A Dash of Curry Blog

We've all got some A.D.D. in us. Discover how to celebrate it!

Entrepreneurs vs. Wannapreneurs: Overcoming Obstacles To Execution

Today’s post marks the first part a of series about the important traits, actions and habits that set Entrepreneurs apart from Wannapreneuers. Throughout the series of posts, I will offer several examples from my career when I met major challenges with smart decisions, solid planning and help from my reliable team. At the conclusion of each post, one of my most trusted advisers, Nancy Snell, will recap the key decisions, share her valuable insights and provide vital takeaways to apply in your own career.

Nancy is a business and ADHD coach with a degree in psychology and sub-specialization and comprehensive expertise in the field of Adult ADHD. She had a very successful career in media broadcasting sales/marketing/media buying included mentoring, training and new business development. That experience taught Nancy how to get fast, laser-focused, remarkable results. Nancy has helped hundreds of business professionals optimize their time and maximize their potential through simple, powerful strategies. www.nancysnell.com

Part 1: Once you get a vision: Eliminate distractions and develop a game plan.

The following excerpt from my book, “The A.D.D. Entrepreneur” is a good example of the steps I place on developing a game plan.

Matt Curry

“My A.D.D. requires me to write things down as they occur to me – otherwise my rapid-fire thoughts are gone forever. That’s why I’m a staunch advocate for planning things out in advance whenever you can. I’m an advocate of creating a formal game plan for your business. Again, you have to know where you’re headed (your vision) and also know how you’re going to get there (your game plan). Your plan doesn’t have to be in-depth unless you want to make it so, but you do need to write down your vision and an outline of how you intend to execute it, and share it with your stakeholders….This concept of looking ahead and predicting the future has applications beyond racing. Before you can solve any problem – whether it’s in your business, on the race track, or in your personal life – you have to see it first. The sooner you recognize it, the better the odds you’ll be able to take corrective action to fix it before too much damage is done. This is really important. The best entrepreneurs can see around corners and look over mountains. They’re always peering into the future and analyzing what they see.”

To win at this game of commerce and capitalism, you’ve got to execute. Put yourself in a position where you’re not distracted so you can organize your thoughts and come up with game plan. One of my most challenging projects was opening our eighth auto shop. I had to lock himself in a room for a few days to layout the plan on a whiteboard. After a plan is in place, Reinforce your message, follow rigorous policies in the workplace to make the vision a reality.

Part 2: Nancy Snell’s Tips to Execute Your Gameplan.

Nancy Snell

Yes indeed Matt. This is awesome. What might you ask, is so awesome? In my experience, it is

ALL about a game plan or as I so often call it an action plan. It can be a mini action plan or something much grander as in a comprehensive business plan. But the concept remains the same. It is about always taking the time to think about what you are going to do and the get very clear in writing as far as the steps you are going to take to do it so that you can actually get things done.

Everything we have to do needs a real, literal time slot to do it in. It’s not only about having a plan, but as Matt says so astutely, understanding that in order to even think about creating a plan we must set ourselves up for the possibility of success by:

  1. Setting aside time to plan. (We will never have it, we must make it!)
  2. Finding a quiet space and eliminate distractions,
  3. Turning off everything for a while.
  4. Break everything down into specifics.

Sometimes the concept of doing this really scares many of us. We often ask questions such as:

  • What will happen to me?
  • Is my business going to fall apart if I don’t respond in 10 seconds?
  • What if a client calls?

And to that I say…yes. So? And more importantly what if YOU don’t have that plan you need to take care of yourself. What is that going to cost you?

Once we have taken the time to put a plan in place, we can begin to execute…one step at a time. It is much easier to execute after we have broken everything down into specifics and are very clear about what we are doing. Especially for us ADDers. As Matt said, we have so many thoughts that it is very easy to get pulled off track every other second. Having a blueprint at least provides a great framework to refer to even when we are pulled away.

So this is a win win! Not only will you learn and experience the fact that you didn’t die from a digital detox for a few hours, but you have built a solid foundation upon which to be more successful in your business.

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