We all need plans – both business and personal.
Otherwise we’re just wandering aimlessly and getting nowhere fast. Or nowhere slowly.
Either way, without a plan of some sort, that’s still not somewhere we intended to be.
If you haven’t got a plan currently or if it’s a while since you visited your plan, check out these ideas.
Aim for a 90 day goal
90 days (3 months) seems to be a good time to plan over.
Sure, longer term plans work.
But think back. I’m writing this article in mid December and I couldn’t honestly tell you what my resolutions were over 11 months ago when I made them in January or whether I’ve hit them or whether they’ve just withered.
I’d need to find whatever file I put them in on my computer and check back.
Whereas the goals I’ve been working on for the last 90 days are still relatively clear and I refer to them on a regular basis.
So I’d strongly suggest that you start by making a 90 day plan.
Have just one top priority
In the same way that there can only be one whatever it is (book, CD, DVD, MP3, game, etc), there can only be one top priority.
Not a few.
And definitely not 10 or 100 or whatever!
If you’re having difficulty choosing which is your top priority, you need to take a step back.
And if that’s still too much of a struggle, split your day up into sections – maybe morning, afternoon and evening – and have one priority for each section of the day,
That way you’re not being torn in 101 different directions and getting nothing done.
Chunk it down
A big plan can – and probably should – be daunting.
But that doesn’t stop you splitting it into small chunks.
Much the same as I suggest for writing articles.
Or indeed any task that’s too large to complete in one session.
It’s worth spending the time to do this, even if you’ve done it tens or hundreds of times before.
You can then make sure that you’re doing everything necessary to complete your task rather than inadvertently missing something because you forgot or got distracted on the way.
Which means that your chunked down tasks need to be put somewhere that you can (and will) refer to them on a regular basis.
Where you put them is less important than whether you’ll refer to them.
Although I wouldn’t suggest writing them on the back of your hand, anything else will probably work OK. And the back of your hand could work if you haven’t got any paper handy and your phone is on its last dregs of battery!
Check your plan still meets your goals
Our goals change over time.
What was important to you a few months or years ago may have changed in importance since that date.
Maybe it’s more important, maybe you’ve achieved whatever it was you were aiming for, maybe it no longer fits with your goals.
There’s no point in chasing last year’s dreams if they don’t fit with your current reality.
It’s just dumb!
Plans change – that’s normal.
So long as you don’t change direction every few hours or days, it’s fine to shift your goals.
I’d suggest revisiting them briefly each month and for a longer time every three months or so.
Just in case.
Get held accountable
This one is the step that’s so often missed.
Holding yourself to account rarely works – most of us either forgive ourselves too much for our own good or beat ourselves up at the slightest provocation.
Either of which is counter-productive.
Being held accountable can work in lots of different ways.
Someone I know texted their weight loss goal to a group of friends and asked to be held accountable.
Other people will post to Facebook or their blog (Twitter is too transient for this kind of thing).
Yet others will announce their goals to friends and anyone else who’ll listen.
And others use a coach or mentor.
If that’s you, check out this page.
Or, if I’m still making it available, this page.
It’s up to you to make things happen.
So make sure you put everything in place to stack the odds heavily in your favour!