Most of us are enjoying the vacation months and warm weather — including record heat in many places — yet August signals the end of summer. This is especially true in our businesses, where we go from a more relaxed pace to full-throttle the moment the calendar switches to September.

Suddenly, the end-of-the-year countdown is upon us, and we only have four months to meet our annual goals. Our calendars get filled with budget reviews, prioritization meetings, status updates and the entire business seems to be operating in race-mode.

It’s an exciting and invigorating time, yet the focus needs to move from simply working “in” the business to working “on” the business.

That’s why I always counsel CEOs to start planning now for the coming year. Do you want another year like 2018 where you worked way too hard, didn’t have everyone aligned, had an excessive number of priorities or were lacking "A Players" in key positions?

Here are a few things you can do:

Work on your vivid vision— your big ideas for what your business will look, feel and act like three years down the road.
Evaluate your leadership team. Do they have what it takes to grow the business to the next level in 2019 and execute on your plan?
Schedule a strategic planning retreat with your leadership team. Get it on the calendar now before schedules fill up and consider an outside facilitator/coach to help you see your blind spots.

I enjoy working with CEOs and leadership teams on their strategic plans, as we brainstorm together on their roadmap to move the company forward. The team becomes energized, aligned and has complete clarity, and they’re in position to successfully execute in a systematic approach.

Are you ready to start planning for 2019? Let’s significantly scale your company in the coming year!