By Brandon Dempsey, an EO St. Louis member and partner at goBRANDgo!

I’ve always been that guy who could take in a lot of data, make quick decisions and lead through chaos. This has positioned me as a leader for many organizations throughout life. While this trait has brought me a good amount of success in my entrepreneurial endeavors, I realize it’s a trait I have to overcome in order to grow because greatness is achieved through long-term thinking, planning, and a commitment to a bigger purpose.

When I decided to do Ironman, I suddenly had to plan my daily life for the next 10 months and as I planned out the months, I realized I was going to have to completely change the way I looked at the business development of my company. I was no longer going to be able to attend networking events several evenings each week. I was no longer going to be able to put in the 70-80 hour weeks I had grown accustomed to. I was going to have to plan a lot more and rely on my team.

This paradigm shift was going to require me to start thinking months ahead. This long-term planning changed the dialogue with everyone in my life. I began having conversations about what was happening 2 to 3 months out. Business lunches were getting booked four weeks in advance and my calendar was filling up completely three and four weeks out.

Business development improved, my stress level decreased, and my marriage got even better! My planned schedule was now changing relationships and thought processes in terms of how I interacted with others and how they interacted with me. I was becoming a long-range thinker and planner, and both personally and professionally took my productivity through the roof.

Running toward that finish line on 25 August 2013, I started thinking back to all those workouts I had done that was part of a larger goal that had been diligently thought out.

In business, your success is only a celebration of the diligent planning and execution of that plan. It takes long range thinking and a dedication to the execution of the individual facets of that plan to achieve something great!