You can’t believe everything you see on the internet… Even more now AI is out of the bottle!

This past week Netflix fans had a little reminder of this important lesson when promises of a new season of The Queen’s Gambit turned out to be false news. Did you watch the first season? It was pretty good. The show followed the life of fictional chess prodigy, Beth Harman, as she made her way from orphaned child learning chess in the basement from a handyman to winner of the Moscow Invitational Chess Tournament, beating the Chess Grandmaster.

Not only was it an entertaining TV series, but it had some great lessons to take from it too. Perseverance, determination, resilience… But most importantly, planning ahead.

Did you know that the average chess player thinks 3-5 moves ahead – but a Grandmaster thinks as far as 15-20 moves in advance? I’d be willing to bet that it’s the same for business owners too. Average business owners have a plan for today, tomorrow and probably the next couple of weeks. But the super successful business owners know what they’re doing next month, next quarter and even next year.

As winter approaches and the nights start to draw in, most people are thinking about Halloween, Bonfire Night and Christmas. But now is the time you should be planning your next 15-20 moves. Most people hit January full of enthusiasm, well fed and well rested after the Christmas season and excited to plan the next year and make “2024 their best year yet”. But planning in January is too late. You’ve already missed the boat. You’ll get dragged back into the weeds, working on fire fighting and you’ll find yourself running to catch up.

What’s the answer? Think ahead. Plan in advance. The smartest business owners I know (you could call them the Business Grandmasters) plan their next year round about now. Every October/November they set aside some time to map out their next 15-20 moves and create a strategy for the year to come. In fact, I’ve just got back from a few days in London doing just that with my coaching organisation, Strategic Coach..

So how about you?

Have you planned your next 15 moves? Do you have a strategy for reaching your goals in 2024? I’d love to hear your plans…