How to Effectively Focus on Your Life & Business Goals
There is no better time to write a blog about goal-setting than now!
For the record, I don’t believe in setting yearly goals.
A year is too long! We’ll lose interest! No one knows what’s going to happen! We learned after COVID-19 that anything can change at any moment. We are setting ourselves up for failure!
I know that so many of us are tired of making resolutions that fail again and again. And frankly, I think most of us feel worse after goal-setting for the year.
In today’s blog, I want to share with you all my 12 week planning process which is personally my favorite way to plan out my goals.
It’s integral to me.
I hope it’s integral for you too.
Let’s make your goals a reality this year!
WHY A 12 WEEK PLANNING PROCESS IS WORTH IT:
Here are some of the most common New Year's resolutions:
Lose weight
Eat healthy
Save/spend more money
Spend more time with friends and family
But what do these resolutions exactly mean? These are just blanket statements!
A 12 week planning process allows you to understand what it will truly take to conquer your big goal by setting step-by-step milestones. These milestones help you to focus-in and stay on track. Instead of creating a resolution for the following year, the 12 week planning process gives you just enough time (not too long, not too short) to get started and to stay moving. Your big goal will be more attainable and your milestones will ultimately hold you accountable.
TAKE ACTION: START YOUR 12 WEEK PLANNING PROCESS NOW:
If you’re action-oriented and think this planning process would be helpful for you to reach your goals, then let’s discuss how to actually execute this process in your day-to-day life.
First, change your mindset. Let’s step away from thinking in yearly goals, but in milestones.
You can start this process at any time. Personally, my twelve weeks span from May-July, August-October, and November-January. My November goals follow into the new year.
Approximately every 3 months, I evaluate my performance: What did I accomplish? What did I not accomplish? What do I need to add-in for the next 12 weeks?
Again, I think it really helps to focus-in on a portion of your goal and break it down piece-by-piece.
For example, if your ‘big goal’ is to start a non-profit, maybe a milestone of yours could be to legally form your nonprofit and receive your 501(c)3 status. Applying for your 501(c)3 can be time consuming. There are a lot of hoops to jump through and the entire process may take up the full 12 weeks.
So, you would take your big goal and break it up into a milestone. From there, you would list what it is you need to accomplish each week to reach your milestone by week 12. Make sure that after listing your action steps, you bring those action steps down to your calendar and pencil in a time to work on them. Lastly, at the end of the 12 weeks, reassess where you’re at and repeat this process.
It’s not uncommon for many of us to lose steam after the goal-planning process but that’s because what we’re focusing more on is the idea of what we want to do, rather than the actions we need to take. Like I mentioned before, I like to work through what my action steps are. For me, I always ask myself this question: What will it take to truly accomplish this milestone or goal? This way, my goals become more realistic because I’m able to see that there’s a lot more to each milestone or goal than I initially had imagined. My goals and milestones also become more clear. I become inspired in regards to what I’m going to do in order to reach my end result vs achieving the end result itself.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Although New Year’s comes and goes, this 12 week planning process is non-stop. The process doesn’t end just because the year is over. It’s a continuous cycle and that’s one of the things that I love about it. It keeps me going!
It’s also easily adjustable. As a social entrepreneur with kids, I know that oftentimes, my days aren’t going to go as planned. It’s not a surprise!
Although I might be thrown off for the day, I have 12 weeks to work with.
With this 12 week planning process, I don’t feel restricted, but I have just enough structure and organization to move forward, take action, and stick with it.
If you’ve decided that my 12 week planning process is for you, check out my 12 week planning process template here. You can download it and use it for yourself!
And if you’re in the midst of starting your social endeavor, I also have two courses that may be for you. These two courses in addition to my 12 week planning process will get you started on the right track.
I’ve created my Unleash Your Purpose course and Unleash Your Profit course to help you build a profitable, scalable, and sustainable social impact business as well as file for your 501(c)3 status. Check them out here!
