A couple weeks ago I watched some grade school kids getting back-to-school supplies and, for some reason, remembered that first-day-of-school-assignment: Write a composition “How I spent the summer.” I wonder if that is still the first day assignment?

Then I wondered if that same assignment is relevant to business world of 2006. Maybe we should all write a short composition with the same title. What did you do this summer? Some vacationed with family, others traveled, some stayed home and enjoyed local leisure activities. But beyond the personal summertime pursuits there is also a summer-cycle component to every business. For some it is the busiest time of the year, For others it is the slowest. Almost all have to deal with staff vacation schedules and spikes in the weather that affect sales volume and customer counts. No matter what, summer is not the idle time that it was back when you were in school.

I hope you were able to spend some quality time in planning strategy and tactics for the rest of the year as the overall pace of our society quickens when we get back to whatever passes for normal these days. It seems that something always goes awry and it gets in the way of the planning process so we tend to plan “on the fly” and the quality of the outcomes are usually directly proportional to the quality of the inputs.

If, over the summer, you have been able to plan for autumn and winter, congratulations! You already have your “first-day-of-school-assignment” done. If you haven’t yet gotten it done, that’s your assignment for this week. Don’t procrastinate. Don’t put forth lame excuses – “the dog ate my homework” won’t work, just as it didn’t work when I tried to use it. Just sit down and do it.

If you work on your assignment and actually implement your plan you will be amazed at how much better your business will become. Promotion, production, and procedures will happen with less chaos and more intention all because you turned in your homework on time and you earned an “A+”.

Larry Galler advises executives, professionals, and businesses to extraordinary achievement. Sign up for his free newsletter at http://www.larrygaller.com. Address questions and comments to larry@larrygaller.com