Pop the bubbly, it’s time to celebrate. 2016 is here!!!!!
As you ring in the new year, are you as excited about all of the possibilities as I am? New year, new you and big things are on the way!
That feeling is 100% normal. But you know what else is normal? That feeling of complete overwhelm that kicks in a few weeks later when you realize that a little thing called life is going to throw you a whole lotta curve balls.
In fact, I had a come to terms conversation with my husband last night. If this is what we want in 2016, what changes do we need to make to the day-to-day, moment-by-month to make it happen. The moments as add up!
Even then, the best laid plans can go a little (or a lot) off track as life happens.
The good news is that you can help lifeproof your business to some degree by taking time now, at the beginning of the year, to turn those goals into realistic, achievable plans.
Step One: The Reality Check
First order of business, we need to get real about these goals. As CEOs, we’re really good at deciding on goals. From making $200k next year to blogging three times a week, we pick goals based on a specific outcome but often miss some of the magical steps of goal setting.
Remember good old SMART goals? That’s a good place to start, especially the R, which stands for realistic. This isn’t so much to rain on your parade, but to help set you up to be successful. Saying “I’m going to make a million.” when you don’t even know what you’re selling isn’t grounded in reality.
Should you play it safe? No way!
Try setting goals that are realistic but require you to push the limit. And if you need a new spin on goal setting, check out my tips plus the good, better, best goals I like to set in this post.
Step Two: The Project Plan
You’ve got goals, so now it’s time to break them down into bite-sized chunks. Because having a goal is one thing, but there’s a lot of steps to get you from where you are today to celebrating when you’re done.
I’m a big fan of creating a project plan for each of your goals. Say your goal is to grow your list by 1000 people, you need to backup and figure out all the steps involved in making that happen.
That’s where your project plan comes in. Think of your project plan as the charter and action steps for each of your goals. It can be as simple or as detailed as you’d like (our brains all work a bit differently) but it should outline all the elements of your plan to who does what when, timing, budgets and more.
To help you get a project plan together for your goals, I’ve created a Project Plan Template you can grab here.
Step Three: Systems in Place
With a project plan ready to go, it’s go time, but we all need a helping hand to make the day-to-day of working towards that goal doable.
Enter systems! Systems are the hero of making your goals happen they make the day-to-day so much simpler. Sure, they take a bit of time to get set up, but once they’re in place, there’s no more guesswork and things actually get done.
So, what should you systematize? Here are a few ideas:
- Client intake and onboarding
- New client consults
- Monthly invoicing or payments from clients
- Weekly repeatable tasks such as blogging or social media
- Bookkeeping or reporting
To lifeproof the plans, I also set up systems for my personal life:
- Meal planning (get my winter meal plan here)
- Paying bills
- Car maintenance
- Budgeting
- Kids activities
Over break we set up the system for our meals. For Winter 2015, we have a set meal plan that alternates weeks. It makes meal planning and shopping a breeze!!
Download the meal plan here to get a sample: https://goo.gl/c7qdXE
For each system, make sure you figure out what tools you need, where things are stored and who’s responsible for what.
So, are you ready to start right? Carve time out on your schedule to work through the three steps above to make sure you’re all set for success in 2016. Be sure to grab the Project Planner template below to give you an extra hand.
