Hello. It was a typically beautiful spring day here in Colorado. Sunny and cold due to the snow yesterday, but Spring is showing everywhere! I love it!

The last about planning for awhile; if I spend 1 to 3 hours weekly planning, which I surely do, then do I spend other time on planning? Thanks for asking. Well, okay. I realize that I asked for you.

I take one 40 hour week per year and devote it just to planning. Reviewing the past year, moving myself forward 10 years, making sure that I have realistic and stretching goals, getting completely in touch with my reasons...my passions for achieving; I love this week and I have taken this time to plan this way since 1993. I believe this depth of planning, this attention to creating goals that excite me and plans to achieve them, is one of the keys to my success. And it is so motivating! I get to experience my future in advance and then I keep that excitement with me as I take action and get past the inevitable challenges.

I believe it was Jim Rohn that said:

"Never enter a year without knowing what you will accomplish. Never enter a 6 month period in that year without knowing what you will accomplish. Never enter a quarter or a month or a week, without knowing what you will accomplish" This is almost certainly not a perfect quotation, but the thought is there. And it is a philosophy that I have done my best to follow since I first heard it in 1990. May it be of benefit to you as well.

Bye for now and happy planning...Jack

Planning. I invest 1 to 3 hours each and every week planning the week to come. In the early days I did this on Sunday afternoon. Then I moved it to Saturday and now part of every Friday is my time for planning. The important thing is to schedule the time and then show up.

You probably have planning sessions and project updates with your key staff all of the time. Great you should. How about with and for yourself? There is always time for these planning sessions with your staff; why isn't there always time for the planning time with yourself?

An unplanned life seldom leads anywhere you want to go. Properly done, planning keeps you in touch with your why, your purpose. It makes you balance all of the critical aspects of your life. It makes your life more fulfilling by ensuring that you are investing your life in those things that truly matter to you. You may be great at planning your business life. After all, you have gotten to where you are now. But how is it all working with the rest of your life? With your family and favorite hobbies and passions and your health? We will talk more about that as we explore this topic in more depth.

Snowing here tonight in Colorado. Cold, but very pretty.

Bye for now...Jack

Planning. Goal setting. How much time do invest in planning your life? Your corporate life and your personal life and the intersections of both of these? I thought I would start to share how I do my planning, personal and professional, as it such a large part of my consulting and such a huge contributor to all that I have been able to do with my life.

My start in the world of planning was Zig Ziglar. If you haven't listened to Zig or gone to see him, then you are missing out. Fascinating man and fascinating history. He had, probably still has, a great set just about his planning process. This is still a good place to begin.

Then I was introduced to Anthony Robbins and his material. Anthony has a very elegant, although complex to learn, planning system. I learned a tremendous amount here.

I also immersed myself in the material of Jim Rohn. Jim has some great things to say about planning and certainly what he has done served him quite well. I remember hearing him say to "Never start a month until you know what you want to accomplish that month" and "Never start a week until you know what you want to accomplish that week". Both of those statements changed me and I hope they will change you, unless of course you already follow that advice!

Then I have tried planning systems of many types; from some I learned a little, from some I learned nothing. What you will be seeing over time in this category on my blog will be the best of the best of what I have learned about planning in the past 18 years of coaching and business consulting.

Bye for now...Jack

Reading. Want to move up in company size? Want to make it from CFO, CIO, COO to CEO? There are lots of great steps to get there and today we are going to talk about reading. Are you reading the magazines that directly relate to your business? Typically there are 4 magazines for almost any industry that really matter. Do you know what those 4 are for your company / desired company? If you aren't reading industry related magazines, then you are giving away power. You should be reading 4 per month and GQ and Maxim only count for a very few industries!

Books. Read one nonfiction business related book per month. Over time, over really just a year, you will have so many great new ideas and perspectives that you will absolutely shine when compared to your competitors...at board meetings, when interviewing for promotions, when interviewing to change companies...and at dinner parties...a place where many promotions are really decided!

Short on time? Get some audio books. Any decent business bestseller is available this way. Look for the ones read by the author, they just come across better.

Bye for now...Jack

Been away for awhile, quite sick actually. Good news is, I had time to do some reading. How about you? Read any good books lately? I work very hard to read at least 4 nonfiction business related books per month. This is a lot, but I have been gifted with the ability to read fast and absorb well since I was young. More important, I owe this level of knowledge accumulation to my clients. Enough about my reading.

Let me ask you again, read any good books lately? Stephen King doesn't count, neither does the latest from Grisham. If you aren't reading, then let me ask you another question. Are you making all of the money that you want? Are you making all of the money that you want, but your job is shaky? Are you making less money than you want, and your job is shaky? Wowsers! And you aren't reading? Big mistake!

The average male college graduate will read how many business related books after he graduates from college? Any wild guesses? We are talking about in the rest of their business lives now...how many business related books will the average male college graduate read? The answer is 5. 5 books in the balance of their business lifetimes. How quickly could you develop a competitive advantage if you read one business book per month? I can tell you from experience, very quickly indeed.

We will talk more about books in the next entry. For now, go pick up any of the current NYTimes business bestsellers and give your brain a treat. You and your brain both deserve it!

Bye for now...Jack

Headhunters. I liked being one. Once I got the hang of it, and there was a great deal to learn, I really liked this job. I did it well. Well enough that after 3 1/2 years in that business, headhunting, executive search, recruiter, I was able to retire for nearly 10 years while in my early 30's. Well good for me, so what? I'll tell you so what...I liked being a headhunter and you should like, no you should love staying in great touch with a few. They can be your absolute best friends in the business world.

So, why should you love headhunters? (Good ones, and finding those is another story)

• They can find you talent that will rocket your business into the highest reaches of the sky...talent that you would never find on your own.
• They can tell you what you should pay to get the kind of person you need.
• They can tell you the kind of person you need.
• They can call you first, with your dream job, at your dream salary, at your dream location...as long as they know you, like you and trust you...and that is another story!

My next post will continue the headhunter stories...they are fun and I hope you already have a few headhunter friends...in the world economy we work in today...this is a must.

Bye for now...Jack

Do you make a habit of going to expense conferences? You should. Why expensive? Because you get what you pay for and the price of admission will virtually guarantee that there will be people there that you should meet and stay in touch with.

Let me recommend one that I expect will be excellent. The New Yorker Conference / 2012: Stories from the near future. May 06 +07, 2007 in New York City. $1200 a ticket and I expect you would be hard pressed to find a more valuable conference to attend this year. For more information www.conference.newyorker.com .

Networking. This event and events like it are for networking. Yes, the speakers will be good, perhaps great, but the real focus on an event like this is always networking.

Remember when I was talking about always being job hunting? Networking is the main part of that. If you become well networked, and stay that way, I can virtually guarantee that you will never have to go looking for work...work will always come looking for you.

Hope to see you at the conference...if we can both get away! Bye for now...Jack

More about job hunting today. My years as a headhunter / executive recruiter taught me many great things and one of them is critical for you to understand: it is hugely, massively, incredibly easier to find a job when you have a job. Did I use enough "ly" endings to catch your attention? Please take note.

When you have a job, you can find a better job...always. When you are out of work, for whatever reason, your fault, the company's fault, no one's fault, it just doesn't matter, your marketability has gone down by at least 10 fold. That is a lot of fold!

Is this fair? No, it isn't. But it is true and ignore this at your own risk and the risk of your finances. The old saying: "Never quit a job until you have a job." Remember that one? Some old sayings keep turning up because the kernel of truth is still there...more on job hunting later...bye for now...Jack

Job Hunting. When should you be job hunting? When your company is doing poorly? When you have just seen the numbers for last quarter and you know there will be repercussions company wide? When your boss has pissed you off for the last time? Well all of these times are okay, but the best answer is different...you should be job hunting all of your employed life. Let me repeat, you should be job hunting all of your employed life. Indeed, you should become a master of this unique skill set...the skills of finding jobs that you love, doing something you believe in, working for and with people you like and respect, and making the kind of money that let's you manifest your dreams.

So how do you continually look for work while you are already employed? And what about my current employer? And what about loyalty to my company? And how do I protect myself while I am job hunting? Excellent questions. Come back again and we will talk about them...bye for now...Jack

Why Blog? If you are one of the key executives in a large corporation, blogging is a great way to stay in touch with all of the people in a downline reporting relationship. You can tell your associates your thoughts, help to preserve and enhance the culture that you want and even find out who is really doing the work and who is just really good at taking credit. Hint...enable comments on your blog.

If you are a middle level manager or entry level employee, I think you are better off never discussing anything to do with your employer on a blog. It is unlikely to help you, and can easily harm you.

Till next time constant reader...Jack

I read Blog...Understanding the Information Reformation by Hugh Hewitt.

I would say this one is worth your time, especially if you are the one that needs to make informed decisions regarding Blogs and how they impact your company. Notice I didn't say might impact your company. Blogs are impacting your organization whether you realize it or not.

The only real downside to this book is the publication date...2005. In the world of blogging, this is a very long time indeed.

Till next time...Jack

You will notice a LinkedIn icon added to my blog. I had been invited many times to join someone's network on LinkedIn and had never done so. Last week I attended a 5 hour training on this business networking tool and now I am a believer. If you are in the corporate world and are not part of this network, you are giving away opportunities and resources that you did not even know that you had!

For some outside credibility, go look at Guy Kawasaki's blog. This is a pretty decent blog and I like much of what Guy holds dear. http://blog.guykawasaki.com and then go to the archives for January of this year. January 4th and January 16th are two blog entries detailing some great information about being a part of LinkedIn. Go check it out!

Till next time...Jack