Your word is your bond. Many deals have been made on the strength of the word of the parties involved. If you want your word to mean something, create a plan you can live with for your work life and family life.
Making plans is more than jotting a few words on a sticky note that you tack to a cork board. It takes commitment from you to see things through to the end.
Plans are important. When you start a business, you develop a business plan that outlines your business ideas, money needed and how much you hope to make in revenue. Having kids also requires a plan – for their growth, future education and beyond.
Life is full of plans. Make sure yours have the backing of your word that it will be carried out. How do you make a plan? Start small. Think about tomorrow and work your way out from there.
You can create plans for anything and everything. When it comes to your business, you’ve already fleshed out a bare bones plan for where the business is going. Now you need a plan for the daily operations of the business to get the work done.
In this plan, include timelines for various projects, rates you will charge for your work and what work you need to do each day to meet those timelines. The key to the entire plan here is to create realistic goals. It’s okay if it takes you a little longer to get things done at first, as long as a long-term goal is to get faster and more efficient. The only way to get efficient is to try a few things and see what works.
Before the work day begins, have a plan for the workload that day. If it is feasible to divide your time between two projects, then commit to doing that. Save answering emails until the next day if you can. Know what needs to be done each day and construct a workable plan to get it done.
What about personal goals? The first step to completing them is to write them down. Formulate a plan to spend more time with the kids, spend quiet time with your spouse, go out on more dates or spend less on eating out. Whatever you want to accomplish, map out a way to reach that goal on a daily, weekly and monthly basis until you are done.
Some days you won’t want to keep to the plan, especially if you procrastinate. That’s why larger plans are chopped into smaller, more manageable pieces so even on days when you feel less than your strongest, you will get something accomplished towards the bigger goal.
How do you stick to your plan? Keep it simple and manageable. Take it day by day, week by week and month by month. You’ll gain the confidence to keep going as each day’s plan is completed.
Great post! I always have to write out my To Do list by hand, there is something tactile about writing it and crossing items of the list that is very satisfying.
Follow through is the big thing Vera. How many of us know people who have big ideas and investigate, plan, go to training sessions, hire the coaches and then …. nothing. They simply don’t have the confidence to make it happen. They instead, have every excuse in the book for why they can’t do it. “It’s not the right time” (like there ever is).
Failure to launch is a symptom of low self esteem. What a shame to have a dream and never act on it.