolific profit
generators, they are also people that are driven by
something more. They have dreams for others as
well as themselves and they are enacting these
ambitions for others in the businesses they create.
As such they have a very strong sense of direction.
Their map and compass points to true north and
they are not easily side tracked. They are almost
‘zen-like’ in their focus. They are business masters.
What do you need to do today to begin the path to
enlightenment?

64.
In ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’,
Stephen Covey highlighted the third habit of ‘Put
first things first’. This can mean many things,
however, in a business context, the foundation of
success is the quality of the service or product that
you offer. Within this third habit he also talks about
having the discipline to prioritize our day-to-day
actions based on what is most important, not
what is most urgent. It is easy to sacrifice quality
for short term gain. Do you know what qualities
you have in your business and do you keep quality
at the centre of all you do?

65.
Whilst the immediate answer to the question; why
does my business exist, might generate a short
answer I.e. to make a profit, that answer is unlikely
to generate serious ‘buy in’ from your team
members. The purpose of every business in some
way is to serve. Without the concept of service
underpinning a business, why would anyone want
what you have to sell. The sooner you establish
what you stand for, the quicker you build a
movement of like-minded others. What gets you up
in the morning and is ‘your why’ sufficiently
motivational for the team?

66.
How strong is your vision for the future? How
clearly can you see this in your minds eye and to
what extent is it directing the decisions you make
now? Then consider, how clear is your purpose and
what are your reasons for wanting to make this
vision a reality? How far does the vision serve the
needs of others in building a stronger community?
Finally, consider your values. When making a
decision, what is your code? What lines are you not
prepared to cross and do your values resonate with
others in your team. If you have clarity and
consistency in all three areas you will be achieving
something that so many cannot. Your success is far
more likely.

67.
Which way is north? Where are you going? If you
don’t know, you are almost certain to get lost. Your
mission statement for the business acts as a
compass and guide. Every day you will be faced
with decisions, and one of the first considerations
in resolving the action to take should be; what
decision should I take that will enable me to
complete my mission? If I take decision A or
decision B which one will bring me closer to my
end goal? Whilst a mission statement may only be
a few sentences, they could be the most important
words you and your team ever write.

68.
Yesterday in the Daily Inspiration I spoke about the
importance of a business having a mission
statement. Today I want to encourage you to think
a little deeper and consider four fundamental
questions. Many businesses do not have clear
answers to these questions and as a result their
team and customers can be confused. Decisions
made can also lack clarity and be inconsistent as
there is no touchstone. Can you clearly answer all
four questions, and if you can’t, what do you need
to do about it?

69.
Great time management is about making great
choices and then consistently and rigorously
sticking to these, until they become ingrained
habits. It is about being honest with yourself about
how you are spending your time. Are the activities
you are currently doing really moving you towards
your end goals? Whilst in today’s frantic world we
are all busy, not all ‘busy activities’ are made the
same. 80% of your results will come from just 20%
of your activities. The challenge is to find these
twenty percenters and then do more of these.

70.
We can all be very efficient in doing the wrong
things at the wrong time. The challenge is to do the
right things at the right time. Whilst easy to say,
this can be very difficult to do. Today I want to
challenge you to start to consider how you can
manage yourself within the time you have
available to you. The zone many of us spend least
time in is the one that is most important. The
Important but not urgent activities will take us
closer to our goals and dreams. How hard are you
working to put yourself in this zone as often as
possible for as long as possible?

71.
Does time control you or do you control your time?
It is a fundamental question and one which we can
often overlook. Before you know it, you can reach
the end of the day and feel like you have got
nothing done – at least nothing that you wanted to
do. A default diary can change all of that. What are
the important things that you need to do. Once you
have these noted down, identify a time slot for
these in your week. The urgent stuff will happen
but this will ideally fit around the important, as you
have made the commitment to yourself to get it
done.

72.
A great business is built on a series of great
decisions taken day after day. If the oxygen for
business is money, then tracking your numbers is of
huge importance. Many business owners however,
have not had formal financial training and this part
of the business can feel daunting. However, it
doesn’t have to be. Taking the steps to track the
key numbers in your business over time can be
hugely liberating. It can also put a lot more sleep
back into your nights. What single action could you
take today to feel like you know the numbers in
your business better?

73.
Whilst there are many different numbers that can
be tracked in a business, often these numbers fall
into certain categories. What are the important
break-even numbers for you to know e.g. Daily,
weekly and monthly? What are the four or five key
numbers in the business which really define how
strongly the business is performing (KPIs)? Are you
tracking your cashflow on a daily, weekly and
monthly basis and what are the cashflow forecasts
telling you? Have you established a budget – a tool
to manage your spending? How quickly can you get
your hands on these key numbers? If the answer is
not very easily, what do you need to do today to
make change happen?

74.
Much has been written about entrepreneurship
and what it takes to be a great entrepreneur.
Whilst we tend to associate entrepreneurialism
with wealth, I would say that this shouldn’t be the
only standard by which we judge whether
someone is a great entrepreneur. It is more to do
with a conversion process. What am I putting in
that results in money coming out of the other end?
If the answer is time, applied knowledge and your
creativity and this is resulting in customers wanting
what you offer then you are a true entrepreneur.
Indeed, you may be more of an entrepreneur than
someone who is earning ten times as much.
Entrepreneurs solve problems for people. Can you
solve even bigger problems in your business which
enrich you and your community?

75.
We are all familiar with the concept of margins in
business. If I sell something for x, what amount of
profit do I make after I have paid for all expenses –
my profit margin? However, one of the expenses
that we often overlook is our time. How much is
your time worth on a project? What is your hourly
rate? If it takes too many hours to deliver a service
or product and this is time that you could be better
spending on other things then you have begun to
consider the value of an opportunity. Not all
opportunities are created equal when your time is
involved.

76.
Is there a good fit between every one of your
customers and your business? For whatever
reason, some customers may not fit your business.
Either they don’t pay on time or the kind of work
you are doing for them produces poor margins.
Perhaps you are creating such a personalised
service that it is taking up too much of your time
and is at the expense of other better customers?
The best solution may be to refer them to a
competitor. They may provide the service the
customer needs in a way you cannot or are not
willing to do. You also might gain a better customer
coming the other way. It could be a WIN:WIN:WIN.

77.
How much is your time worth per hour and to what
extent are you jealously guarding this time from
activities which are worth less than this amount? It
is easy for all of us to get sucked into activities that
are worth very little. Sometimes we even look to
become involved in these activities as they give us
the sense that we are busy whilst enabling us to
avoid other more challenging tasks. The Key
Performance Indicator here is ‘Hours of Genuine
Productivity’. Keep an eye on this one and watch
your profits rise.

78.
Yesterday, in the Daily Inspiration I spoke about the
importance of jealously guarding your time from
activities that are not productive. Today, I want to
encourage you to put a number on your time.
Follow the simple equation on the slide and
continually track this number. The aim of course is
to increase it and as your worth increases, so too
does your sense of self-worth.

79.
Today in the Daily Inspiration, I want to give you a
slightly different take on targets. We are, of course,
all aware of the importance of setting revenue
targets, however, some less obvious targets relate
to your personal use of time and your personal
earning power. Setting targets in these areas can
generate some very interesting ideas about how
these targets will be reached and what the
business and team needs to do in order for you to
achieve them.

80.
We cannot control time. It is simply there, moving
forwards inexorably. However, what we can control is
what we do with the time available to us. Over the last
few days in the Daily Inspiration, I have spoken about
the value of your time and the importance of increasing
this value. Time Mastery is about how we can gain the
most from the time we have. Three keys to mastery are
Planning, Delegation and Self Mastery. In their own
way, each one can give us more time to do the
important things, which in turn increases our choices.
We spend a lot of effort focusing on how we can
increase profits, however, we often spend little time on
the real lever of these profits; how can I spend my
minutes more valuably. Increase your time productivity
and the pounds will look after themselves.

81.
We hear about the importance of time
management on a frequent basis. The reality is
however, that we cannot manage time. We are
only able to manage ourselves and how we use the
time that we have available to us. Self-Mastery is
arguably the most difficult thing that we have to do
in our lives. Most of the time we know what needs
to be done but for a whole variety of reasons we
choose not to do them. Dealing and preparing for
the important rather than the urgent is just one
feature of this. What important task needs to be
done today and are you going to commit to doing
it?

82.
Yesterday, in the Daily Inspiration I spoke about the
general importance of Self Mastery. Today, I would
like to give you a daily formula that you can use to
really gain some clarity on those important things
which are so vital in moving the business forwards.
At the end of the working day, write down a list of
all the things which needs to be done the next day.
Once you have completed this brainstorming
activity, break the list into A, B and C activities.
Which activities are directly related to your goals
and therefore need to be actioned tomorrow (A).
Which activities could be left until another time (B)
and which ones could be delegated to others (C).
The more you are disciplined with this, the greater
will be the impact on your business.

83.
Are you asking yourself at the end of each day;
how well did we do? Michael Gerber in the E-Myth
Revisited states that every day should be devoted
to business development rather than simply ‘doing
business’. How must the business work for the
business system to produce the results that it
does? This requires a focus on what is important,
rather than on what is urgent. You would not enter
the Le Mans 24 Hour race in a car that had not
been designed to compete and which had not been
prepared for this gruelling race. Why should your
business be any different? Design and build your
business like you would a sports car and it will take
you far.

84.
Two days ago in the Daily Inspiration I spoke about
the ‘To Do’ list for the next day as being the last
item to do in the working day. Business planning
comes in many different shapes and there is no one
right way to do things. Planning approaches will
depend on your personal preferences and those of
your team. Ultimately, you will need to find an
approach which works for you. Talk this through
with your team and gain some consensus. Whilst
the eventual outcome may not be quite what you
want, their buy in to the planning process and
executing this will be more important in enabling
the business to move forwards.

85.
Are you practicing genuine delegation or are you
simply abdicating responsibility when you hand on
a task to someone else? Unfortunately, I see far too
many instances of abdication where someone just
wants an issue off their desk. When the result
comes back and it isn’t quite what they wanted,
they complain. However, if they had delegated the
task properly in the first place they would not have
the problem. Delegation is not black or white. It is
a shade of grey. How much control are you
prepared to relinquish and have you been explicit
in providing direction for others in the task you
have delegated?