We don't all think the same way, so why do we assume that there is one way we should all plan?

A differnt planning approach for business owners and leaders who think differently

Have you ever found yourself staring at your computer screen at 9 pm, wondering where the day went?

You've been busy. Constantly moving, checking things off lists, answering emails. Yet you can't shake the feeling that you're not actually getting anywhere meaningful.

That's one of the things I hear almost every day from business owners I work with is: "I just don't have time to even think." It's a strange kind of exhaustion, working harder than ever and somehow standing still.

I know it well, I've felt it myself, more than once, in the eighteen-plus years I have been running my own business.

The Magical To-Do List

I’m a big fan of to-do lists, I think they are magical!  But they contain good magic and a more imp-like, mischievous magic too.  The good magic means they help me stay on track and remember what I need to get done.  The mischievous magic adds things to my list quicker than I can check them off, so somehow I never get caught up and often feel further behind than ever.

And here is the rub, being busy isn't the same as making progress. And without a clear plan that actually fits how you work, you'll keep running on that exhausting wheel, watching opportunities pass by while you stay stuck in survival mode.

We know that the most successful business owners aren't necessarily the ones working the longest hours. They're the ones working on the right things at the right time.

So what does that actually mean in practice, and how do you get there when you're already stretched thin?

When you fall out of love with what you have built

There's something else that happens quietly, underneath all that busyness, that doesn't get talked about enough.

Somewhere between the long days and the endless admin, it's easy to stop enjoying the thing you set out to build. There's no single bad day you can point to, no big announcement, just a feeling that creeps slowly in until one day you notice you're going through the motions of a business you used to love.

I've been there. Running your own business means constantly juggling everything at once, and the guilt of not thinking strategically enough can sit alongside the day-to-day grind for years without you ever addressing it. 

It took me a long time to understand that this wasn't a sign I was doing something wrong. It was a sign I'd never built in the time to think.

Pretending everything is fine when you've quietly lost your spark helps nobody, least of all you.

Every planner, every system but still there is something missing

Like a lot of business owners, I went looking for the answer in other people's systems; after all, it seemed to work for them, and they seemed successful, so why reinvent the wheel?.

I tried the planners, the apps, I read all the books, picked up frameworks that promised to finally get me organised, and gave each one a proper go.  Elements of nearly all of them worked at least for a while. A way of structuring things, some useful questions or frameworks or an interesting concept.

But nothing worked completely. I'd get partway through a system before it started to feel like I was bending myself to fit the tool, rather than the other way round. The shelf of half-used planners filled up. So did the quiet sense that maybe I was the problem, that everyone else could just pick a system and stick to it, and I couldn't.

I don't think that any more. And I don't think you should either, if this sounds familiar.

Planning for the way your brain actually works

The shift came for me when I stopped asking which system I should use, and started asking what actually worked for how my brain works.

I am a Dyslexic Thinker. That shapes how I process information, how I hold ideas, and importantly, what keeps me engaged. A rigid, linear system that assumes everyone plans the same way was always going to fight against that, however good it looked on the surface.

What I needed was room for a bit of fun and novelty even, in something as seemingly dry as planning. The flexibility to add novelty, colour, movement, the chance to think in pictures as well as words, permission to circle back rather than march through steps in order. Once I let go of trying to force myself into someone else's straight line, planning stopped being a chore I avoided and started being something I actually wanted to do.

This is, I think, one of the most underrated parts of good planning. It isn't just about the content of your plan, a lot of the value in planning comes from getting to the plan. So to unlock that value and create a plan that you actually work to, the process you use needs to work with your brain or against it. Get that wrong, and even the best plans and frameworks in the world will end up in stuffed in a drawer and ignored.

A different way of working:  The Applied Curiosity Model

The Applied Curiosity Model I developed, which sits at the heart of all the work I do with Leaders and Business Owners, can also be applied to this challenge.The Applied Curiosity Model is a three-stage cycle: Research, Reflect and React.

Research is where you gather what you actually need to know. That might mean listening properly to what's really going on in your business, asking better questions of yourself and others, or looking honestly at what's working and what isn't. Most of us skip this stage entirely and jump straight to action, which is exactly how you end up busy without being productive.

Reflect is the stage almost everyone struggles to make time for. This is where you take what you've found and actually sit and think about what it is telling you.  What does it mean? How does it connect to what you already know? What matters most here? Reflection needs space, and it needs to happen in a way that suits you, whether that's a proper conversation, a walk, or a notebook covered in diagrams rather than neat lists.

React is where you take what you've learned and decide what you are actually going to do about it. It is not about doing everything that you could possibly do, but based on your Research and Reflections, picking the best actions to take to move you forward.

The power of this model isn't that it's complicated. It's that it's a cycle, built to flex around you rather than the other way round. Each time you go round it, you learn something that feeds into the next round.

Why a reset beats a small tweak when it comes to finding a way of planning that works the way your brain does

You can absolutely start applying Research, Reflect, React on your own, in small ways, starting today. Notice where you're reacting instead of researching. Carve out small chunks of time to actually Research and Reflect on Decisions instead of jumping straight to action. Small shifts like these do add up.

But if you recognise yourself in everything above, the shelf of abandoned planners, the busyness that never quite turns into progress, the pile of plans that you made and never took action on, the sense that you need a system built around you rather than despite you, small tweaks alone won't get you there that fast.  What you may need is a proper reset.

That's what the Steps to Success Workshop is. Not another planner to add to the pile, but a half-day built entirely around applying this process to your business, in a way that fits how you think, with space for the novelty and flexibility that actually keeps you engaged. You leave with your quarterly quest, the one focus that will genuinely move the needle, and a personal roadmap built for you rather than adapted from someone else's template.

The questions I would like to leave you with

The question I'd like to leave you with is this:

What would change if your plan finally worked with the way you think, instead of against it?

If you've spent years trying to force yourself into someone else's system, that reset might be exactly what you need.