Ride The Waterfall

I love January, because January is all about the "big picture".  We set goals and prep ourselves to knock 'em down like bowling pins over the next twelve months.  It's an optimistic time of year, and since I'm an optimist by nature, I feel like I'm tuned into a huge positive vibe.  So, like many others, I want to leverage that tidal wave to its full potential.

You start to hear things like "strategic planning" being thrown about- and if you are in business it's not something that you can ignore.  The strategic plan is your blueprint that says what you consider to be the key components to keeping your business profitable and on track now and in the future. 

And creating one usually sounds as fun as a dental appointment.

But it doesn't have to be hard or terribly painful.  It just requires some time and willingness to capture what you want to do down on paper. 

Think about riding the waterfall.  You start at the top, and momentum will carry you down.

Write It Down

Personally, I like doing the first draft by hand.  Not so much because I can't type it out, but because it's a way for me to be creative, do some mind mapping, and just open up my mind in a different way.

If I'm just doing some doodles, I can't take myself too seriously right?  (Although it is, but this just a way for me to add some fun into the exercise too.)

Make sure that you aren't just coming up with a to-do list either.  The easiest goal should be a revenue target of some kind, and then you probaby will want to focus on growing (aquiring new customers) and retaining your existing business.  Don't be afraid of stretch goals- remember, you have all year to accomplish them!

Be Selective

Once you start going, my guess is you'll come up with a lot of different things that you'd like to accomplish this year.  But realistically, you can only focus on the most critcal ones.  So once you have your list, then whittle it down. 

If you are a small operation, I wouldn't recommend trying to take on too many.  (I have 6 strategic objectives for ThinkBlot for 2011, and that feels like a lot!)   The items that remain on your list should be high-level enough that you can break them down into several pieces to work on throughout the year.

Break It Down One Level

Once you have your annual goals established, then you move down to quarterly goals.  So each goal will have 4 subgoals, and this is important for tracking purposes.  You want to be able to say in June for example that you are, at a minimum, 50% of the way towards completion of each goal. (And if not, then you hopefully have a good idea of where things are out of balance so that you can correct for them.)

Cascade To The Bottom

Your quarterly goals can be broken down in monthly goals.  From here, if you want to track to weekly goals you can, but only do that if that is something that you can hold yourself accountable too.  There can be as much harm in limiting your time for each task within a subgoal (leading to quitting because you didn't make it) as there can be in giving yourself too much time (that you will procrastinate).

The Waterfall Becomes Your Scorecard

Now you've created a simple, tangible, measurable map of your strategic business goals for this year.  You have a quick reference for everytime someone asks you about the state of your business.  By showing forward progress on each goal, you will keep your own internal momentum going so that you don't quit.

Have you sketched out your annual strategic plan yet? How are you planning to stretch this year?

(photo credit wwarby)

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The Dirty R Word

Are you scratching your head, wading through your mental file cabinet trying to determine what swear word starts with the letter "R"?  I'll save you the headache.

Resolution

There I said it.  It's that time of year that we rack our brains trying to determine what we want to accomplish in the coming year.  We make a list.  We tell our friends.  We swear that this is THE year we'll get it done.

Excitement builds as we lay out our grand master plans.  January kicks off with a bang and we're sprinting towards the finish line.  But if we don't get to the end fast enough, we start to lose some steam.  Soon our sprint has slowed to a crawl, and then we are distracted by another new, shiny object that promises to make us smarter, skinnier, and more efficient in less time.  We forget that we resolved to do anything at all.

What happened?

I swore off New Year's resolutions years ago.  I did that because I inevitably failed to what I set out to do, and in the end it just made me feel guilty and like a big fat failure.  Plus I realized that the things I was resolving to do were things that I said I wanted to do all year long- not just on New Year's Day.  It was like a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders.  I wasn't tied to having to wait until this time of year to start working on my goals.

Shiny and New

This time of year is an excuse to start over, but if your stumbling blocks haven't changed, and you haven't adjusted to get around them, you are almost guaranteed to walk away with same outcome.

I understand the appeal of resolutions.  There is a certain energy around  the "new year" that is waiting to be tapped into.  You feel like you have more patience and flexibilty than you did just a few weeks ago because it's like the universe is granting you a huge do-over.  All's you have to do is show up and take it.

But when reality sets in, it'll knock you on your butt no matter how good your intentions may be.  So if I was in the business of setting New Year's resolutions today, I'd make sure I had a back-up plan that included these things:

• Keep It Short: It doesn't matter what time of year it is, when you set a goal, wisdom will tell you to build in short, measurable milestones to keep you motivated.  You can't start off the year saying you are going to lose 30lbs by February.  It isn't realistic. Goals that can be accomplished in a few weeks or less are great starting points because you'll get some successes under your belt and that will propel you to bigger and better things.  Confidence in knowing you can do it is a huge motivator.
• Reward Yourself Often: I don't care what anyone says.  If you accomplish even 1/10th of your goal in the month of January, pat yourself on the back.  We are a society of short attention spans and instant gratification.  Rewarding the right behaviors is the best thing you can do for yourself to keep you moving forward.
• Find A Buddy: Preferably one who has the same goal as you do.  You can hold each other accountable.  You can share war stories and strategies.  If you have a set-back, you have someone at your side ready to help pick you up, dust you off, and get you moving again.

I've got a lot of things lined up for 2011.  It's looking to be a big year for me.  But I'm not worried about making a whole list of resolutions to get there.  I don't want to jinx it.

What about you?  How successful are you in accomplishing your resolutions?

(photo credit Pink Sherbet Photography)

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Rest Or Run

I know what you are thinking right now.

"C'mon- it's the holidays.  I'm exhausted.  Can't I just take a little break?"

Sure you can.  It's your life and your business after all.  You can do whatever you want. 

But I'll let you in a little secret: the week between Christmas and New Year's has consistently been one of my most productive weeks of the entire year.  I stopped taking it off years ago when I figured that when I did show up to work, I got 3x as many things done in this short amount of time.  Why?  Because I had oodles and oodles of free time to do what I wanted to do- nobody else was around!

This year will be no exception- I'm planning to ramp up in a few big ways to improve what I do and what I have to offer you that will help me kick off 2011 with a bang.

I'm doing this while everyone else is resting on their holiday laurels.  By the time they've come out of their candy and turkey induced food comas, I plan on being ten steps ahead.

The race starts now, not next week.  This is what I'll be doing:

1) I'm tweaking my website.  Hopefully these changes will be fairly minor to regular visitors, but there are some things I've been putting off that will go in this week.

2) I'm blogging everyday.  This is another experiment I've been noodling on that has fallen by the wayside given my ever present and growing to-do list.  So for the next 7 days you'll see a post from me everyday.  If you like it, I do hope you'll comment or send me an email (csmith@thinkblotcommunications.com) and tell me what you think.

3) I'm launching a new email course that will help you work more effectively with your customers.  I'll be talking more about that in a couple of days, but if you want to be sure you don't miss it, sign up right now for my advance notification list.

4) I'm laying out my 2011 strategic plan.  This will be my map for all of the things I want to accomplish in my business next year.  These aren't resolutions- these are the things I know I HAVE to do to get where I want to go.  It isn't optional and it isn't negotiable.

I hope you'll join me, because it does get rather lonely.  What are YOU going to do with the next week?  Rest or run?

(photo credit stevendepolo)

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