Ever sit on a plane and hear the engines cut back as you start breaking through the clouds? You can start to make out your final destination. The landing gear makes that familiar sound and you start your anticipatory ritual. Your heart kicks up a notch and you start putting your junk away, slam your tray table back into position and start looking for that wet nap you had stashed in your brief case.

You think to yourself “well, I should be on the ground in a couple of minutes”. Thirty minutes goes by and you are still circling, closer to the ground but still up there. Impatience rears its ugly head. Enough of this circling already.

There’s a lot of things going on in that cockpit that you are not aware of. Bringing that much humanity and tonnage in to a safe landing must be done carefully and methodically. Sometimes you think the approach took longer than the entire flight. They can’t just spot the runway and nose in at it for obvious reasons but you know that. They must approach the runway cautiously and with feedback from the tower.

Now that I’ve raised your heart rate and made your palms all sweaty, I’ll get to my point:

I have a rule when it comes to carefully bringing in a plane, a project or a campaign or a sale. I call it the 40-20-40 rule. Let’s use video production or a large company meeting as an example. In video the first 40 is called pre-production. Without that up front investment in time and thought, you will definitely run into the problems you had never considered when you attempted landing your valuable cargo. Rushing through the first 40 can cause you no end of heartache as you near your runway.

The second 20 is the acquisition or execution stage, which can run pretty smoothly if you’ve set it up right initially. Not always the case, though. The last 40 is where the footage or data can be organized. edited or analyzed for optimal use. You have some time here to polish the apple if you’ve done the first two steps correctly.

 This is usually where the problems start. If you don’t have the correct approach, anticipated anything that could be a barrier to success, or if you left out a critical component you will pay dearly in the end in frustration and failure

Been there, done that and have the scars to prove it. Whatever doesn’t kill you, as they say.

Being of an impetuous nature myself and being the first one in the pool before checking the water temperature, I have come to see the error of my ways. But not so with some of my clients and associates who, in there zeal to conquer the world will bang the table and yell “let’s just do it”! Oh the pain and and agony that usually ensues. Video production is the most vivid example that comes to my particular experience. It’s a lot of what I do.

The approach is everything. The way you bring that idea to fruition is in the preparation, the strategy and the execution. There’s simply no other way to a successful outcome. Like making a bed backwards, blankets first, sheets later. (Don’t ask how I know). In my professional cheffing days, we always carefully laid out all the ingredients before we started the souffle.

Remember, in any endeavor, if your your looking for a successful outcome, it’s all in the approach.

If you have any questions or need advice, please feel free to reach out to me here.

Bob O’Hearn
508-517-6714
bob@doubleocreative.com