For the longest time I always said I was a lousy planner. I was pretty much the typical entrepreneur and I flew by the seat of my pants most of the time. Another favorite self-put down of mine was “I am successful in spite of myself.” (Well, there’s quite a bit of truth in that last one, actually.)
As I get more focused on my business and the direction that I want to take it, I’m finding that planning is an absolute necessity. Not only do I have multiple projects in the works at once, but I’m also doing an incredible amount of traveling related to my business over the next twelve months.
Without some kind of plan, I can feel myself getting overwhelmed to the point of inaction, which is what happens to me when I get overwhelmed. I can’t think, I can’t produce. I spin my wheels. Maybe you can relate?
One key component of reigning in the overwhelm for me is in learning to plan in 60-day chunks. My mentor tells me that we can generally only work pretty well in a roughly 60-day time frame. After that we begin to get burned out. I’m finding this to be true for me.
So even though I’m planning most things right now to cover a 60-day span of time, continually revising as necessary, I also have set up a full-year calendar that I have hanging on my wall that has key dates marked so that I can see at a glance what I’ve already got scheduled.
So many times in the past I’ve put myself into a hellish situation because I would have a great idea and would jump in and start implementing it without figuring out first whether it would fit into the plans I already had in the works. Too many times I put extreme pressure on myself simply because I had no real way — outside of my head — to track what I was doing.
Too often I let other people’s expectations and ideas take precedence over my own which only caused delays, frustrations, and resentments instead of working on what I had originally set out to do.
By no means am I perfect at this yet, but I’m working on it! Planning has taken on a whole new meaning for me and now, each day when I walk into my office, I’m not feeling that sense of overwhelm and dread that I felt so much before.
Remember, the planning you do is for your benefit. You’re not presenting your plan to anyone else; just you, to keep you focused and on track. So don’t make this process any harder than it really is.
The best way to start your plan? Take out a sheet of paper and a pen and write down what you want to have accomplished 60-days from now. It can take many forms. Some like to gauge by money earned, some like to gauge by client count, and it may be that you just need to have five new pages created for your website. Whatever it is, start with the end in mind and then work your way backwards to where you are today, and on your calendar, fill in each of the activities you’ll need to do each day to reach your goal.
It’ll feel like magic once you get the hang of it.
Soul Proprietor. Huge Adele fan. Email and Direct Mail Marketing Specialist. Lover of all things marketing. Creator of the Stay-in-Touch Marketing System. Graphic designer. Printer.
I always enjoy your writings. I can honestly say that of all the ‘internet gurus’ and ‘coaches’ I read material from, you are the only one who consistently creates ‘aha’ moments for me…like in sharing an experience or a feeling that you have just verbalized from your own experiences or in your clarity in helping me see a ‘simple reality’ which I had been making way to complicated. I really enjoy and appreciate your work!
I wrote you a private email on this, Bill, but do want to say publicly thank you as well for your comments and kind words here. It is always so gratifying to know that something I’ve done has helped someone else. All the best, and again, many thanks for this.
I hadn’t heard of the 60 day chunk before, and it makes perfect sense! I’m sensing it would give me permission to plan and strategize (which I love to do), but feel free to change direction after 60 days if I needed to (planning a year has seemed in my brain to mean some sort of non-negotiable commitment, therefore I usually refuse to commit to the plan 🙂
Thanks, Marty!
Thanks, Sherrill, for you comments here. I also have a terrible time planning out a whole year. But I do have a big calendar that I can see that has the whole year on it. I’ve put important things on it, like travel dates, so I don’t over-schedule anything. As I get more focused on my business and what I want to accomplish, then the planning part seems to be getting easier. Best to you.
Great post! I can definitely relate to overwhelm leading to inaction and a lot of times have to remind myself to take things a step at a time.
I am going to start with the end in mind with regards to the next sixty days. In fact, I am getting out the pen and paper right after I submit this comment.
Also, your last comment in response to Sherrill reminded me that I could really use a wall calendar with the entire year at a glance. I have been saying that to myself off and on for…years and am going to research and order one today.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks, Valynne for your comments. For the longest time I didn’t have space for the full year calendar (I was living in an RV and traveling full-time) but now I do and I’m amazed how this has helped my efficiency in planning. I had a hard time finding one that was still 2012.
Would love to hear how the 60 day plan works out for you.