Do you believe you can make this your best year ever? You know what some wise person (can’t remember who it was) said once “What you believe, you can achieve”!
I haven’t made any New Year’s Resolutions this year. Instead, I’ve written down very detailed goals and all the actions I should take to achieve those goals. Brian Tracy recommends this as an easy way to write down your goals:
“Imagine it’s December 2012 and you’re reflecting back on all the wonderful things you’ve achieved throughout the year. Then, start with ’2012 has been the best year of my life because…….’ “
By starting off like that, I found it really easy to write down a story that incorporated my goals. Then, I broke it all down into separate goals, including health, business, financial, and relationships. I put a time commitment on each of the goals.
Next, I wrote down all the actions required to achieve those goals. For my business, there are a lot of actions, so I’ve broken them up into:
- Daily Actions
- Weekly Actions
- Monthly Actions
- One Off Actions
- Time Required
- Outsource
- Urgent
- High Income
- High Impact
Now that all these actions are in a spreadsheet, and I’ve put a tick in the appropriate column, I can sort them all. I’ve sorted by Daily, Weekly, Monthly and One off, then printed out each one as a separate list.
It’s really easy for me now, because each day I know exactly what I’m going to do, and I only spend the time allotted. This way, I’m not going to muck around procrastinating and waste my time (like I have in the past). Each weekly action has been allocated to a specific day, and I’ll choose from a monthly and one off task each day/week.
I don’t know about you, but I feel so much better when I’m organized like this, and it makes my goals believable to me! One of my biggest reasons for procrastinating, is overwhelm. In the past, I’ve often looked at my long lists of actions, and instead of choosing the “highest income” or “highest impact”, I would just do things which passed the day very quickly.
So, that’s how I’ve started off my New Year, and how I plan to achieve ALL goals for this year, by the end of 2012. Please share with all of us, what you’re doing to achieve your goals this year.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Great tips (as always!) Julieanne. I think you are so right – it really doesn’t matter what system we use, the important thing is to organize our priorities and goals in such a way as to keep them in our faces every single day. I’m doing things a bit differently things year – I have designated 8 highest priorities for the year and I’ve organized my plan in such a way to include at least one action step each day to move myself toward achieving accomplishing those goals and creating a wildly successful year! Wishing you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!
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Hi Marty, great to see you here in this brand new year! That’s a great way to achieve your goals also – lets take notes at the end of the year and check that we’ve both achieved all the goals/priorities we decided upon. I’ll remember this time next year, to ask you!
bye for now, Julieanne
Hi Julieanne,
Thanks for great tips!
You’ve done great work! I agree that planning is very important, it helps me to achive my goals and avoid distraction. Planning the whole year can be difficult. Do you have any tips how to do it correctly?
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Hello Edyta, welcome to my blog and thanks for coming! I don’t think planning the whole year is difficult. Just imagine you’re at the end of this year and write down what you’ve achieved throughout the year (in present tense as though you REALLY ARE at the end of the year). Make those achievements into goals for this year, then decide on the appropriate actions you need to take, to achieve the goals.
Those tips come from Brian Tracy and John Assaraf, who’ve both been setting and achieving huge goals like that for at least 20 years!
Regards from Julieanne
Wonderful ideas here, Julieanne. Like you, I do well when I’m well organized. A structured work life allows for creative chaos, something every entrepreneur knows all too well. I find myself with an abundance of energy when taking on achievable goals.
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Thanks for your feedback Srinivas, nice to see you here. regards from Julieanne
The working backward from the end goal is a process that has always appealed to me. I have had a great deal more success when I do things that way rather than simply beginning right this second without a clear plan.
The daily steps part that you are doing Julieanne, has always worked for me when I do that. its just that I don’t do it that way every time. I am not really sure why, because I know that I have had ever so much more success when I do things that way. Although truth be told, I often put way too many things on my daily list than I have time for.
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