CommerceCubes

Life Planning: The Resolution and Promise of Change

A while back I started writing about life plan for myself and wrote an article to showcase what i had done. To tell you the truth I’ve been working on this over the past few months since I first started and I’ve noticed that some things are starting to change. I bring up the topic of a life plan because the New Year is upon us and that leaves most people thinking about things that they want to change. Most people will make a resolution to lose weight, become wealthier, change jobs and the list goes on. Most people will also start out pretty strong making the commitment to go to the gym, or save that extra 5% to 10% or begin that next job hunt but few will ever succeed at it for a simple reason… “No follow-thru”. It is easy to say “I am going to lose 10 pounds by May” but the actual reality is that because people are results-oriented and impatient they give up long before they ever reach their goals because they don’t see the change fast enough.

Change in and of its self is a slow process because in changing we have usually re-evaluated some things that we do not like about ourselves that led us to the point of change. I cannot think of anything in my life that ever changed quickly or that I didn’t have to fully commit to; to really become successful at including this site. When I first started CommerceCubes I had a million ideas of things that it could turn into but in the end over six months down the road I am happy with where it’s taking me solely because I act on it, learn new things to incorporate into the site and execute them. I am not without fault myself because I like you, ate too much turkey at dinner, slept in when I could have gone for a workout yesterday but it accepting your weaknesses you begin to grow stronger in a healthy way because you don’t lock yourself into this ideal of an “all or nothing” attitude towards anything that you do with your life.

If you are thinking of starting a business in the coming year I say “Great” but with a word of caution. “Start a business you can get excited about and expect that failure may happen just remember its par for the course”. If you are lucky enough to succeed that first time then don’t take it for granted, enjoy it and continue to gain knowledge and work towards achievable goals. Take action on those good ideas and work at them and remember that it’s okay to change businesses until you find one that it a good fit for you. When you look at your mentors whether it’s a Bill Gates type icon or the guy you ran into that owns 5 franchises remember that they struggled until they found a business that spoke to them. Unfortunately like life there is no owner’s manual to running a business because your business will be as unique as you but stay hungry, hunting for knowledge, networking with people inside and outside your industry and enjoy where you are right now because like everything in life nothing is a complete constant.

So you may be asking yourself “Okay Luc, so what is your plan for the new year?” and I would tell you…

I really don’t have one. I have been teaching myself to eat better, take care of my mind more, meet more people and continuing to learn

… To be honest the “Learning” part never really ends because no one ever stops learning. Myself, I am heading to University this coming year and I’ve really been looking forward to it. I have business ideas and I will be starting something in the coming year but I don’t have a really clear picture of what I am starting just yet. As I’ve alluded to in past articles on here I am looking to build a company that is “people-centered” and while that sounds pretty vague plenty of ideas are springing to mind but I am not in a position to do it fully just yet.

In past startups that I’ve run or trying to build I’ve found that the most successful businesses I’ve built revolved around people, hence the idea of a “people-centered” business. Some startups I’ve run included a Software reselling company, Web Development Company and while there were others those were two of the most recent ones. It’s funny because sometimes I’ll meet a new entrepreneur, wide eyed and ready for anything, and just remember when that was me and now having been through a few businesses I can tell without a doubt what is mere “cloud-talk” and what is really possible.

“Cloud talk” is those business ideas that usually start off with “hey wouldn’t it be great if…” and you can fill in the blanks on that. It’s all talk and no action and to someone who’s seen a little more of the business world its like “nails on a chalk board” at times.

The ideas that are really possible usually start off from looking at a business system already in place, learning about it, learning its flaws and making a better system. Sometimes the education for this consists of on the job learning and others it requires you to head back to school but most times it’s a bit of both. “Start what is doable today instead of trying to do what is not possible”, there is a lot of truth to this because what I see a lot of times is that people in general worry about what they cannot control instead of focusing on the things that they can. It’s similar to the idea of “Playing to your strengths and using them to leverage your weaknesses”.

You may be asking yourself “What does this have to do with life planning or planning of any kind?” well, everything. See, plans are like intentions or resolutions (things we resolve to do for ourselves) and the resolution is merely the first step much like writing a life plan. You can write an excellent life plan but without an active involvement its worth about as much as the paper you wrote it on.

Lucas