Rescue Your Annual Planning

I'm Alex Charfen, and this, is the Momentum podcast. Made for empire builders, game changers, trailblazers, shot takers, record breakers, world makers, and creators of all kinds. Those among us who can't turn it off and don't know why anyone would want to. We challenge complacency, destroy apathy, and we are obsessed with creating momentum, so we can roll over bureaucracy, and make our greatest contribution. Sure, we pay attention to their rules, but only so that we can bend them, break them, then rewrite them, around our own will.

We don't accept our destiny, we define it. We don't understand defeat because, you only lose if you stop, and we don't know how. While the rest of the world strives for average and clings desperately to the status quo, we are the minority, the few who are willing to hallucinate, "There could be a better future." And instead of just daydreaming of what could be, we endure the vulnerability and exposure it takes to make it real. We are the evolutionary hunters, clearly the most important people in the world because, entrepreneurs are the only source of consistent positive human evolution, and we always will be.

Rescue your annual planning.

Today, I'm gonna explained to you a way that you can make your annual planning infinitely easier. Make sure that your team is more focused on it, they're more excited about it, and set annual outcomes that you and your team have way more confidence in. I'm going to show, you I'm going to explain to you, how to rescue your annual planning. But first, let me give you some background on the subject. See, here's one of the big challenges with annual planning, or goal setting for the year, or setting your outcomes for your business for your life for the year ,is that you only get one shot a year to do this.

And, here's the reality about how most people do this. They're freakin' terrible at it, that the latest statistics that I saw was 12% of annual resolutions are actually kept, or 12% of annual planning is capped. Now let's hope that that's higher in the business world, but the fact is, it probably isn't. Because. less than one percent of businesses, less than one percent do any formal annual planning of any kind.

So, I'm talking to a very small slice of businesses who are trying to do the right thing, plan forward, let everyone on the team know where you're going, so they have clear outcomes, clear accountability, and they understand if they're making progress along the way, because we know, this will put your team into massive momentum. Now, if you haven't done annual planning for a few years, then you don't know why you're planning needs rescue, and if you haven't done annual planning in your business ever, then let me save you some serious time before you start, and you can fix it this month. Here's the biggest challenge with annual planning, and I'm not kidding this is overwhelming challenge. It happens at the end of the year. In December.

You tell me, how much focus, effort, energy, attention, and time are you getting from your team in December? How hard is it to buy attention from anyone in December? December is the month where we just got off of Thanksgiving, and there's all kinds of time off, and people are buying gifts, and they're worried about the holidays, and they're dealing with all their epigenetic family issues. You might have team members going home, which you know, means they're going to be out of the office, and checked out. And, the holidays are just totally chaotic. We all know this. And then, we go from Christmas to New Years, and people aren't really checked in until the first or second week of January. So, the biggest problem with annual planning in most corporations is just that, it happens at the end of the year, in December when everybody is distracted.

And so, here's the equation that we deal with in most companies. At the end of the year when everyone's distracted, doesn't know, doesn't really want to put time into work, is trying to deal with all the holidays and everything else, we shoe horn in, usually using some Vaseline and duct tape, annual planning sessions, and try and do our best to predict where we're going to go for the next year. I'm sorry, but that sounds like a nightmare to me and I can tell you from having managed companies that were on an annual calendar, it doesn't just sound like a nightmare, it's a nightmare. Because, as the CEO, you have all these expectations that planning's going to happen, that your team's going to be there, they're going to be involved, you're going to get, you know, you're gonna understand where you're going, you're going to get clarity you're excited to move forward, but then December rolls around and all you find yourself doing is begging people for attention.

And let's be really honest, is it even fair? You can't ask people to check out the socio and emotional conditions of the holidays. It's just there, it's a fact of life. Every team I've ever had has dealt with the holidays. Some deal with it well, some deal with it really not that great. But, it's always a fact of life. You're not going to eliminate the holidays for the team that you have now, or for anything that you have in the future. So, here is the simple and easy way to rescue your annual planning. Switch to a European planning calendar. See, in Europe, a lot of the companies actually run on a fiscal July first, to the end of June calendar.

And that's what we actually do with our company Charfen holdings. In fact, this is the first company where we opened it in ... We actually opened it last year in June, we started in July, and July was our first month So we are on a July to June calendar. And, it has been glorious. Because, right now this month, we're doing our annual planning, and not only is my team totally checked in, we had 'em here in town, we did all the preliminary work we needed to do. Next week we have our annual planning, our quarterly planning, our monthly planning, and we're going to be ready to go to absolutely go out and crush this year.

Now, before anyone tells you, you can't do this, let me explain some details. What you're doing, is changing your planning calendar. When you and your team get together, and you set one your outcomes in June, to start pursuing in July, you're just changing the way you plan. The reason I bring this up is because, if you tell your accountant or bookkeeper that you're going to change to a July to June calendar, they're going to freak out and tell you, you can't do it, it's too hard for taxes, you're going to have to file all types of paperwork. Tell them to take a deep breath, calm down, and let them know all you're doing is changing your planning process, so that it's a much more feasible, much more usable time of year. And, the only thing your accounting or bookkeeping or finance department will have to do for you, is give you closing numbers from July to June. It's not that hard.

Is it official close end of year? No. Who cares though. You just get July to June numbers, and it is such a massive trade off to have your planning at a better time of year. So, if you haven't done annual planning, if this is a new discipline for you, if you're getting into the process of getting your team together, and setting massive outcomes for the year, and understanding where you're going to go. My suggestion, is you have an opportunity right now. You can switch your planning calendar to June, you can put those objectives those outcomes together right now and have your team pursue them for the next year, and then next year you'll anniversary a set of objectives and outcomes for the year in June, and, you'll do it again. Because, this is one of the easiest months of the year to planning.

There's no holidays, there's no interruption, it's June, it's slow, it's easy, people are available, they're ready to help, they're ready to support, and then we pursue those outcomes starting in July. So, even if you've never done annual planning before, I have a suggestion for you, try this, this year. This morning I sat down, I did my personal planning for the year, I wrote down my personal waterfall and everything I'm going to pursue. And then, my team next week with the business, starting July one, I will have clarity as to where I want to go from my next planning year. And I know, it's going to be massive.

So if you haven't done your planning, and you want to do it in a way that's going to make it much easier, start now. If you already do annual planning in December, you have an opportunity right now to make a simple decision, set some new outcomes, and change your entire planning year. Every one of my clients in my programs has suggested that they do this, because we take planning seriously, and we want to make sure that if we're going to have planning happen, that we put it in a place where it actually has a chance of being successful. Because, you know and I know, if you try and do your annual planning in December, you are competing with everything else in the world, other than focus on your annual planning. So, this is a big one, you can rescue your annual planning right now, all you have to do is change your intention, and set your outcomes this month. If you want to process where you can plan for yourself for your relationships for your business, if you want to understand with clarity, where you're going for the next year ... Let's be clear, if you want this year to be the best year you've ever had, then you should jump into our Momentum Master Class.

This is the same content that our 60 thousand dollars a year mastermind uses right when people get in. We coach them around this same body of work. Momentum Masterclass is a planning system, and a forward planning system, and a planner system, made specifically for entrepreneurial personality types. For people like you and me. If you're listen to my podcast, this is the first master class that will show you how to create extreme focus, understand exactly where you want to go, and build the plan to get there along the way. Made for people just like you and I. If you resonate with being an evolutionary hunter, then don't miss Momentum Masterclass, because here's how amazing this could be.

Go to momentummasterclass.com right now. Purchase the course. Go through personal congruency one and two, forward planning, and the momentum planner system. You will start June with a personal waterfall, and the clearest vision of where you're going, who you want to be, and how you're going to get there, than you've ever had in your entire life. And, if you do it now, I mean right now, go to momentummasterclass.com, register for the course, you can get on the planning calendar that I just talked about. So that from June to, or from July to June, you are pursuing your outcomes, and you never have to plan during the holidays again, and try and do everything at the most difficult time of year to get attention. Go to momentummasterclass.com. We can't wait to help you plan your future.