The Power of Charting the Course
Charting the course is a nautical term that mariners use when they are determining where they want to go. In order to do this, they need to consider where they are today, where they want to go, and how to navigate the waters to get there. It’s similar in business and sometimes it’s easy to forget these three components; current location, desired location, and what it takes to get there. If you take away any of these parts to charting a course, you’re bound to either get lost at sea or end up somewhere you didn’t intend to go. This is too often the case in business; failing to plan and ending up at an unintended destination.
There’s actually quite a bit of psychology behind being strategic and can be applied to planning business decisions and taking the time to chart a course. When you lay out a goal, no matter how audacious, in advance of actually being in the thick of needing to make quick reactive decisions, your brain has time to think through the various options. According to this Psychology Today article, the human brain literally has a different pathway of processing strategic thoughts versus being reactive.
“The human brain utilizes a proactive system and a reactive system to navigate daily life and perform a variety of thinking tasks. The proactive system relies on fluid intelligence to connect the dots of various moving parts and come up with a streamlined game plan. On the flip side, the reactive system scrambles to become reoriented when the brain is caught off guard and needs to problem solve quickly in seemingly novel situations.”
Charting the course in business is being strategic and proactive. The steps to do this properly force you to consider the variables of different choices and the obstacles you may encounter along the way. It shouldn’t be rushed or forced. When you’re being strategic about your business, take the time to let the plans marinate in your brain. Sleep on it. Take a break. Come back to it. Write it down. Think about it. Begin to believe in it.
Having the confidence in your plan brings about self-affirmation which, according to this article from the National Library of Medicine, causes your brain’s neuropathways to be amplified. When you include a trusted, knowledgeable, and reliable advisors in this process, your ability to self-affirm is actually expedited.
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[…] Developing a plan. Like I tell all my clients, you can’t execute a plan if you never made one. You can’t be strategic and accomplish big dreams if you didn’t take the time to develop your plan. Perhaps one of my favorite quotes comes to mind, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Thanks Ben Franklin. So, what is your plan to transfer your company? Is it to sell to a PE Firm? They have their own set of requirements that you should be aware of early on. Are you going to sell the company to your kids? Maybe you should ask them if they really want to take on that challenge. Are you going to hire a broker? They can be expensive but worthwhile if you find the right one. Regardless of your goals, you need to first develop a plan. Here’s a link to an article I wrote, the Power of Charting the Course. […]