Investing Your Energy Strategically

TOPICs: BUSINESS STRATEGY | DECISION MAKING

I recently completed a book by Peter Attias titled “Outlive.” The premise of the book is that you can change the trajectory of your life by modifying behaviors. Instead of living productively for 65 years then suffering through a 25 year decline he suggests that you can extend the productive portion of life and shorten the decline. There are many books on longevity but most talk about living longer, not necessarily better. A major point of his book is that if you want to be able to do something at the age of 90 (i.e. lift a 25lb suitcase into an airplane’s overhead bin) you must plan ahead. Strength declines naturally as we age so lifting a 25 lb suitcase at 90 years old requires that we lift a 45 lb suitcase at age 50.

This blog is not about aging or working out, it is about thinking and acting strategically. I love Attias’ strategic approach to battling the aging process and I especially love the thought that even at age 75 I can do things to improve my quality of life for at least another decade. In fact, as a result of reading the book I created a challenge for myself. After researching what a 75 year old male should be able to achieve in resistance exercises I set a goal to be at or above 80% of my peers in 9 different exercises. With help from my trainer, we modified my workouts and achieved every goal within the 90 day period. Instead of losing strength I actually gained strength because of our strategic focus!

Setting goals without strategic planning is a waste of time. You might get lucky and have some short-term success, but sustained successes result from sound planning and execution. In my own example I did not simply continue my old lifting plan, I turned to an expert for ideas on how to accomplish my goal. The changes he suggested, along with my execution of the plan, is what led to success.

Let’s imagine that you wish to add $1,000,000 in sales to your organization and that an additional salesman will be required. It takes several months to locate, hire and train a new salesman. If he is expected to produce $1,000,000 in annual sales, you will need to add him well in advance. Not only will he be unproductive for several months, he will require a vehicle. If you expect him to produce sales, you will need to increase your marketing budget. If he is successful, you will need additional support staff and crews to support the higher level of sales. Every crew requires training and a vehicle. Wow, that’s a lot of upfront investment! Counting all the unproductive time, vehicles and marketing, I estimate the advance cost would be in the range of $225,000 (and that assumes that all of your hiring and marketing decisions work out.)

Is it worth the risk? You decide. The gross profit on $1,000,000 in additional sales is 35%, or $350,000 annually. If the additions you made are successful they will produce that level of profit or more in future years as well. It appears to me that the risk/reward ratio is very much in your favor on this particular example.

Being strategic means identifying every action which will be required to achieve your goal. Be specific, be realistic and include timelines. Be prepared for some hiccups along the way by adding contingency plans. Most importantly, develop a strategic plan you believe in. You are asking for someone else to invest in your ideas and your confidence in those ideas will not only shine through your presentation, it will carry you through implementation all the way to success.

Once you realize that you really can control your business future, planning goes from being a chore to being a challenging and fun adventure. It’s time to have some fun!