Episode 169: Planning YOUR Plan

Welcome to the Unstoppable Profit Podcast. This podcast will give independent insurance agents all of the tools to grow your business and live life on your terms. Wherever you are today, if you're starting with nothing or well on your way to the success you desire, with the right people, processes and promotions in place, you will be unstoppable. And now I'd like to introduce your host, Mike Stromsol.

Greetings and welcome to the next episode of the Unstoppable Profit podcast. And what I want to discuss with you today has to do with time. Yep, we've got the same 24, 7, 365. And in the evolution of learning more on making better choices with time. And yes, I learned in the book from Brian Tracy goals, because knowing your destination is all you need to get there, that there is no such thing as time management. Yes, that's what they've told us for years. We've got to manage our time. I've come to believe there is no such thing. And I agree with Brian. What it is, it's the choices that we make as to what we do with our time. And that's really what it's all about. And yes, we have the same 24, 7, 365. So I want to share with you, I've been asked to share with a lot of people nationally about accountability and everything having to do with accountability. But what I want to get down to today is at the very core, the very core of existence of my being, of something that I've learned to do from a self discipline standpoint. And I strongly encourage you to do the same thing because you need to do that. I recommend that you do this. You should do this. Because we can't get to helping other people. We can't get to building great processes within our business. We can't get to talking about promoting the heck out of our business and ultimately explosively growing our business until we get this one thing under control. It's our time. And most importantly, it's our core daily habits of who we are at the core, not our core values, our core daily habits that you are executing every single day consistently with focus and discipline and then build in the accountability. But I've got one tool, one strategy that I consistently use and I've used for years, which causes things to happen. It causes shiitake to happen every single day. And when those moments happen, and they do happen to me too, I struggle with discipline and consistency just like the rest of us. Just like the rest of you. It's rampant. However, there is one thing that brings me right back to where I need to be. If I drift off for 30 seconds thinking about a marketing program, or thinking about helping somebody else, or trying to figure out why somebody didn't show up and they're ghosting the situation, which just makes me crazy. But it is what it is. That's their choice, not mine. It gets me right back on track, puts me right back to where I need to be going. The things that I need to be investing my time in that will make the greatest impact for others, for our team, for the agents that we're privileged to help, and for anybody else in my life. Because it keeps me on track. And it's the one thing the daily core habit, the planner for my daily core habits. It's called planning. My plan is my PYP planning your plan sheet. And I want to share with you in some detail thought processes about this today. Because the one reason I believe that we've been so.

Successful in achieving great accomplishments is because of the fact that we stay focused and we stay on plan and we stick to where we're going. We know where we're going. We've planned it out years into the future. We know exactly what we want to accomplish, but we're doing the things on a daily basis consistently that need to be done. None of this hogwash, Manusa, just conversation. Actions. Actions are getting taken every single day and shiitake is getting done. So I was privileged again to share some ideas, some thoughts, and I want to give you something as we head into this conversation about planning your plan. Because I strongly encourage you to plan your plan every single day. And I'm going to offer you the tool as we get close to the end of our conversation today. So why?

Why in the heck are you working so hard every day sacrificing family time, freedom of time choices, and so much more? Remember, that's why we became entrepreneurs, because we want that time freedom. Time is the great equalizer. And you will never be able to get back the time that you lost that you wasted. And what about impact? What about maybe lack of impact because you're not making the greatest time choices? What kind of impact are you having on the lives of other people around you, personally, professionally, if your answers to these questions are not of your desired satisfaction or they need improvement? I got great news for you today. You and me both have a spotless future. How awesome is that?

If we want things to change, we've got to change. If we're willing to change, everything will change for Us. So in the future, I am sure that I will take you through a full overview of accountability and the weekly plans down to the daily plans. But I wanted to start with the daily plan first and the daily core habits. You know, I get asked a lot, how in the heck do you get done what you get done? You. You get so many things done, it just, it's mind boggling and I'm privileged. It's because at the core is my daily plan and I invest the first part of my day in the highest impact things.

Before I even start working, before I even turn on my phone, before I do anything else that's for another session. Okay? So one of the accompanying documents that, that I use in making sure that my daily habits are getting executed, and I know what they are, is called my planning, my plan sheet, which I use every single day, seven days a week. Yes, they're obviously not as full on the weekend, but there's still stuff that needs to get done and I don't want to miss anything because it will halt my progress, it will hold me back, and I can envision the future of the coming week with my planning, my plan sheet in my hand, knowing where I came from, even just the prior day. So my planning, my plan sheet is a singular document. Okay. And if you are watching this podcast and listening to it simultaneously on our YouTube channel, fantastic. This is the document right here. It's a singular document. And I'm going to review the document with you right now. And I simply have about 30 copies. I print them personally. We've also got digital versions as well. Completely up to you. I personally like to write it out because I believe that something goes up our arm, up to our brain when we actually write things down. Yes, my parents made me write multiple times on multiple things, simply as an example, 100 times. I will not lie or I will obey or whatever, whatever it was back then when I was making bad choices. But ultimately I write them down. So it's got a place at the top for the date, the forecasted date into the future. By the way, one of the keys with your my planning, my plan sheet is I always. I mean, I'm not 100% perfect, but on this strategy, I get it 99 of the time. 99 of the time. I do it the night before. I do it the night before, before I go to bed. I'm in the habit. It's religious. I know it's coming. It only takes me a couple of minutes because it has become such ingrained habit into my being. And who I am. So my planning, my plan sheet has got the date. So I'll put down the date for the next day and then the priorities, okay? These are the main things that I must complete today, no matter what. And there's only lines for six items. And you don't have to fill out all six items every single day. Completely up to you. It's your time, it's your life, it's your business, okay? And so under the main things I must complete today, no matter what, list the priorities and the to do's that must be completed today. And, and do these before getting trapped in your inbox and other people's agenda. You see everybody that's reaching out to you, whether it be electronically via phone or any other way, or text or any other way, that's their agenda that they're playing within and they're trying to interrupt your agenda, your time, your agenda, your plan is your plan. So you've got to protect it like your health. You've got to protect it and guard it carefully and viciously all of the time. Because it's your plan, it's your future, and so you got to make sure that you protect it. So you list up to six items that you want to get done on a given day. Now these items should be something first of all, that are within your 8020 area of your top three vital functions, gifts, personal gifts, your vital functions, superpowers, all meaning the same thing. And let me touch on that for just a minute. Everybody's got three things that they're really, really good at that they're passionate about, that fulfill and give them purpose and are most profitable based on what they do. We classify those as people's top three vital functions or their top three personal gifts and talents or their top three superpowers. It gets called a lot of different things and it's gained a lot of different names over the years, but meaning the same thing. Everybody's got three. As an example mine, and they're always a work in progress. Marketing, sales and coaching. And they developed into those three simple words over time. And I'm very clear on what they mean. Now. If I get to work on those three.

80% of my day, this is where the 8020 rule comes into play. The Pareto principle, developed back in 1896, I believe by Vilfredo Pareto. He developed the Pareto principle. If I get to work within those top three 80% of my day, I'm singing the praises, baby. I'm going, yes, what an awesome, incredible day. Like What I'm doing right now, I love, love, love sharing with you. I love putting information out there in the world in hopes that it will help people every single day. Okay? So the things that I'm putting on my top six list on my planning, my plan sheet.

Should be things that I do. I should only be doing the things that only I can do as a business leader. And they should be the things that are creating the greatest impact, that are steering the organization to the direction of its goals and beyond that are fulfilling the vision of the organization and in some cases are fep Fast, easy and profitable. Okay? All of those things combined dictate what you should be investing your time in. Those are the things that go in your top six. If there's something else that's just kind of, you know, killing time, making you feel good because you got something done, like I'm cleaning out my inbox, that ain't going to get you to your goals, I'll guarantee it. You're just fulfilling your, or forgive me here, but ego or anything else, or your pride because it makes you feel good. You accomplish something that's not going to get you to where you want to go. You've got to do the hard stuff, the high impact stuff. Those are the things that go on up to the six items, the priorities that you want to accomplish on any given day. Okay, Next on the planning, your plan sheet is people. Two columns. People I need to reach out to today and people I'm waiting on the people I need to reach out to today. List the people you must reach out to today no matter what. And I have been using this. There's four lines for people. Generally it's not four.

Keep in mind, 80, 20 rule, highest impact conversations. Those are the people you got to get to. It says reach out to. Doesn't say call, doesn't say email, doesn't say text, whatever it is, how they want to be contacted, by the way, not about you. It's not about you, it's all about them. List people I need to reach out to today. And then people I'm waiting on. People you need something from. To move forward. To move something forward, whether it be a project, a goal, or anything else that you're responsible for that you own, if you will, that you are working on. Okay, that's it. And then simply at the bottom of the form is a place where you write notes. Case in point, I'm looking at my, my pyp, my planning, my plan sheet, my current one for today. And I've also got Something going on right now in my growth where I. I am knocking off books at a very quick pace right now. However, I've run across a couple of books recently that have made a major impact in my thinking, ultimately in my life, and I can't get enough of it. So I started going through those books again and again. Couple of those books I've been through three times and I'm not super proud of this, but I had downtime on vacation when I was like, what do I do? I didn't know what to do. I had some of those books with me. So I put on my headsets and I started going through the book and I started highlighting and even dog earing more etc. Etc. And I finished a book that, you know, wasn't on audio. I had to actually read the whole book and finish it, but I finished it finally. Oh my gosh, what a book that was. So anyway, what I'm doing is I'm going back and journaling. I've got this really thick big journal book that it's got my closely held secrets in it. So I'm journaling my biggest takeaways from these books. That's a little reminder down in the note section. It's not in my priorities list, but I don't want to forget about it. So keep writing in my journal about the two books that made such great impact for him. That's on my notes to do. I remind myself to do my daily review of my wrr, my weekly rhythm register in my what L Y B L Y B Y E, which is my living your best year ever book. And sometimes just other little notes go on there about things that are not high priority. But I don't want to forget about it. Okay, so that's what goes in the notes section. The notes section is yours. It's just to write notes in. Okay, here's what it says at the bottom of my planning my plan sheet at the end of each day, move the data above to tomorrow's planning your plan sheet for continued implementation if not done. Look, the world's not perfect. You're not perfect. I'm far from perfect. So we need to know it's not going to work out perfectly. Every day we just take the data, move it to the next day and move on. Nobody died. We're going to continue. Okay, another reminder at the bottom of the form. Beware of your inbox. It's nothing but an organizing system for the agenda of others. Always keep the main thing. The main thing, focus every day, focus. You've got to stay focused, follow one course until success. Every day you got to stay focused on the main thing. That's why there's only six lines at the top of the form. And you don't always have to fill out six. You would be amazed. Let's say, hypothetically, you had three. Let's say you had three main things for a given day and they were major impact things. Let's say they took you an hour each. But you were disciplined. You took the initiative, you planned it the night before you got out of bed, you did your exercise, your reading, whatever you know you do and you do all that and you jump into those three things, hour, hour, hour, and you knocked them off completely. You engaged your team members that needed to be engaged or your vendors or your, your partners in your business, whatever that looks like, and you brought them forward on it and it is accomplished and it's going to make impact. Wait a minute, what are you going to do with the other four hours?

Exactly.

But during those hours, you've turned your phone off, you shut down your email, you're not looking at social media or anything else. You're focused on impact. And that's my encouragement for you friends. Focus on the impact that's going to make a difference for your business. We're working on initiatives right now that start with the pyp, the daily planning your plan habit into the weekly living your best year ever thought process, to the accountability to the quarterly goals, to the one year plan, to the three year forecast, to the ten year vision. It's all mapped out, including core values and everything else. So we've got it dialed in, we've got it dialed in for agents. It's in the final phases in partnership with our framework, which is our brand new member only website that's going to have all the KPIs built into it. It's going to be extremely special. The future of an independent insurance agency business is going to be at their fingertips. It will only take one contributing factor, you, your effort, your work and everything else. Your ongoing discipline and contribution, consistently with focus going to build in the accountability for you. We are pumped, excited and peanut butter. I can't wait. It's going to be absolutely awesome. The game is going to change. But at the end of the day, it starts with you in the mirror of truth. There is only one person that stands between you and success. It's right before you in the mirror of truth. Don't let it pass you by. You got this. We believe in you. So go get it for yourself. If you want a copy of this version of the Planning youg Plan sheet, shoot me an email. Mike up life.com that's m I k e@u p p life.com I'll be happy to. And in the subject line put pyp form P Y p planning your plan form. Put that in the subject line. I'll kick it back to you. Happy to help. But most importantly, I only ask one thing. If you're going to send me that email, do it under the premise and promise that you're going to do something with it, not just to put it in a file and I'll get back to it later. That's not going to get you anywhere. Remember, the present is a gift. You've got to open the gift and do something with it. It's the only way you're going to make progress. That's the only way you're going to make an impact. That's the only way that we've been able to accomplish what we've been able to accomplish so far. And the great news is with this spotless future, we're just getting started. I hope you're along for the ride. I hope this has helped you. I can't wait to continue to share with you on the podcast and or bring on other people who are major contributors to the efforts before us in building incredible, amazing business organizations. Congratulations for taking the steps. You got this. Don't give up. Can't wait to see your continued high achievement. Welcome and let's. Let's grow. As we say, let's grow. All right, thanks so much. And by the way, if this is your first time joining us for the podcast, welcome. My name is Mike Stromceau. I'm widely recognized as the leading author, speaker and coach for the independent insurance agency industry. You can find me@unstoppableprofitproducer.com if you're interested in attending one of our virtual or live events to grow your business, create wealth so you can have more freedom to live life on your own terms, please visit us at for our virtual events up fast start.com up fast start.com or you can visit our live event portal@be unstoppablebootcamp.com Both of these events are designed with some of the best money making strategies developed over 35 years of research in the trenches in our own independent insurance agency. Again to help you grow your business, create wealth, and have more freedom to live life on your own terms. And please make sure to subscribe to our podcast. Just go up to the top Click subscribe. You're not going to want to miss one episode of the game changing money making strategies that we share with you here. And you can also find our podcast out there on all the channels. Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, our YouTube channel. Just go to YouTube, search Unstoppable Profit Producer and go to the videos. You can see all the podcasts there and we're on Audible as well so there's no reason you can't join us. Please do and thank you for joining us this time around on your pyp planning your plan, get your daily high impact habits in order and until next time get out there, make a difference, be unstoppable and leave no regrets. And again you got this. We believe in you. See you next time.

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