How many goals do you have? How many should you have?

Many experts advise having very few goals, so you can focus intently on those (or, even better, focus on just the prime one). But Brad Isaac, on his Achieve-IT blog, suggests instead that you write down all your goals on a piece of paper, even if it's 50 or 75, from work and the other sides of your life.

That provides a complete picture of your life, and what you want to achieve. A full list allows you to assess priorities. It also allows you to bring together related goals.

"Don't scrimp on your goal list," he concludes. "Yes, it may get longer than you originally thought, but there is more opportunity in a large list than a small one."

Consultant Clint Greenleaf warns that there is no single element of a business more important than cash. "It's the only really unifying element of all businesses -- cash is the lifeblood. It's the reason you're in business, it's what you're trying to get, and it's how you can measure your success," he writes in Inc.

And that means the CEO has to be acutely aware of the cash situation, not fobbing it off on an accountant or CFO. Make sure you know your cash balance and watch inflows/outflows daily. As well, monitor your Acid Test Ratio closely: (Cash + Accounts Receivable)/Current Liabilities. If the ratio is above 1, you're in a pretty safe place and, if over 2, you can feel comfortable. Below 1, you are probably in some trouble.

"The next job is to find ways to improve your cash position -- and just about every business out there can improve it," he says.

If you allow customers to pay over time, you are basically granting them a loan. Think out whether to do that -- and how long the payback time should be. Guard against accounts receivable creep, where customers try to stretch out the time for payment. "Make sure they know you're watching it carefully," he says.

On the flip side, purchasing, your employees should check for discounts for early payment. That can be one of the best deals in business, when a supplier is strapped for cash and offers favourable terms.

Success comes from learning. And human beings are natural learners. Yet we don't always harness that ability in a conscious way to help us achieve greater results, consultant Kevin Eikenberry notes in his Unleash Your Potential ezine.

He suggests these three approaches to build better learning habits on a regular basis:

• Take two articles -- any two articles on a subject of interest or importance. Read them and then look for similarities or differences between them. Consider whether you agree or disagree with the arguments in them. When choosing the reading material, branch out. Compare an article from a trade magazine and one from Ladies Home Journal, or a newspaper article and a blog post on a different topic. Some of the best results will come from allowing serendipity to spark your thoughts.


• Substitute two people for the articles, and have a lunch with each of them on consecutive days. Invite them to share their passions, or talk about ideas and plans. Then compare and contrast what you heard, looking for lessons.


• Combine these two approaches, by reading an article and having a lunch with somebody, and comparing and contrasting what you learned.

In each case, you are forcing yourself to think new thoughts, which is the basis of learning -- and growth.

"Could you send me a proposal?"

Those can be golden words, after you have met for an hour with a new prospect. But they also can be a trap, if you haven't had enough time to define exactly what is needed. You could end up wasting a lot of time on a proposal that will be off target or too general to be compelling in any way.

"If you absolutely, positively must send something because the prospect 'demands' it, try sending a letter of understanding (without mentioning fees)," he says. In the letter, summarize your understanding of the situation, outline one or more possible solutions, and suggest a next step -- usually a meeting to discuss the details of the letter.

• Most people believe the harder you work, the more you gain. Yet the opposite is true: The people who figure out ways to get more done by exerting less power are the ones who get ahead. They went against the grain, by challenging existing thought or innovating -- and that made them successful, not the fact they worked more.
  (Source: Dumb Little Man blog)


• If you're stuck in a rut, block out time for your whole team to do something new together once a month.
  (Source: Small Business CEO)


• Dentists send cards when it's time for your next appointment and mechanics post stickers on the windshield to indicate when the next oil change is needed. Business coach Brad Sugars says if your business offers regular or seasonal service, send "it's time" reminders. One barbershop decreased the average time between haircuts from six-weeks to four with self-addressed reminder postcards.
  (Source: Inc.com)


• The "thank yous" dished out at the beginning of conferences or large meetings are usually rushed and ineffective, boring listeners. Instead, create a computer "slide show" with photographs of people you want to thank, and have it run before the session begins in a place where attendees can watch the people who should be thanked.
  (Source: Seth's Blog)


• In sales, the magic number is 42 days, according to consultant Colleen Francis. If you go 42 days without some form of contact, your client will lose 10 per cent of his or her value.
  (Source: Engage Selling newsletter)

You need to think through how long your meeting should take and, related to that, how long participants can be expected to go on without a break. 8020Info's CEO is a great fan of the 90-minute rule, believing attention naturally starts to wander after that point. I'm always inclined to push for two hours, but at the same time recognize most classroom learning comes in 50-minute chunks before it's felt a change of pace is necessary.

So how long can your meeting reasonably go on? When would you call a break, if it were scheduled to last longer than participants can be expected to keep focus? And what would that break consist of?

That last point is touchy, particularly if cell phones and e-mail are near at hand. A five-minute break becomes 15 minutes too easily. So we avoid breaks, and pay for it.

A 15-minute break can be good, if it restores energy, allows people to socialize, and you planned for that length of time. But it also can just distract everyone, requiring time afterward to regain momentum. The meeting also seems to last longer than, in fact, the meeting time actually is. Some form of exercise that is not embarrassing and easy to do without leaving the meeting area might be ideal, if you have someone who can lead the exercise and a meeting culture that accepts it.

Next think through the meeting flow. Most meetings put short, less important items at the start, following a formula someone devised before you were born. For voluntary associations it might be approval of the minutes of the last meeting, and reports by the executive director and committees. In companies, it might be departmental reports. Zzzzzzzzzzz.

Energy should be highest at the start. It's best to pick your most important issue and put it at the start of the meeting. That nudges people to be on time. And it allows you to tackle that matter when everyone is fresh.

How do you rearrange the other items? Instead of thinking of categories -- departmental reports, financial issues, new business, for example -- why not try flow? Mix items up according to the length of time they might take, interspersing long and short. And keep something for the end that can be tackled with ebbing concentration, but is still interesting and important enough to keep people there to the end.

That's obviously a theoretical approach. Practically, your agenda may not be malleable enough to fit that model -- ever, let alone for each meeting. But keep flow in mind, and your meetings should improve.

Sometimes the hardest task we face is translating good strategy into practical action. But without it, there's no benefit from the best laid plans.

We received a heart-felt note from a client this week that said, in part, "I am so happy to see this [action plan] come together with your help." Another client seemed highly energized after a session that narrowed a long list of potential activities into a short, focused set of steps to follow up on their new strategy. A third, speaking at a public consultation meeting, made special note of how important it is to "pull nuggets out of a rambling discussion" and focus on action. We couldn't agree more.

8020Info helps teams develop, communicate and implement more effective strategies. We would be pleased to discuss your needs and welcome enquiries at (613) 542-8020, or by email at watercooler@8020info.com.

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."

   - John Wooden