Today I’ll be in splendid isolation in The Barrow Bunker. No client calls, no meetings, no interruptions.

My mission by the end of the day is to have completed the allocation of time for my 2019 calendar.

In order of importance they are:

• 172 Free Days – 12 weeks of vacation, plus weekends and Bank Holidays during which I don’t work either on or in the business (even though it won’t stop me thinking about business);
• 40 Barrow Bunker Days – 1 day per working week in The Barrow Bunker, working 80% ON the business and 20% IN the business;
• 60 Tribe Days – 1 week per month working on content creation – best practice ideas, Facebook Live broadcasts, podcasts, online tutorials, templates, protocols, presentations for my online community in The Coach Barrow Tribe;
• 93 Extreme Business Days – these are the days I will have available for practice visits, workshops and public speaking. The days when I work 80% IN the business (directly with clients) and 20% ON the business.

The 172 Free Days are about rest.

The 40 Barrow Bunker Days are about future profits.

The 153 Tribe Days and Extreme Business Days are about present profits.

In the past, my calendar management has usually taken place in August but Phillippa and I have realised that if I don’t get started on this, the first half of the 2019 will run away with us before I have chance to plan.

Next year, I can see myself doing this in June, as the pace of life accelerates.

There’s an old business adage that “he who controls the agenda, controls the meeting”.

If we don’t take control of our calendars, everyone else will.

Once I have completed the calendar planning exercise (and there are bound to be some changes to the ideal model) I’ll then start to think about the combination of products and services that will allow me to hit my sales targets for 2019 within those parameters of time management – I already know that will involve some disruptive thinking – there will have to be innovation.