5 Ways to Plan For Success
We are back at the start of a new year and with a new year, begins the onset of New Year Resolutions, new goals, new ambitions, and dreams. But one of the worst things you can do is have many goals but not have a plan to reach those goals. So today #ontheblog, I’m going to share with you some of the tricks and tools I’ve used to help me plan out my year and to stay on track with the goals I plan to achieve in 2021.
Trust me, I know how hard planning can be. By nature, I’m not a planner. I’m a short-term thinker so I don’t like to plan out too far ahead because, in my mind, I don’t know what will change between now and then. But I decided to get out of that habit because I wasn’t looking far enough ahead to see what my life will look like in detail. I had a general picture of what I wanted my life to look like, but I didn’t plan the details out.
This year, I decided to make a change in my thinking. I want to reach new results and when you want to reach new results, you have to make a change in your thinking. So in December, I sat down to plan out what the next year of my life would like and all of the goals I wanted to reach. And that’s the first thing you should do as well. It’s only January, but I feel much more prepared for the year and confident that I will achieve many of my goals. And I believe it’s because I planned for success.
Think about how you want the next year of your life to look like
I knew I wanted to publish my book this year, I knew I wanted to launch another business, I knew I wanted to get all A’s in grad school, I knew I wanted to spend more time with the Lord and be consistent in my quiet time, I knew I wanted to save more money this year.
So sitting down to think about how you want your life to look is the first step. Maybe you want to be more physically active this year. Or maybe you want to participate in more projects with your children. Whatever those things are, write them down!Take one of the goals and begin to break it down
Once you have the list of goals you want to break them down and list out how you’re going to achieve said goals. Remember the S.M.A.R.T. goals you may have learned about? Well, it’s time to apply that here. S.M.A.R.T. stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timely. This means that if you haven’t exercised in years, It’s probably not the best idea to start off making a goal to exercise 7 days a week. Possibly start with working out 3-4 times a week and build up from there. If your goal is to spend more time with God each day, start out with 10 minutes each day and build up from there but again, write it down! If you want to work on eating healthier, write out exactly what healthy looks like to you meaning what foods you will/will not eat and write out potential meals you can make with those items.
Once you break one of your goals down, it’ll be easier to break all of them down.List them where you will remember to go back and look at them often
Ok, here’s where the tools will come into play! I like to use planners, Google Docs, the reminder app, the note app and the Google Calendar app as tools to remind me of my goals. I start with listing all of my goals out in a Google Docs document. This will also ensure that I am able to pull up my document wherever I go because it is connected to the cloud and not my computer. I also have my planner sitting next to me to help me set dates and deadlines. For example, I know I want to write a book, but I look at my calendar to see what time of the year I actually want to publish my book. Once I find a month that works, I write it in both my Google Doc and my planner and then I put it in my Google Calendar so that I can keep track across multiple platforms.
To find out what tools work best for you, you’ll have to really think about yourself and track your daily habits. If using a physical planner works well for you, then use a physical planner. If you are glued to your phone, then it may be best to use phone-based apps. I like to have planners and phone-based apps because I do use my phone and computer a lot, but I also love the feel of having physical objects and tools.Stick to your plans as best you can
One of the most important things about planning for success is sticking to your plans. I know that curveballs always get thrown our way and life doesn’t go exactly as planned, but try and stick to the goals and plans you made for yourself as often as possible. This will also help you develop discipline in yourself. I personally want to grow in discipline and I’m challenging myself to stick to the goals that I have.Take it one day at a time
In the words of my brilliant husband, take everything “one day at a time.” If something happens and you miss a day or week or two, don’t stress out about it. Just get back to the schedule you have planned for yourself. We have to remember that we are human and we will not be on point with everything all of the time and THAT IS OK! I have to remind myself of this because as soon as I make a mistake, I begin to think terribly of myself. Please don’t beat yourself up.
Ok, so I pray that this information was helpful! Make sure you are following me on social media because this week I’ll be sharing more information about planning.