The instinct to move quickly and jump fast may be the obstacle to reaching your goals, and counterproductive to getting what you really want. It was for me. As I pushed ahead quickly and without good planning, strong concepts, solid ideas and possibly great businesses all stumbled and failed.
Slowing down before you jump in gives you the time to consider everything you need to make a big Jump successful. A key to exceeding expectations and success is having a good plan. If you are prone to act impulsively or struggle to identify or achieve your goals, you should stop and re-consider your planning process. A good process will be provocative and cause you to reflect on all of the critical component parts of success.
Who needs a process and a plan?
We all have times when we feel stuck. Sometimes it’s a plateau of success…sometimes it’s an unexpected loss; job, relationship or combination of small setbacks. A plateau can be as stifling as a loss – maybe more. A loss can leave you hungry, self-motivated and ready to prove you can overcome while a plateau can leave you vulnerable or neglectful of your most important relationships. Regardless of why you’re ready for change, positioning yourself or your business for growth will always have a better result if you have a better plan.
As someone who, for years, lacked focus and discipline to make the progress I desired, I can speak firsthand about the frustration of Jumping in place. It took me too long to recognize and develop the tools I needed to make better decisions. As a successful CEO, entrepreneur and investor, I’ve seen many promising executives and entrepreneurs fall victim to poor decision-making because they lacked clear goals or a well-designed plan. With this in mind, “slowing down” is an insight intended to bring focus and planning to big decisions.
As I became less impulsive and developed my own process for making better decisions, I transformed myself from slacker to CEO. Jump by Design is my framework. It encourages deliberate thought and analysis of the big goals. It takes time, but having a process accelerates achievement -both personal and organizational.
The Secret of Short Cuts
One of the primary goals of processes like Jump by Design is to generate momentum for growth and change. Processes, awareness and insight expand the limits of achievement by allowing the work (tools, skills and relationships) you need to make big Jumps come together sooner. They all improve with time, practice, insight and experience. You can accelerate your progress, but the secret is there is no shortcut.
Building the discipline to pause, slow down and control impulsive reactions allows you to stay focused on what’s important building the momentum and insight required to achieve and exceed your goals.
Written by David Pachter—founder of JumpByDesign, helping leaders accelerate achievement and the Executive Chairman of JumpCrew, helping companies scale revenues through targeted social marketing and sales. @DavidPachter
