According to the Consensus Construction Forecast from a few months ago, next year still isn’t looking wonderful for the industry…at least the nonresidential side.

So when we’re so busy thinking about making it through this week, next week, next month…how do we think about making next year successful? How can we see the forest when there are so many trees in the way?!

One of the most important aspects of business or marketing planning is setting time-sensitive goals. Everyday you might make a to do list on post-it notes, and while this isn’t exactly business planning, let’s consider it micro-planning for this post. The list is usually very specific, and likely things that have to be done that day, or at least that week.

Your post-its are your trees.

I had a discussion this week with a colleague that said “I just don’t have time to write a business plan. It takes so much work.” So, I offered this advice to her…don’t write a plan.

To begin making your 2010 plans now, try working the way that you already do. If you’re a post-it note fan, for every note you write of to-dos, write another one with longer term items. You can group your posts however you like. Maybe one note includes marketing goals, another includes client targets and another includes operations related needs. Then, over time begin to fill in the gaps on those post-it notes with quick ideas on how to achieve them, details on costs, etc.

Don’t worry if you hate post-its. If you’re a sketchbook carrier (like I am), then pick a page at the back of your sketchbook and do the exact same thing. Write down a few notes at a time, leaving space to come back and fill in info later. The whole intention of the exercise is that you spend time looking at the long-term without being overwhelmed by the aspect of writing something definitive.

Before you know it, you’ll have a “forest” of post-it notes that you can organize and type up to create your 2010 marketing or business plan. You will also have spent as much time planning your future as you did planning your day.