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    The Lost Art of Planning: How to bring the future into the present by creating written plans so others can help you bridge the gap between where you are to where you want to be.
    The Lost Art of Planning: How to bring the future into the present by creating written plans so others can help you bridge the gap between where you are to where you want to be.
    The Lost Art of Planning: How to bring the future into the present by creating written plans so others can help you bridge the gap between where you are to where you want to be.
    Ebook189 pages2 hours

    The Lost Art of Planning: How to bring the future into the present by creating written plans so others can help you bridge the gap between where you are to where you want to be.

    By Edward J. Murphy

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    About this ebook

    This book is about PLANNING.

    Planning is your ability to bring the future into the present by creating written plans so others can help you bridge the gap
    between where you are to where you want to be.

    Planning is also one of these ten core competencies of your effectiveness and success in business.

    Followership, Delegating, Planning, Organizing, Communicating, Problem-Solving, Awareness, Training, Motivating, and Character Building.

    Planning provides direction, reduces risk, reduces overlapping and wasteful activities, promotes innovation and creativity, sets objectives, and develops courses of action for better decision-making.

    Here, you’ll learn how to use the most actionable tactics, techniques, and tools needed to master the Art of Planning.

    Planning involves logic, imagination, and the ability to visualize the desired result, and the steps necessary to achieve that result.

    Simply stated, planning helps you decide in advance what to do and how to do it.

    It’s also important to pay attention to my law, Murphy’s Law.

    Remember, Murphy’s Law is less about being negative and more about thinking ahead.

    It's about predicting what could “reasonably go wrong” and coming up with Contingency and Mitigation Plans to reduce the impact of any adverse outcomes.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEdward J. Murphy
    Release dateMay 12, 2015
    ISBN9781310361210
    The Lost Art of Planning: How to bring the future into the present by creating written plans so others can help you bridge the gap between where you are to where you want to be.
    Author

    Edward J. Murphy

    Ed Murphy considers himself lucky. From age 7, he knew what he wanted to be when he grew up. He wanted to be a Soldier. In 1964, four days after graduating from High School, he joined the US Army and found himself in Basic Training and Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Dix, New Jersey.A year later, Ed became a Cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point. In 1970, he graduated as a 2d Lieutenant headed to Airborne and Ranger School, then off to Viet Nam for a year.In 1978, Ed returned to West Point to teach Military Science and earned a Master’s Degree from Long Island University in night school. His greatest achievement during his time in the military was helping 1400 soldiers begin their college education during his last two years in West Germany as a Battalion Commander. He wanted to give his soldiers something of real value - something that no one could ever take away. After 23 years as a US Army Officer, from Viet Nam to Desert Storm, he retired in 1993.Ed then decided, with a little help from Anthony Robbins, that his second career would be as an Executive Coach. For the next 21 years, he worked for four of the largest consulting, outplacement and e-cruiting companies in America from Seattle, San Diego, to Kansas City.In 2012, Ed retired a second time and decided to document everything he learned from those he admired and willingly followed over his 50+ years in both the US Military as an Army Officer and Corporate America as an Executive Coach.Since many of them aren’t alive today to tell their stories, he wanted to pay tribute to them before their lessons were lost forever. Thanks to them, he’s collected thousands of small and simple things (tactics, techniques, and tools) that have helped and will continue to help future generations to maximize their true career potential by becoming more effective at work and in life.In 2014, Ed created TheCAREERMaker.com, a site dedicated to providing the best-in-class wisdom, knowledge, and advice on how to maximize your true career potential by teaching three simple things; how to become absolutely essential and irreplaceable to any leader, how to become more effective tomorrow than you are today, and how to find and build the career you were meant to have. His greatest joy comes from helping others avoid or overcome the problems he’s faced during his lifetime.In 2016, with the help of two partners and co-authors Lee O. Lacy and Jason Bowne, he finally completed The Effectiveness Guide, which teaches how to become more effective tomorrow than you are today by consistently producing excellent results; treating others with dignity, respect, and kindness; and helping others to do the same.Today, Ed considers himself fortunate to get to live in Phoenix, AZ, where he enjoys writing, eating sushi, genealogy, and watching movies with family, friends, and his best friend and wife, Diana.

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      Book preview

      The Lost Art of Planning - Edward J. Murphy

      INTRODUCTION

      "Planning is bringing the future into the present so

      that you can do something about it now."

      - Alan Lakein

      This book is about PLANNING, which you’ll learn about in the next chapter.

      However, before continuing, it’s important to understand that this book is just one of a ten volume set of books that constitute a revolutionary new program called LEADERSHIP MADE SIMPLE.

      It’s a real-world, Leader Training Program designed to help you achieve the effectiveness and success you deserve by mastering these ten core competencies:

      Followership, Delegating, Planning, Organizing, Communicating,

      Problem-Solving, Awareness, Training, Motivating,

      and Character-Building.

      I’m Ed Murphy, the founder of The Effectiveness Institute and the creator of LEADERSHIP MADE SIMPLE. 

      This training is for you regardless of your occupation,

      position, or level of authority.

      My goal is to help you rise above the crowd, to be the best at what you do, and to stand out, rather than just fit in.

      For my first career, after graduating from West Point, I served 24 years as a US Army Officer, during two wars, Vietnam, and Desert Storm, traveling all over the world. 

      After the military, I spent the next 20+ years as an Executive Coach in Corporate America working with hundreds of business executives, small business owners, and teams, in Seattle, San Diego, Kansas City, and Phoenix.

      During my career, I was always searching for why some people are more effective and successful than others. 

      As a result, I discovered that the most effective people were able to achieve extraordinary success by:

      Consistently producing excellent results.

      Adding greater value to all those who helped them produce their results- especially their boss.

      Treating all those with whom they worked with respect and kindness, regardless of how they were treated.

      Currently, I’m the author of over 30 books and create online video training courses on each of the ten core competencies.

      I created this special program from all the best practices I’ve learned from the best and brightest people with whom I served over my 77 years on the planet.

      What makes LEADERSHIP MADE SIMPLE so unique is that it provides these three things you won’t find anywhere in academia or corporate America:

      First, it gives you the most actionable best practices needed to consistently produce excellent results. 

      Second, it teaches the most critical success skills used by the most effective people in their field, which you were never taught in school.

      Third, it provides step-by-step instructions for each core competency explaining what should be done, and how to do it, and provides the tools needed to make it happen.

      These are all things you can easily learn today and use tomorrow.

      I know that as you learn, use, and share what you’ll learn here, you’ll be adding greater value to your boss and team - making you irreplaceable.

      Remember, we’re all a work in progress. So, no matter how good you think you are, you can always be better.

      Join us and discover why our readers come away saying, "I wish I knew this stuff years ago."

      This program is my legacy: to make a difference in some meaningful way to those I must leave behind.

      Enjoy the book!

      Also, if you feel this information could help someone else, please let them know. If it turns out to make a difference in their life, they’ll be forever grateful to you, as will I.

      To your SUCCESS!

      Sig 2

      Founder of The Effectiveness Institute.

      The LEADERSHIP MADE SIMPLE Series of books is available only from Smashwords.com.

      Stop wishing you were better and do something about it today.

      1

      THE ART OF

      PLANNING

      It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.

      - Eleanor Roosevelt

      This book is about PLANNING.

      Planning is your ability to bring the future into the present by

      creating written plans so others can help you bridge the gap

      between where you are to where you want to be.

      Planning is also one of these ten core competencies of your effectiveness and success in business.

      Followership, Delegating, Planning, Organizing, Communicating, Problem-

      Solving, Awareness, Training, Motivating, and Character Building.

      Planning provides direction, reduces risk, reduces overlapping and wasteful activities, promotes innovation and creativity, sets objectives, and develops courses of action for better decision-making.

      Here, you’ll learn how to use the most actionable tactics, techniques, and tools needed to master the Art of Planning.

      Important Notes:

      To make this book more useful for, and actionable by, everyone in the workforce, it’s important to point out that I’ll be using the term boss, throughout this book, instead of leader, manager, or employer. 

      I do this because,

      We all work for a boss, whoever pays us for our work. 

      Even if you’re self-employed, or a small business owner, your boss is your customer, client, guest, or patient; whoever pays you for your services. 

      I’ll also be using the terms member or team member instead of worker, employee, or associate to reinforce the power of teamwork.

      So, let’s get to work!

      Planning involves logic, imagination, and the ability to visualize the desired result, and the steps necessary to achieve that result.

      Simply stated, planning helps you decide in

      advance what to do and how to do it.

      It’s also important to pay attention to my law, Murphy’s Law.  Remember, Murphy’s Law is less about being negative and more about thinking ahead.  It's about predicting what could reasonably go wrong and coming up with Contingency and Mitigation Plans to reduce the impact of any adverse outcomes.

      And as the situation changes, your plans will need to be modified, normally on the fly!

      Mike Tyson said it best,

      Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.

      In the military, they’re called "Fragmentary Orders, or FRAGOs.  A Frag Order is an abbreviated form of the original Plan of Action and is needed when the situation changes.  They’re usually issued on an as-needed" basis, which eliminates the need for restating the original Plan of Action.

      In football, they’re called "audibles."  An audible is a verbal signal or code that changes the intended play or deletes it for something else.  If the quarterback sees a hole in the defensive formation, he can exploit the situation by calling an audible.

      2

      BY MAKING A

      GREATER CONTRIBUTION

      It is the men behind who make the man ahead.

      - Merle Crowell.

      Have you ever tried to figure out what's most important in business, and what’s not?  Especially when there are too many things to do, too few people, and hours in the day, to get it all done.  How can you add greater value if you don’t know what your company needs most to survive?

      To answer this question, we’ll examine citizen-controlled companies and government-controlled organizations, which comprise 90 % of the workforce. 

      Let's start with the civilian-controlled companies.

      What do civilian-controlled companies need to survive?

      These companies include the self-employed, small businesses, and corporations like Microsoft.

      As an Executive Coach, I often asked senior executives, What matters most to the survival of your company?  The first answer I normally got was people.  And people are an important resource, but not the most important.  Just quit your job and see how quickly you’ll be replaced.

      Some folks said technology.  And technology is important but again not the most important.  So, what really matters most to the survival of every civilian-controlled company?

      The only folks who don’t struggle with this question are the self-employed and Small Business Owners; these guys get it.  They’ll tell you that the most important thing to their company’s survival is Positive Cash Flow or PCF.

      Positive cash flow is when a business’s money

      coming in exceeds its cash outflows.

      Without PCF companies can’t pay their people and are soon out of business, game over! 

      And according to the Small Business Administration, this is the primary reason 80% of start-ups fail within their first three years. 

      So, how can you contribute to the PCF of your company?  Well, here are the three most important activities that generate PCF.

      The first activity is to Increase Revenues.

      This activity normally involves those in sales, marketing, sales support, and business development, but anyone can contribute.  Can you recommend better ways to sell more products or services, discover new uses for existing products, or attract new customers?  This is how revenues are increased. 

      The second activity is to Decrease Operating Costs.

      This activity normally involves those in finance, accounting, and purchasing, but is everyone’s job.  Can you recommend better ways to eliminate redundancies, consolidate, or reduce waste?  How about improving processes by reducing the time required, or better maintaining equipment and vehicles to extend their service life?  How much could be saved annually?  This is how Operating Costs are reduced.

      And the final activity is the one most people forget.

      This is anticipating problems today to save money tomorrow.

      This activity normally involves those in legal, compliance, loss prevention, safety, human resources, and customer service. 

      Since insurance and lawsuits are so expensive, can you recommend better ways to ensure

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