Today I finished typing up my detailed plan for this quarter, which is about 10 pages long. I revise my goals and plans roughly every 90 days, and I find that although this can be tedious (usually 10-15 hours of tiresome work), it’s an essential tool for me, not just for running a business but for managing my entire life. Life can get pretty complicated sometimes, and it’s easy to get knocked off track by external pressures if you don’t know precisely where you’re headed. When you’re working for several days on a particular project, and a new opportunity comes along in a totally different area, it can be tough to make a clear decision if you aren’t able to mentally pull your mind out of that project and see the forest for the trees. Having a written plan you can review at any time makes it easy to review your current situation from a bird’s eye view, so you can make more consistent decisions.