You can have an easy life or a successful one, but you can’t have both and be a person of good character!

Last week, I was in a meeting with one of our groups business leaders. The plan they have been rolling out this year has turned out to be far tougher than anticipated to execute on, the costs are rising and Return On Investment(ROI) keeps moving further away.

Winston Churchill famously said, "plans are of little importance, but planning is essential"

What he meant by his statement was that the important bit is the strategic planning, not the strategic plan. Planning challenges your thinking, processes, resources, financial position and allows you to work through scenarios that may slow or stop your progression, but it can be a moving target, so realignment is normally necessary.

Plans are only as good as their execution, that's why it helps if you plan SMART!

Specific - Concise, succinct statement of what you want to achieve

Measurable - What are the metrics and key indicators that are measured?

Achievable - Can it be achieved in the scope set, with the tools and resources you have?

Realistic - (even if only to you)The Objective & Key results to give a % chance of success?

Time bound - Measure what matters, what's your finish line so you can monitor success?

Remember you fall to your processes, you don't rise to your goals!

For a plan to be successful, it will require a level of discipline and of course sacrifice.

Achievement comes from the sacrifice you make, to create the discipline you require, forming the good habits you desire to deliver the consistency of outcome that all success thrives on. It’s the resistance you face that will make you stronger, better prepared for the next level and define your future path.

Whether in the gym, business or life, it is all about the reps!! You have to put the work, as you want to train hard and fight easy!

At the meeting, I recalled a personal story...?

When I was 20, I decided to quit my job and straightaway I felt it was okay to mentally, and physically, check out.

My boss, who was a very sharp entrepreneur, chose not to pay me for my month of notice or any of the commission I was owed. Angry and of course immature, I confronted him in an aggressive manner, so he took to talking to me through a small, slightly open window, he quickly managed to talk me down as I am sure his years of experience no doubt told him that my mercurial positioning would lower as quickly as it rose. He explained in full his reasoning and why I 'didn't actually deserve' my pay.

He told me I had the potential to be great one day, but only if I consistently put in more effort than those around me and consciously decided what I was willing to sacrifice to be great, what short-term indulgences or outside perceptions I would be willing to forego for a sustainable long-term improvement in myself.

At the time he may have thought his words were falling on deaf ears, but they didn't! In fact it bugged me so much that I had let him down and myself, I made a life changing decision that this isn't the person I want to be, inside or outside of work.

So I sat, wrote out 'My plan' of 10 life goals up to the age of 30, what I wanted next for my career move and want I needed to learn from it to be able to excel and cut my own path.

Essentially what was I willing to sacrifice, why and what for?

A tough homework assignment when only twenty and still very green, but it's amazing how cathartic and maturing, planning is, especially when looking into your own future.

10 years later, after selling my first company, I wrote my ex-boss a letter to show gratitude, apologise and to thank him for the lesson he taught me, but also to ground myself around the different things that drove me and helped my plan come to fruition. It was one of handful of key catalysts to all of my achievements to date.

?One thing he said to me at the end of our exchange, that has stuck with me for many years:?

"Dean, you can choose an easy life or a successful one, but you cannot have both and still expect to be a person of good character".?

Today, I fully understand the weight of those words.

In life, to work hard at anything requires self discipline. The discipline you practice reflects the sacrifices you’re willing to make. In today’s world, where social media distorts reality, many lose focus when things get tough and try to seekout shortcuts instead of finding and addressing the root cause of a problem.

?Jim Carrey once said:?

"If you can’t reduce your standard of living for a year or two to succeed, you care too much about what others think."

In other words....

'Are you willing to live now the way others won't, so you can live your future in a way they cant?'

The first thing I said to the leader I was helping, “Let’s not stress. Let’s break it down to the root cause, we ask WHY?, we apply our skills and experience, and if it's necessary, then we can bring in additional help”.

Fortunately, we drilled down far enough to expose the problem and we more than had the skills to solve it! - we just needed to get the process nailed down so everyone was rowing in the same direction and those pulling in a different direction were replaced.

The world is an extremely stressful place at the moment, so many are stressed about things they cannot control, rather than just controlling the controllables( as my good chum Trevor Pinder points out regularly).

Stress causes blinkered vision and increases fight or flight scenarios making it harder to identify the root cause. Yet if we just slow our breathing and work it through logically, it's never really as bad as we think.

Here’s is my favoured formula for stress:?

Stress =

(Size of the Problem) / (Your Skill & Experience to Deal with It)

'It's not the problem that's stressful, it's how you choose to address it!'

To keep my stress levels as low as possible and increase the skills and experience I have to deal with issues, I am a MASSIVE fan of compounding improvements. For over 25 years I have lived by three simple daily rules-

(TBF the first one is now very easy to do, as a 3c Ice Bath at 5am is always a challenge)

- Challenge yourself every day

- Be better than yesterday

- Go home proud

Choosing to be better is a personal choice, life is self-prescribing, so do you prescribe yourself the easy excuse today to put change off until tomorrow, or do you look to become the optimal you?

In a couple of months, I am launching an online mentorship and training course for leaders, entrepreneurs, and founders. This course will not only help you grow your business but also enhance your mental and physical well-being for a more fulfilling life.

I like to call it your 'Wealth Style' – money doesn't make you happy, it just gives you more options. As I’ve often said, it's the difference between the Bahamas or Butlins.

Some people need more, some need less, but it all depends on the life and balance you want. Not everything is measured in pounds and dollars; it's about what’s right for you!

So, why a mentorship course?

I’m frequently asked to be a Non-Executive Director (NED), adviser, mentor, or investor in various businesses. However, I don’t have the time to say yes to everyone, and simple supply and demand means I’d be an expensive outlay for a small enterprise.

Having started, built, scaled, invested in, and exited several businesses, mentored founder CEOs to help them 10x their enterprises, and acted as a catalyst in creating many millionaires – 'I was even once titled the 'youngest CEO on the UK stock market!' Over the last 20 years as a leader, I have developed processes, procedures, technologies, balances, checks and measures, and discovered some very special life hacks that I’ve always recorded to revisit and reuse. I can now open all of this up to anyone, from a solopreneur to a multinational, whether in the UK or overseas, and it's simple to access.

However, I actually count my greatest success as being able to balance a full family life, maintain optimal health, possess constant mental strength, and have the freedom to do what I choose. This is something I believe is absolutely available to anyone who truly desires it.

The first two cohorts, starting in November, are fully booked. However, if you’d like to join the December/January group, click the link below to register. We’ll arrange a call to ensure the programme is the right fit for you and your business.

Join me in mastering the discipline that leads to success and fulfilment!

https://form.jotform.com/242523836856364

nb: The mentorship program is broken into modules for leaders, founders and entrepreneurs in any sector, of any size business.