Planning Systems to Crush Your Goals
I am an organized, obsessed person. I find comfort in planning and organizing information so I spend a lot of time building resources that I can use to get my life situated. I apply this in my personal life as well as my profession. I am currently working a full time day job while spending regular time building up my own business so I have to be very intentional and efficient with the limited time I have to put towards my business. I thought I would share what my business planning looks like in the hopes that there is something you can take away and implement in your own work.
Yearly Planning
I like to start big picture and work backwards when it comes to business goals and planning. I don’t plan super concrete goals for the year but set some ideas for the year and map out major events happening such as family trips, holidays, etc. This helps me when I start to set quarter goals. Here is what my monthly notes tend to look like, this is used more to reference and be mindful of large events that may impact whether I meet my goals and to help set more realistic goals.
Quarterly Goals
I am trying to get more into the mindset of quarters for my business so I set quarterly goals. Each quarter I address whether I have met those goals and adjust for the next quarter. I then create Monthly to-do lists to try to meet those quarterly goals. This is what I include on my monthly to do . . . I start with my quarterly goals as a reminder of where I am going, and then I build my to dos going backwards from that. What do I need to do to get to my goals? I also added extra tasks that would be nice if I found extra time. There are a few regular things I like to include on my to do every month which includes a date to update my business stats in a spreadsheet, contests and their due dates If I’m looking for a challenge, and reminders about regular business meetings. My monthly to-do list I print out and keep a paper copy on a clipboard to reference throughout the month.
Weekly Planning
I always reference my monthly to do while creating a weekly plan. I know that seems overkill but when I feel exhausted and my brain is fried after my day job it makes it easy to just look at a to do for that day and power through some things. I have tried some different things with my weekly planning but I have a digital document that I update every Sunday or Monday with my plans for the week. I sometimes batch my work such as choose a day to focus on social planning or on sending my portfolio out. When things are crazy busy sometimes I just put one task a day that moves me towards my goal. That way I am more intentional if I have to be particular about my one task. At the end of the week I use the same document to adjust for the next week, leaving on unfinished and important tasks and removing completed tasks. I share my weekly to do with my business accountability partner in our weekly business meetings so that they can help me keep on track. When planning weekly I do check in with my personal planner to see if there are any days that have impactful events going on.
This brings me to my personal planning . . .
I use a paper planner for my personal planning and I won’t go too in depth but I will share my monthly spread that I use to keep an eye on the overall monthly planning. I like to make it fun so that I don’t get too stressed when I look at it. My paper planner is mostly for tracking social events, trips, and appointments rather than specific do dos. I carry my planner with me when I can so I can quickly schedule things out. I have used many planners over the years and definitely have some favorites such as the Erin Condren Life Planner, Blue Sky planners, and Paper Source’s planners. I also keep notes in my reminder app so that If I am without my planner or business planning documents I can quickly jot down notes.
For a daily basis, I do like to compile my daily schedule, to do’s, goals, and motivational mantras. I have done this various ways and adjusts to the time of year and my needs. Sometimes this is on a simple notepad, sometimes a cute designed notepad such as these from Erin Condren. Lately I have been using graph paper to map out my schedule bullet journal style so I decided to create an actual worksheet mimicking what I was doing on my graph paper. I have shared it here:
How will this help me achieve my goals?
Having an organized system for planning will help you keep on track to meet your goals. We often set these amazing goals but don’t take time to work backwards into actionable tasks. Starting with your quarterly goals and working back to things you can do on a daily basis to reach those goals will make sure we get there. It is important to note that the best planning system is one that works for you and that you will actually use. I adjust my planning process based on what is going on in my life and some systems work better for different times of year. My overall planning system stays the same but how I manage my daily tasks does fluctuate. The key is to try different systems until one sticks and works for you.
Good luck on your planning and goal crushing journey!
Helpful Resources
Get my digital planning pack that includes:
Yearly planning worksheet
Monthly planning worksheet
Daily planning sheet version 1
Daily planning sheet version 2
BONUS: Monthly Wins - to track all of your big wins and to keep track of your progress towards your goals!