VD30: How To Turn Your Plans Into Reality

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Do you cringe at the very idea of setting goals for the year ahead? I certainly do.

But as much as I dread creating my own work schedules for the year, I do find that this is a necessary exercise to help me reach my business goals with success. Whether we’re working for ourselves or as part of a business, it’s all too easy to feel overwhelmed by those expectations we put on ourselves. It’s human nature for us to want to achieve our goals, and so planning tasks in advance is a necessary evil! I call it the ‘dieting syndrome’. We all want to try out different diets in order to achieve our personal targets, but the individuals who actually succeed in losing weight are the people who plan their meal, and exercise regimens in advance. The same concept is true of our career paths and definitely applies to business.

In this episode, I will provide three easy steps to turn your dreams into reality..

1. Have Specific Goals: The more specific your goal is, the more likely you are going to be able to achieve it. Watch my previous episode to help you to ‘get granular’>>. Stating that you want to earn more profits won’t cut it and will not help you put a plan together. Instead you need to get your thoughts down in an editorial calendar, or a list format. As an example, determine how much revenue or how many sales you would like to generate this year, or try breaking things down into bite-sized chunks and plan on a per month basis if this makes things easier. Write down your stats and ideas, and start visualizing what it’s going to take to realistically reach those goals.
2. Break Goals Down Into Smaller Action Items: Once you have come to an understanding about what your goals are for the year ahead, you will then need to break them down into smaller action items, so that the task at hand doesn’t feel quite so overwhelming. Trust me, I’ve learned a thing or two about this. Break those tasks down into 6 months, 3 months, 1 month, or 1 week increments and watch as they start to feel more workable for you.
3. Create a Project Plan: You’ll want to map out your specific goals and put them into a timeline format. Create a ‘to do’ list for your own peace of mind, where you essentially break down each separate task at hand and come up with a call to action for each. For instance, if your goal is to build a website, then you’ll need to think about each element needed to develop that site from scratch. Aspects like copy, design, photography, and technical development should all be covered prior to the launch of any new website if it’s going to stand the test of time in the competitive digital world.

So just to briefly summarize, creating a project plan is key to the health and maintenance of any business. Planning ahead ultimately helps you to understand how much money, time and resources it will take you to achieve your targets, without getting burned out. Next week, I will give you guys some important tips on how to create a project plan.

What are you trying to accomplish this year? Let me know by either commenting on this video, or by sending me a tweet: [Tweet “@misslunavega”].