Just like a lot of you I start off the New Year with lots of grand plans and I often end up losing my focus around the middle of February. This year is proving to be different for me as I am taking a new approach to my planning and staying focused.
Here’s a peek into how I’m planning
and where I get my inspiration
1. Planning inspiration from Marisa Murgatroyd
I started off the year by listening to Marisa Murgatroyd’s wonderful training on the system she uses to plan out her entire year – you can listen to it right here at Live Your Message. Yes the training is an hour and it is totally worth your time to listen and see step by step what she does to get the amazing results in her business. She will even show you her personal plan which I found to be both inspiring and helpful when creating my own.
2. Don Crowther’s Planning Tool to get my year on paper
Marisa talks about Don Crowther in her training and this great planning tool she uses – here’s the link for you to grab your copy of his strategic plan template and get started planning your year: http://doncrowther.com/social-media-strategy/strategic-plan-template I have to be honest, I drug my feet a bit at getting this completed but once I did, I found that having this printed out and on my desk is keeping me focused on what daily actions I need to be performing to keep me moving towards my bigger goals.
The beauty of this style of planning is that you create big picture goals and then break them into smaller incremental goals month by month. I love this tool as it isn’t an overly complicated process! I’ve invested in a few different planning tools over the years only to find myself bogged down by too much work to get the goals in place so I gave up and never completed them. This is the perfect solution for the way I work.
This year I have set aside time in December to get my planning done in advance so that I can use January to start the year off quickly.
3. Hal Elrod – The Miracle Morning Book and Inspirational Podcasts
I recently wrote a post about How to Have a Miracle Morning all Day Long because I found this to be an invaluable tool for getting my day off to a great start. Not only do I do that, I have subscribed to Hal’s Podcasts and religiously listen to them every weekend while I’m doing my one hour elliptical workout. I find him to be full of practical advice on how to create new habits and stay motivated.
You can find his book The Miracle Morning right here at http://themiraclemorning.com. And Hal’s podcast is right here on his website at: http://halelrod.com/
Right now I have my yearly plan printed out and on my desk where I look at it daily in the morning before I start working. The beauty of this is that I can see exactly what I need to accomplish for the month and as I get things done, I can cross them off the list. At the end of the month I take some time and celebrate everything that I accomplished that month. It’s important to do this rather than just plowing ahead because you really need to pat yourself on the back for taking those smaller steps each month towards achieving your bigger goals.
Whatever you do to plan and create your plans, I hope you take the time to check these resources out and discover what works to keep you motivated!
