Small Business Blog

Making A Decision - Here's How To Decide What You Need To Do Next

If You Find You Have Lots Of Ideas And Lots Of Things On The Go In Your Business But You're Not Really Nailing Any Of Them To Get Amazing Results Read On...

If you're like most business owners you're probably not too short on ideas for your business, in fact, you might even have so many that trying to implement them all just doesn't happen, or you might have half a dozen on the go at once with none really ever coming to anything spectacular.

Hey, embrace it! This is a great thing not a bad thing, without it you probably wouldn't be in business for yourself. What's missing though, is a method to make sense of it all, a process you can go through on a scheduled regular basis to make projects & tactics work so your business dramatically improves.

Here's a simple and highly effective tool that you can use straight away...

MindMaps! A MindMap is basically a brainstorming technique or diagram in which you can express ideas, words, tasks, tactics, projects, or anything linked to and based around a central key idea, subject, area, segment, thing or word. MindMaps can greatly assist people to get everything out of their heads and gather information from multiple pages of scattered notes to visualise, structure and organise ideas to aid problem solving and decision making.

By heck, this just sounds like the right solution, doesn't it? I use a big whiteboard with lots of colours or simply a piece of paper and some pens. But, do be aware when the ideas start flowing you want them to look different, so it would be best to have a different colour for each idea (you may need 10 colours!) and you may find an A4 piece of paper is not enough to capture all your thoughts.  Just start with a central key issue or area and start breaking it down into ideas or sub-areas as these thoughts come link them to the centre... take a look at what a mean...

At the end of the day there are no rules, and that's idea. Inventor Tony Buzan suggests MindMaps work with the brain and not against it by connecting portions of information, unlike traditional linear methods of note taking. So, just rip into it, whether it is an issue you want to resolve, like poor cashflow, or your business as a whole with each branch a different area (i.e. sales, marketing, money, team...) and what projects, strategies or tactics you've got going on.

One of the biggest benefits I find with the MindMap is the ability it has to make it obvious that one idea or item can happen until another one happens, so what I often do is end up linking ideas and at the end putting a number by perhaps 5 or 10 items or ideas which needs to happen first, then the next one, etc. Now what do I have? .... Order! Clarity! ... The Next Steps... The Next Weeks "Important" tasks... The Next Months "Important" tasks... or The Next Quarters Important tasks...

So what's the process?

This is the oh so simple part, in order to make this a process a part of what you do to make sure you keep getting clarity and focus to do the "Important" tasks that will drive your business forward... all you need to do is do it on a regular schedule... Here's some Suggestions;

Weekly - For an individual Project or Tactic you currently have on the go. Early Friday afternoon 1pm (before the brain goes to mush!). This gives you next weeks' tasks to keep you on time.

Monthly - For a Segment of Your Business and its Issues. On the last day of the month. This gives you next months' Projects and Tactics.

Quarterly - For the Business as a whole. Just Before you do your 2 Page Quarterly "DOING" Plan. This gives you next quarters' Segments to Focus on for a specific Goal. 

This Weeks Action Points...

Give it a go! Start this Friday afternoon, don't just file this away and think, "that's a good idea, I should try that...I'll get back to it soon" ... news flash if you do that, there's a 99% chance you'll never use it so, use it (tomorrow) or lose it!