Every successful entrepreneur should keep a "Strategy Journal." This is simply a place where you can write out a stream of consciousness, so that you can organize your thoughts into Capture, Rank, Dismiss, and Do categories.

And, did you know that every member of this Website has a terrific "Strategy Journal" already built in? Technically, it's a blog, which is ideal for this purpose. I've put the video showing you how to do this in the Tutorial box on the home page, but here it is for your convenience:

http://vimeo.com/pathonline/review/32927563/e5d5941c0d

Now, to sell you on the importance of writing things down, let me share the results of an experiment with you. Psychologists showed three groups of people the following illustration and asked each to consider which line was longer, A or B.

Group 1 was asked to write down their answer, sign it, and turn it in.

Group 2 was told to just think about the correct answer to themselves and tell no one.

Group 3 was asked to write down their answer, sign it, and then immediately erase their answer using one of those kids' "magic erase" boards.

The psychologists then introduced some new information, showing that despite this optical illusion, lines A and B are of identical length.

All groups were given a chance to change their minds.

Group 1, which had turned in their signed answer, almost to the person, refused to change their minds. They stuck to their guns.

Group 2, once they were let in on the experiment admitted that they had easily changed their minds. After all, no one would ever have known.

Group 3, of course, was also in the category that no one would ever know their original answer. Yet unlike those who had merely thought of an answer, this group (like Group 1) also refused to change their mind.

Why? After several more experiments the only answer was that the mere act of writing something down triggers extremely strong commitments in us all.

Clarity, focus, commitment...these are all critical elements of small business success. A Strategy Journal can go a long way to helping you and I encourage you to set one up in your BPN profile today. Just watch the video and get started.