My name is Kyla, and I'm an over planner.
It should come as no surprise that I love goals, lists, plans and filling binders with ideas for any project I set my sights on. I came thisclose to a career in stage management after all (think air traffic control for the entertainment industry).
I mean, I'm such a keener that I have an online course about designing your own day planner.
The appeal of setting big goals at the start of the year is visible everywhere. What’s not to like about dreaming big and turning over a new leaf?
The problem is the flip side to our accomplishment buzz is often a results hangover.
Expectation Hangover® is how Christine Hassler talks about this in her work, and it perfectly sums up my feelings about how I usually live out goal setting. Everything starts out fun, but in the end I’m disoriented and need to calm myself with a combination of breakfast foods and picturing the ocean.
Now you might have this all worked out, in which case, how dare you.
For the rest of us, deadlines and details and planning are tough stuff! Each year is filled with surprises of all sizes that knock us every direction.
So a few weeks after creating your goals, if you’re exceptional enough to still committed to them (give yourself credit, most people won’t be!) it’s normal that your results will start to disconnect from your ideas about how the year should be going.
You might feel disengaged from your original vision, discouraged about how far away it feels, hazy about your next action or start trash talking yourself. I don’t know about you, but navigating this is never in the plans I make in January.
Watching your goals veer away from your life is like throwing a grappling hook, climbing a few stories up the side of a building and then realizing that the rope has gone slack and you’re falling.
In late December I read a post by my alarmingly intelligent friend Breanne Dyck about her experience of being an over planner, and I saw myself in it. Very clearly.
I’m deeply committed to delivering more, playing big, and being more profoundly helpful than ever with my blog and my business. But I know how I've been getting there until now won't cut it.
No matter what your goals are, you aren’t going to accomplish them using old systems that you already know don't deliver.
This year I've set up my business and blogging goals for myself in a completely different, radically simple way than I have before and I'm challenging you to join me.
If you've already made plans for the year, great! You can use this as another tool that keeps you moving toward your goals.
Goal Setting for an Action Packed Creative Life
Decide on your one, biggest goal for your creative work this year. It's what the incredible Tara Gentile, calls a chief initiative, and it's what will guide your action over the year.
Choose a handful of complementary goals that are also important to your creative work this year. Simplicity is your friend, so don’t add more than a few you can really deliver on. These might be related to the different hats you wear in your work (Content creation, PR & Networking…) or could be the areas of your business plan.
Decide on which steps toward those goals you would like to have taken at the end of this coming season. Think three months out, and no more! You already have your big over arching themes – so stay grounded by focusing on what you can do now. What would be challenging? What would you feel really proud of? What’s reasonable, given the time you have and what your life looks like? Make sure your steps are actionable and necessary. If you can simplify, you should.
Sort those small steps into three categories: this month, next month & following month. This should help you have a sense of how realistic your plan is. If that feels too big, just focus on this month and next month.
Reassess & plot your next steps at the end of each season. Your new goals will have a direct line in on where your life and work have taken you, and you can celebrate everything you’ve accomplished without worrying about the free fall.
You get all the action packed goodness of a solid plan, moving toward a big picture you love, and with practice – no hangover.
Ready? Now it's your turn.
To help you get started, I've made you a few quick worksheets that you can use to get your first season of your life, blogging or business planned – quickly.
What is your big goal this year? Does short term, seasonal planning appeal to you more than an annual plan?
LAST UPDATED ON: January 6th, 2015
CATEGORY: All Business & Blogging Posts DIY Day Planner Design
I’m new to running m,y own business, so it wasn’t easy to even know what goals to set… I’m sticking to the old “you only have to do the one next right thing” and hoping that the path will become more clear in time. Three months sounds VERY manageable to me.
I hear you! In the beginning everything is so new, and overwhelming, but you’ll be a pro in no time! I’d love to make sure that my blog is a helpful resource to you – what would you like to learn about blogging and running an online business this year? Is there anything you’re struggling with or that’s frustrating you?
All of this is brilliant. And I love worksheets, so I’m excited to work through this.
So glad to hear it’s helpful, Julia. Have fun!
I’ve been saving this post to read (via your email newsletter) for a while. I’m going to have to re-read it, too, for it to really sink in. So much good information, and guidance.
I haven’t exactly figured out goals yet for 2015, in part because I feel like the new year completely snuck up on me. But I’m going to—and I think your worksheets will really help. (Also: I love worksheets.)
Thanks for this! My biggest goal this year is to work on my passive income. There are only so many hours in the day for client work!
I don’t think I’ve ever been called alarmingly intelligent, Kyla – thanks! (I think? ;-))
This year, in addition to the “QTA” approach I mentioned to you, I’m also doing a focus on systems. What I’ve decided to do is identify the various systems I’ve got in my business — from blogging, to client intake, to running clients each of my services, and so on — and basically setting aside some time each week to review the systems and see how they’ve been working. Have I been sticking to them, do they need adjusting, etc.
I figure I have enough systems (and still finding more!) that if I look at each one for maybe 30 minutes, just one a week, they’ll all get reviewed about once per quarter. That seems like a good frequency to me, for now, at least!
I hear you on systems! That’s something that I’m really working on for myself too. It’s so important to take that step back to work on your business as well as in it. I’m doing a big review for myself because I had set up all kinds of systems for my business when it was a partnership, and now I’m reassessing and adapting everything for myself. I’m going simpler wherever I can, and I’m really looking forward to where that takes me and how it helps my clients.
I haven’t figured out if I have a major goal this year, but I’m OK with that. I like to set monthly goals or resolutions and if I love it then I try to turn it into a habit for the next month as well.
I love the idea of setting goals for the seasons too. It makes so much sense to reevaluate as the world seems to be doing the same.
Monthly goals and intentions are great, Kelly. It’s such a manageable amount of time, and you can really see the results that you set out to work on. Having a year without a big goal is perfect too. We all need time to simmer, and chasing a check list is not what our lives are about. What’s important at the end of the day is how we feel. Productivity is not a replacement for self worth.
My biggest goal this year is to finish my degree and be accepted into/begin working my way through a PR diploma program in order to reach my big goal for 2015 – starting a new career.
I like to plot out my goals by working backwards from the ultimate goal and listing the steps it will take to get there, then the tasks I need to do or skills I need to learn in order to complete those steps. I then create a rough timeline and get started! Doing it this way has the added bonus of allowing me to feel a small sense of accomplishment with each task I finish, which is awesome.
I’m rooting for you, Vanessa. That sounds great! I love how detailed & logical your plans are. That’s how I used to work on my goals too, and it makes sense on paper, but I found that usually what I thought the long term plan would be would shift as I got closer. I ended up putting in lots of time into projecting the steps I’d take toward those goals, and in the end I had to scrap them, reassess and make a new adjusted plan.
If that works for you, that’s amazing! I should probably put you in charge of my calendar and most of my life. Please let me know if you’re interested. There’s no pay, but lots of pets, coffee and nail polish colour choices. I’ll see you tomorrow at 9 am!