The reps who plan well are not more disciplined than you. They just stopped relying on discipline.
Writing on habit formation describes a loop with three parts: a cue, a routine and a reward. Once the loop is built, the behaviour runs almost by itself. I have seen it work for field planning more than any planning template.
Here is the loop I coach:
- Cue: the car door closes after your last call.
- Routine: ten minutes on the tablet. Log today's calls. Choose tomorrow's first three doctors.
- Reward: you drive home knowing tomorrow is already set.
- A few rules that make it stick:
- Use a cue you already have every single day.
- Keep the routine small enough to do on your worst day.
- Make the reward real and immediate.
- If a habit is not working, keep the cue and the reward. Change only the routine.
Planning at eleven at night, from memory, is not a plan. It is a guess.
“Discipline is not a mood. It is a loop you built on purpose.”
Lesson 5 of 13 in Step 8: Habits and integrity, with the full guide and a checklist for this week.