Do you know where your plan is? Do you know whether or not you’ve abandoned it?

Seth Godin today starts a delightful and very powerful short list of three things you need for small business success with the following:

1) the ability to abandon a plan when it doesn’t work,

Right on, thanks. I’d like to add that it’s not just the ability to abandon a plan when it doesn’t work, it’s also the ability to recognize that it isn’t working and it isn’t going to work. And for that you have to have the common sense to keep the plan on top of things. Schedule regular reviews. Compare what actually happened with what you thought would happen. Keep assumptions where you can see them, so you can see when they’ve changed, or faded.

Here’s the rest of that short list:

2) the confidence to do the right thing even when it costs you money in the short run, and
3) enough belief in other people that you don’t try to do everything yourself.

Funny how a short list, with just a few words, can be that powerful.