How do you plan your future?

Yesterday I made my self look very sad in front of a room full of amazing ladies who have achieved great things!

I was at Athena Thame business meeting and was presenting on the connection between excel planning and networking, and how it has worked wonderfully for me in helping me achieve my business goals. The reason I looked sad is that I admitted during my presentation that I use excel rather a lot.....to plan my business, my personal finances, my dreams (no not numbers but pictures!) and where and how I spend my money.

I am also using it presently to write a business plan for my future small holding, which with the collapse of the sale of my house is slightly delayed, although  I do now have 2 pigs waiting for me to pick them up, so thats keeping me motivated somewhat!

Anyway back to excel and planning. It occurred to me that I'm a very different person than I was 5 years ago when I just floated around corporate life not really wanting to plan anything. How I managed to do so well is still beyond me. I'm sure if I spoke to my x-boss Mike he'd be amazed at what I plan these days. But then what if I had been a massive planner, would I now be ruling the world? Would things have been very different in my life if I had a 'life' or 'business' plan at the age of 12? I doubt it very much. I have evolved in my life, just like businesses and plans evolve. Whoever said a plan was set in concrete for life? It's just the same with business. If you're business plan isn't working....then change it! It's your plan and your business and if you keep doing the same thing and it's not working, perhaps you should revisit your plans?

The reason I like excel is because I'm not much good at maths...and it's been a life saver in helping me calculate where all my money has gone! The other reason I like it is because you can play with it. Not only is it great for calculations, but you can use pictures and links and colour and generally 'mess' with all sorts of things, what a powerful tool. So go and have a play with your business plans. Pull them apart and then re create them from a different angle. You might even want to do this with a mate over a glass of wine..all my best ideas come when I've been indulging! Then see where it takes you..don't be afraid, remember if you don't like it, then change it!