Planning 2012 – Week 4 Timing is Everything
This week it’s about Finding the Time to get things done and move towards your goal. We are going to figure out how to make all those wonderful ideas of yours come to life.
Hopefully you have your calendar (electronic or paper) ready for these exercises. Most people hate scheduling, but I promise it won’t be that bad.
- Make it fun. Put on some music (check out Grooveshark for some great tune)
- Give yourself some time and space to schedule it out.
- Don’t schedule too much – leave some breathing room and flexibility.
“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” —Douglas Adams
Why schedule? Giving yourself a deadline is essential (for most of us at least) to getting things done. No deadline: procrastination and re-prioritization of tasks. Don’t your dreams and goals deserve to be a priority in your own life?
If you really want to get something done give yourself a crazy deadline and then work it. Read more about it here with the amazing Danielle Laporte. This is what NaNoWriMo is all about: one month to write a 50,000 word book. It’s do-able. In fact thousands of people did it in November. You just have to set up the environment for success – most importantly the time and commitment to write everyday.
So, what is it that you most want to achieve this year? What is the big goal/word/theme that keeps coming up for you as you do the weekly exercises? That’s what you need to work this year. You need to find the time, the space, the commitment. You need put enough value on yourself and your dreams to make it happen.
Imagine if you did it. Imagine some time from now after you did the work and it’s done (whatever it is). You will be tired, exhausted probably. You will be proud, happy, and possibly transformed. Most of all, your life will be different. You will be different.
So, go for it!
1. Visual Reminders
Index cards are cheap, easy to find, and are great for keeping things top of mind and for planning. On each index card write the word and theme. On the back write out what you want to achieve. Attach to it a month or quarter. Put the index card in that month of your calendar or planner pad. If you use an electronic pad, put it up visually where you can see it.
Do this for each of your three words or major themes.
Activity: create index cards. Here are some ideas on how you can approach it like with the amazing Jamie Ridler or mine from last year.
2. Put a date on it.
Make sure you are clear on the following items:
a. Your words for 2012 (1-3 words)
b. Your intentions behind those words. Major goals for the year.
c. What are the top 10 things you want to do in 2012
Once you have those things – put it in your calendar. Put a date to each activity.
Similar to what you did with your plan, put a date to it.
I tend to break up the big stuff into smaller pieces and put it in my calendar.
My planner pad has project areas where I put lists of things that need to be done. Then my larger wall calendar has the major items by week. I do this for personal and professional items. And I do the same thing at work for all my team projects.
Activity – Put a deadline to all your major activities and tasks.
3. Quarterly Updates
In your calendar at the top of each quarter (January, April, July, October), schedule an hour or two (sometimes more) to check in. How are you doing? What have you done? What haven’t you done? What’s new in your life? What’s shifted? What needs to move up the priority list?
I’ll be checking in with some more ideas as the year moves along on how to do this.
Activity: Schedule a date with yourself for the first week of those months.
Let’s face it, we are very busy. And it’s really easy to get even busier with other things.
You need to schedule it, write it down and put up as many visual reminders as you can in order to remind yourself not of what you have to do, but the priorities you have set for yourself and your business.
[...] 1: The Big Picture Week 2: Big Goals Week 3: Making it Happen Week 4: Timing is Everything Week 5: Pulling it [...]