#planning13

[embrace13]

Three months

So...you've got this list of the things you want to accomplish. You've decided when you will work on those things. Now it's time to get planning and going.

Which of your goals will you be working on from now until the end of March? That's the first quarter of the year and for now we will isolate our efforts on just the projects you'll be working on during that time period.

Let's further isolate each project as well. Give each project its own post, page, whatever. Break each project down into steps, or, in some cases smaller goals.

Here are some examples:

If your goal is to lose ten pounds this year, and you intend to work on it all year, you may have some smaller goals within that - stop drinking soda, start cooking dinners at home, getting to the gym three times a week, etc.

If your goal is to save money, smaller goals may be to bring your own coffee to work everyday instead of buying it, to put some fraction of your paycheck in the bank each week, etc.

Do you see where I'm going? Within each goal there is the potential for many smaller goals. And it's achieving those smaller goals that gives us the confidence, energy and enthusiasm to strive for the larger goal.

So take some time over the next couple of days breaking each big goal into smaller goals. From there - schedule these things. I know it sounds weird, but trust me, it works. Having something scheduled increases your likelihood to do it.

What does scheduling mean?

Let's take an example from above. If you wanted to lose ten pounds, and you broke that down into the smaller goals I listed, you would 1.) Set a time to dump all the soda from your house, 2.) Plan your dinners, the shopping trip to get the ingredients and the time you will cook those dinners every day, 3.) Decide here and now what days you will go to the gym this week and at what time.

Here's something to take into account though - don't OVERplan. You never ever want to set yourself up to fail. If you know that work travel, or school conflicts or any other thing may not allow you to plan for more than one week in advance, don't attempt to plan for more than one week in advance.

But, that being said, work into your schedule the next time you will work on scheduling. So, you can only schedule with confidence from now until next Monday? Fine. But set a time next Monday when you will work on your next schedule.

Make sense?

Once you have your days and times scheduled, you should actually put them on a calendar, in your planner, in your google calendar - wherever - but set them in stone and keep them as appointments. Don't let anyone try to schedule something with you during those times.

This exercise can take a lot of thinking but can also be really rewarding because you begin to see your goals as achievable - they're really just a bunch of smaller, easier sub goals.

Good luck! If you want to share your planning with us, tag your posts #planning13. Either later today or tomorrow I will share some resources and tomorrow we will talk about rewards!

[embrace13]

Back on track!

Sorry! As I said yesterday, I've been under the weather for some time, but I'm so glad to be feeling well enough to get back to business here!

We're going to keep working with the lists from last week. Today, take that list and start thinking about each goal on it, and the time required to accomplish it. Is it something you can do in a day? week? month? year? Next to each item given an estimate of how much time you'll need.

Of course some goals may be things you work on all year. Others may be things you can sit down and do in a day or two. Give yourself a very honest estimate of how long you need for each one. (Remember, the goal here is not to impress yourself with how quickly you can do things, the goal is to actually get things done, and done well!)

Once you have your estimates, decide when you'll do these things. A big part of the reason people don't accomplish their goals each year (and maybe give up rather quickly) is because they try to do everything at once. Don't do that! There's no reason to do that!

As I said a moment ago, some things you may work on throughout the year. That's fine. Space out when you start them. If you want to start working out three times a week and also want to start writing 4 times a week, don't start all that on the same day. Start the working out, give yourself a good amount of time to get into a habit (a few weeks? a month? whatever works for you) and then start the writing.

Some goals may only require a couple days or hours. If you have no hard deadlines, start them later in the year, after you have made good progress and forward motion on your ongoing goals.

I hope that all made sense.

To summarize - Figure out how long each goal will take you, and when you you would like to start it. Get all that down somewhere, online, on paper, whatever. Just have it in a form that allows you to look at it and read it (i.e. - not in your brain).

Good luck and if you have any questions email me. (Want to share? Tag it #Planning13)