How to REALLY Make Your Goals Reality

This week we’ve talked about finding clarity, and taking consistent action.

Do you have more clarity now about who you are (and can be to 11) and what you want your business to be?

Do you have a clear idea of what consistent action it’s going to take to get you there?

Yes? AWESOME!

No? AWESOME!

This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where you take those concepts, your goals, your dreams for you and your business and you make them your reality.

If you fail to plan… you plan to fail.

The first time I heard this was the first time I participated in the Body for Life Challenge. It was  true for that program. You had to know what workout you were doing, what food you were eating, and exactly when all this stuff was going to happen. I did ok in the challenge ~ although I lacked a lot of planning and could have done a lot better.

What I realized is this quote applies even MORE to my business. I love lists, and I like to be organized, stay on track, take action… but… I often found myself doing stuff that didn’t really matter in the big scheme of things. I ended up keeping myself busy so I felt like I was working, when really all I was doing was sitting in front of my computer wasting time.

Last year I started writing more things down that I needed to get done on a day planner. I loved checking things off as they got done, and having a list there in front of me helped me remember what tasks were really important and needed to be done.

This year I have been doing editorial calendars, which have really helped me create focus and save time by planning out my blog posts and topics ahead of time.

However… it’s been pretty easy to get caught up in the daily “tasks” and lose site of the big picture.

In January I created this list of blog goals for 2010. They all had to do with the growth of my blog in different areas ~ community, traffic, subscribers etc. I printed them out and put them on the wall next to my computer.

The last time I looked at my annual goals (before last night?)

Uh… I don’t know.

This is a problem. My daily tasks should seriously be tied in to my overall goals for the year. If my daily actions aren’t taking me in the direction of my goals ~ then I’m going in the wrong direction. Thankfully my daily actions do take me in the general direction of some of my goals, but I must admit there are some goals on that page that I forgot about, that I haven’t worked on, that scare me a bit and are easier to leave on a piece of paper than take action on.

Here’s the problem with annual goals (and New Year’s Resolutions for that matter):

By the end of January they are long forgotten by 99% of people ~ even if they are hanging on a wall right in front of your face.

I’m not saying goals aren’t worth doing, not at all. However…. if you’re going to set long term goals you’re going to need to break them down, and create smaller goals ~ say quarterly goals. From those quarterly goals you’re going to have to break them down to monthly goals ~ from the monthly you create weekly ~ from the weekly you create daily tasks/goals.

Do you see how doing this makes every step you take, every action you do each and every business day moves you one step closer to your BIG goal? It’s very cool.

It’s also VERY hard. Where do you keep all this stuff, how do you keep track. I love my planner, but it definitely does NOT give me room, even to keep track of my weekly and daily goals ~ and I’ve always hated that, and room for something that comes out of nowhere that you need to remember/work on. Oh no… there’s no room for that.

Guess what.

I found it. I found the solution.

There’s a great blog called Productive Flourishing, it’s run by Charlie Gilkey. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of it, and to tell you the truth I only found it recently. He’s created these planners. Like I said, I love lists and I love to be organized so I took a look at them. They looked good, but it wasn’t until last night I realized exactly what Charlie had done.

You can get all the planners for free on his site, but you can also get them bundled together in the perfect order at just the right time (for a super tiny amount of money).

There are three sets of these planners.

Blog planner
Action Planner
Freelance Workweek

After having downloaded the free version of the action planner I was hooked. I ordered the whole set of the blog planner and the action planner.

Here’s what I got.

1. The annual objective planner ~ this is where I fill in my overall goals and objectives for the year. You know the ones that are on my wall right now.

2. The quarterly objective planner ~ this is where I break those big goals down into smaller goals to work on over the next 3 months.  I have a place for the objectives (what I want to get done), the milestones (steps I need to take to get them done) benchmarks (what’s it going to look like when I have accomplished this step) as well as plenty of space to add some notes to self.

3. Blog Post Planner ~ this sheet is awesome for getting the creative juices flowing. It’s a place I can brainstorm, figure out what I want to talk about on my blog. I can use a topic or title of a post, I can separate it out into categories from my blog ~ so I make sure I cover different material ~ or you could use what “type” of post you’re going to write, link post, or tutorial etc.

What I really like about these planner sheets is they are really concise, but they allow you to use them in a way that fits you and how you work best ~ which is great because while I may do one thing, that may not work for you ~ but you can still work it your way on the sheet.

4. Blog Post Calendar ~ This is like my editorial calendar. It’s got each day of the month printed out (on one sheet) with space for the title/topic of the post that day. This is where you keep track of your daily blog posts and what you’re going to write about.

5. Monthly Action Planner ~ This sheet breaks the month into weeks and gives you a place to identify your objectives for the month ~ any major events going on (so you don’t double book yourself) and then gives you space to write for each week of the month. This allows you to break those bigger monthly goals into doable pieces spread out over the month.

6. Weekly Action Planner ~ This is where I take each of the weeks from the monthly planner and really break down what’s going to need to be done during the week to accomplish those objectives. There’s plenty of room to write down projects you need to focus on ~ there’s room to schedule tasks for certain days and what makes it super fun for those of us who need a little gold star for work well done ~  there is a space where you can cross off completed tasks (with a check mark or a gold star ~ whichever floats your boat.

7. The daily action planner ~ this is absolutely my favorite sheet in the pack. Charlie really focuses on doing the right work at the right time. There are certain times of the day when we are just “better” at certain things. I have come to realize I need to tackle tasks that take mental focus and concentration in the morning. By noon, my brain is fried for writing ~ blog posts, ebooks, reports ~ whatever. However, blog commenting, link building, twitter ~ all good for the afternoon. Now I do my blog posts and any writing first thing. It is easier for me to write then, and it feels like I’ve gotten my “work” done for the day and I have the rest of the day open to “play”.

So the daily planner ~ There are 5 spots for projects you’re working on that day. Come on… you know a list of 20 things is never going to get done, better to have a list of 5 things you actually accomplish ~ you’ll feel much better about it.

Supporting tasks ~ what’s it going to take to get the project done today?

Crazy stuff that pops out of nowhere ~ stuff happens ~ when something comes up write it down so you can get to it as soon as you’re done with what you’re doing. By writing it down you can let it go until you can get to it.

Scheduled events ~ don’t forget your life and don’t double book your work over your life.

Daily schedule ~ this doesn’t have times on it, which I LOVE. I start at 7am, but you may not start until 10. I also have webinars at night sometimes (and my planner quits working at 6p) the daily schedule allows you to create your schedule working at your BEST times, and the times that work for you.

Of course through out ~ for those of us who seek stars and recognition there’s plenty of room to check things off as you go ~ which I adore!

Here’s how I’m going to use these planning sheets.

I’ve got a 3 ring binder (which is going to replace my planner between my keyboard and monitor). I’m going to punch holes in my daily sheets and have them on the right hand side of the notebook. I’m going to punch holes in the “wrong” side of the weekly planner sheet so it will stay open where I can see it on the left hand side of the notebook. This way I can stay on task for the week and the day.

I’ll probably go through and set up the weekly sheets at the beginning of the month so they will be working with the monthly sheets ~ which I’ve set up from the quarterly sheets ~ and so on and so forth.

*** I was SO highly resistant to putting this kind of “schedule” in place for my business. I quit a job I hated. I didn’t want to feel like my work here in my living room was a “job”. I didn’t want to put things on the calendar ~ I didn’t want to “have” to do stuff.  (I must admit I STILL wrestle with this)

However… this year, since I’ve started doing more planning for my business, and my days I have been more productive, in MUCH less time. I’ve made more money than ever. AND… and this is a big one, I know when my work is done.

I used to feel if I wasn’t sitting at the computer I wasn’t going to make any money.  The thing is… I wasn’t taking many money making actions so even if I sat here for 16 hours a day (which I did) it didn’t really make much of a difference to my bottom line.

Now I know I have to get this, this and this done. When those things are done, I’m done. That frees my crazy brain up to get up out of this chair and go outside, go to the zoo, have a LIFE, and that’s a good thing.

It also gives me the ability to really look and see what I’m doing in my business. It allows me to better track how things are working because I actually know what I’m doing!

Well… this post has turned into a frickin novel. Can you tell I can really talk when I’m excited about something lol.

I’m in love with being more organized. I’m in love with getting things done better in less time and I’m in love with these planning sheets. Get them. They will help you if you use them.

Fill them in and get them ready. Monday you will know exactly what you need to do. These sheets are great for bloggers ~ but they are fantastic for niche marketers (talk about trying to keep track of stuff!), as well as Squidooers. Whatever business model you’re working in you need to be organized, and you need to know exactly what action steps you need to be taking to make money!

Can’t wait to hear your thoughts, and all about how you’re using the planners ~ share in the comments section!