This is the time where people start talking about new years resolutions. I stopped those years ago. I realized that if there was something I wanted to accomplish, then I simply needed a plan. I don’t do resolutions; I do action plans. Saying you want to lose ten pounds is great, but unless you have a real actionable plan to do so, then you’ll be saying the same thing one year from now. I’m going to share with you exactly what I do to create my annual action plan.
I don’t do resolutions, I do action plans.
An action plan breaks down everything you want to do so that you don’t get overwhelmed or frustrated. With an annual action plan, you have a clear path to accomplishing your goals for the year. Before we get started, I want you to give yourself a personal high-five. It takes a lot of courage to create your own business. Take a moment to congratulate yourself, give yourself a pat on the back and get excited because YOU’RE REALLY DOING THIS. Now, let’s create your Action Plan so you can have your best year yet!
Step 1: Think about what you want your life to look like a year from now.
If there were no limits, no fears, no financial constraints, what would it look like? Think about all of the possibilities. Visualize where you’re living (even if you’re like me, waiting on orders, with no idea where the military is sending you next year). Think about what you’re working on in your business. What are you really proud of? Who is grateful because you have helped them and stepped into their lives because of your business?
Step 2: What do you want to create this year?
In this step we’re talking about your dream business. What types of products and services do you want to offer? This is the time for you to brainstorm. Is your dream to start a new blog or a website? Open an online boutique? How about create new products and services. Now, you may know exactly what you want to do this year, but if you have SO MANY ideas running through your head, NOW is the time to get all of those great ideas paper. You are smart, you are brilliant, and your ideas need space to grow. It’s time to write everything down. Here are a few things to think about to help you with this step:
Think about everything that you COULD do this year. Take all of your gifts, all of your talents, all of your areas of expertise and write down every idea. Don’t censor yourself here. Dream big.
What do you WANT to do? What do you enjoy doing? Think about all of the things you LOVE to do.
Once you’ve let yourself really think about all the things you could do, all the things you want to do, and all of the things you can realistically do this year, let’s now create a BIG PICTURE PLAN on how to make those things happen.
Step 3: Write Out Your Big Picture Goals
What do you want to accomplish this year? These are the big goals for the year. I’ll give you a few ideas here to help you get started. Your goals will be unique to your business, where you’re currently at, and where you need to go. Here are a few ideas for big picture goals.
- Start a new business
- Launch a new website
- Decide what types of products and services I will offer this year.
- Grow my email list to 5,000.
- Create an online course
- Put out a new blog post every week
Step 4: Create Strategic Milestones with Completion Dates
What steps will you take to accomplish your big picture goals? This is the most important step to creating your action plan. You need to create strategic milestones with actions and completion dates that will get you to your big picture goal. I recommend starting with 5 strategic milestones for each of your Big Picture goals. Here’s an example:
Big Picture Goal: Grow my email list to 5,000
- Stay consistent with blogging by creating a blog content plan
Completion Date: January 15th
2. Write 6 new Guest Blog Posts for highly trafficked blogs my ideal customers read
Completion Date: June 1st
3. Host a giveaway
Completion Date: January 31st
4. Create a 13 Week social media plan and schedule 30 days out on Hootsuite
Completion Date: March 31st.
5. Increase Facebook Ad Budget
Completion Date: April 1st
If you want to know the action steps I would personally take to accomplish EACH of the big picture goals above, then enter your name and email here and I’ll send you my step by step action plan for each of these big picture goals.
Click the image below to grab my action plan for Big Picture Goals with Strategic Milestones:
Step 5: Get to Work
Now it’s time to get to work on your action plan! You’ve determined your big picture goals and the exact steps you need to take to accomplish those goals. Have you ever heard the saying, “How do you eat an elephant?” Answer: One bite at a time… Big Picture Goals are a lot like that, they seem HUGE at first but once you break them down into bite-sized steps, then they become a lot easier to achieve. YOU CAN DO THIS. Write out your goals, develop the steps you need to take you reach them, then get to work! Make this your best year yet.
If you need help with your strategic milestones, I’d love to help you along the way. I specifically created an online academy to help you build your business. You can check out the details here.
You might also want to check out:
How to Create a PCS Proof Business in 6 Simple Steps
