FFN 010: Work the Plan

Welcome to your Friday Field Notes – a short episode delivered each week designed to help you think critically about what it means to be a man.

My goal is to help you become a better leader in your family, your business, and your community.

If you’re interested in getting involved in more discussions like this and want to take charge of your life, I encourage you to check out our elite mastermind, The Iron Council.

This week, I talk about working a plan.

Transcript, Work the Plan

Hello men. What is going on today?! I am Ryan Michler and I am the host and founder of Order of Man. If you’re listening in for the first time today I want to welcome you to the show. You’ll find that this is a show about all things manly. So, whether you’re looking for career advice, relationship advice, how to be a better leader, hot to communicate more effectively, how to protect yourself and your loved ones, you’re in the right place.

Most of the guys listening to this show know by now, that this Friday show is a short show of my ramblings for the week. But, if you’re new to the podcast, make sure you subscribe so you never miss your Friday Field Notes or our full show which is released each Tuesday. Next week I’ve got a Navy SEAL coming on to talk about raising boys so, if you’re a father, you’ll definitely want to catch that one.

Now, let’s get into the conversation for today.

I want to talk with you about something that isn’t real glamourous. It isn’t real exciting. But, it’s what’s separates the most successful people on the planet from those that merely scrape by in life. It’s the concept of working a plan.

Too many of us these days are flying by the seats of our pants hoping that things will go our way – that lady luck will smile down upon us and allow us to win the lottery or find the woman of our dreams. She works hard to make us believe that luck is a real thing and that if, somehow, we just wait long enough, we’ll catch a break.

Today, I’m here to burst your bubble. Life just doesn’t happen that way. Now, you might tell me that it does for some people. And, to that, I say it’s the exception, not the rule! I for one and not the type of man to sit and wait for things to happen. I’m going to go out into the world and make them happen for myself.

We live in an incredible time in history where someone can actually do that. They can come from nothing – extreme poverty, broken home, prison, whatever – and complete change where they are in life.

It reminds me of the movie, Knight’s Tale, where they talk about changing your stars. There is no fate here guys. There is only what you do that leads to the results you’re currently experiencing – good or bad.

So, let’s talk about working a plan. In other words, MAKING things happen in your life. I want to give you a few steps and a resource that you can start using today to set you on the right track. And, I don’t care if it’s in your marriage, the relationships you have with your kids, the promotion you’re seeking, the new business you’re starting, the health and fitness goals you have for yourself, or picking up a new hobby. The process is all the same.

And, it starts with identifying what you want. That’s it – that’s the first step. It is amazing to me how many men haven’t even completed this first step. What do you want? I want you this coming week to focus, for the time being, on four key areas of your life. What do you want for your own self-improvement? What do you want in your relationships? What do you want with your wealth? And, what do you want with your health?

Get out a notepad and start writing goals down in each of the categories I just mentioned: relationships, health, wealth, and self.

No, from there, you need to download the weekly planner I use. If you go to www.orderofman.com/weeklyplanner, you’ll be able to download the exact document that I use to plan out my week.

This is where you’re going to list your goals but, more importantly, this is where you’re going to “reverse engineer” the process of actualizing those goals. More important that the goal themselves is the ACTION STEPS you’ll need to implement in order to achieve the goals. Stephen Covey talks about starting with the end in mind. That’s what we’re doing. We’re starting with the goal then working back into the steps we’ll need to complete on a daily basis.

So, if your goal is to lose 20lbs, your actions could be work out at least 1 hour daily, stop eating food after 7:00pm, and drink a gallon of water each day. See? That’s tangible. That’s something you actually have control over.

Now, on this weekly planner, you’re going to put in those actions steps and you’re literally going to check these things off as you do them. There’s power in lists and the deliberate action of checking that list off.

I want to talk really quickly about prioritization. There is a lot of talk and a lot of ideas about how to prioritize the tasks you’d like to complete on a daily basis. If you want a great book to read on the subject, read The One Thing by Gary Keller.

What I suggest you do is focus on just one thing at a time – not 100. There is a huge myth that multi-tasking is a legitimate way to manage your day. It’s not.

As you’re planning out your day, ask yourself, “What is the one thing that I can do right now that will be the easiest action which will yield the highest result in achieving my goals?” Great, now DO IT!

When that’s done, check it off and ask yourself that same question again. At the end of the day you will have gotten so much accomplish – probably more in that day than most people do all week or all month. Repeat that process over and over every single day.

The last thing I want to talk with you about is what is referred to as an After-Action Review. This is a military term. The idea is that after every engagement or exercise, you’re going to go back and analyze how it actually when.

See, everyone is really good at talking about how to plan out your day but I want you to get exceptionally good at recapping your day. Having a great plan is good. Understanding how you executed that plan is better!

You’re going to ask yourself the following questions.

What did I want to get done today?
What did I actually get done today?
What didn’t I get done what I would have liked to?
Why didn’t I get those tasks done?
How will I improve tomorrow?

That’s it. That’s all you need to do each and every day and you’ll have no problem achieving the success you desire. I know this plan works but a lot of you won’t implement it because it sounds so simple. You’re telling yourself, “It really can’t be this easy.”

I guarantee you that it is. I use this process and so do thousands of other successful people and IT WORKS. Try it for the next 30 days. You’ve got all of July to make this work in your life. And, if it doesn’t move on. But, you won’t because you’ll see that it works.

So again, the process is: first, identify your goals, second, reverse engineer your goals into action, third, prioritize and execute, and fourth, complete your after-action review. SIMPLE AS THAT! Not easy but SIMPLE.

On that note, I want to share with you another resource you’ll be interested if you want to make this strategy a habit in your life. It’s called The Iron Council and it’s our elite mastermind of men working together to help themselves accomplish big things in their relationships, their health, their wealth, and themselves.

You’re going to get weekly assignments, daily challenges, weekly accountability calls, and all the tools, resources, and strategies to help you take your life to the next level. You can join The Council by heading to www.orderofman.com/ironcouncil. Hope to see you guys there.

In the meantime, identify your goals, reverse engineer them into actions, prioritize and execute, complete your after-action review, and work that plan.

Catch you next week men!