Planning
What’s a plan?
- Things you’d like to happen (personally or professionally)
- Documented goals with tangible steps to achieve them
- Your daily “to do” list
“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower
I recently finished reading The 12 Week Year (covered in Book Recommendations Volume I) and already find myself putting these into practice. Note: this sort of time planning is different from business planning.
Let’s see if I can use the Feynman Technique to outline my “plan for planning”
1) Shorten your planning horizon (periodization)
This is the “secret sauce” of the 12 week year concept: 12 months is too long for our tiny human brains to stay motivated on the path to success.
If we break those increments down into smaller chunks (think: a single quarter), then we’re more likely to stick with it.
In a nutshell:
- Pick 2-3 bigger “goals” for the next 12 weeks
- Make these “needle mover” goals outside your day-to-day and more than just incremental improvements
- Write them down on a piece of paper
- Clearly articulate what “done” looks like for each goal
2) Create a weekly action plan
To achieve those 2-3 goals over the next 12 weeks, what are the things you need to make happen on a weekly basis?
Process > outcomes
Think of these as the tasks and projects feeding into your 2-3 larger goals. Some might be recurring (i.e. reach out to 15 leads every week) while some could be a single larger project (host a client appreciation event).
Take each goal and list out the 5-6 recurring and one-off “steps” to objectively achieve your goal.
3) Structure your weeks
A little upfront planning goes a long way each week.
Before jumping into your workweek, spend 15-20 minutes planning out the upcoming week. What do you need to accomplish from the weekly action plan? How are you progressing on the goal? Have you scheduled time to knock out this week’s core tasks/projects?
This will ensure you’re making the most out of each week and not just haphazardly working from a freshly built to-do list everyday.
When structuring your weeks, make sure you think beyond the tactical to-dos and standing meetings. Allow enough time for strategic work that will further your big goals!
Build strategic work time into your week upfront. Don’t try to find it as you go.
Here’s a sample of a fully completed “12 Week Year”
