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Secrets to Success
Deborah Cole Micek |
Schedule time to work
toward that big goalIn part one of this three-part series, you learned about an insidious trap that can turn a magnificent goal into an overwhelming obstacle. Simpler goals often just need your consistent commitment to action, and little else needs to be done for success. But when it comes to complex goals, you need an entirely different approach to maintain your motivation and momentum.
This week, we move on to the specifics of step two.
Step two: Schedule all your actions.
>> First pull out your day planner or open your calendar in your planning software. Starting from today and moving all the way to the target date of your goal, block out times on your schedule to reflect your normal weekly activities and current business responsibilities. Also block out 20 percent of each of your normal weekday hours as "flex time." (This flex-time allocation is a key tool to help you gain control over unexpected draws on your time.)
>> Next -- starting today and going all the way to your goal date -- use a highlighter to delineate all the remaining open hours you can reliably allocate to your big-goal actions each and every week. (We'll call this your "goal execution time," or "GET.") When you're considering these hours on your schedule, be sure to include all "sacrificial hours" (evening, nighttime, weekends) that you're fully committed to adding in to achieve this goal. After highlighting all those time slots, add up your GET hours. If the total hours you estimated you'd need for all your big-goal actions in last week's step one add up to anything more than 90 percent of your available GET, you need to adjust the target date of your big goal further out.
>> Once you have your target date far enough out to allow your big-goal actions to take up no more than 90 percent of your available GET hours, you're ready to physically block out your schedule. Again, starting on your calendar with today's date, take each action you have associated with your big goal, and schedule it as an appointment based on the estimated time you came up with in step one. Work down your prioritized list of actions from step one, entering actions as scheduled appointments in the GET hours you have on your calendar.
Warning: Do not be tempted to use the 20 percent flex time that you blocked out for scheduling your big-goal actions. This alone could kill any chances of staying on the set time line for your goal. It's one of the main mistakes I made with the systems development for the Business Owners Coaching Club. I consistently thought I could use that flex time for working on our big-goal actions, but all I was doing was once again falling prey to the trap of overestimating what I could do in the short term.
This is some serious work, but it's the only sure way to avoid de-motivation, frustration and avoidable delays when you're reaching for big goals.
John-Paul Micek
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John-Paul Micek is the lead business coach at RPM Success Group Inc. Reach him at JPM@RPMsuccess.com or toll-free at (888) 334-8151.
Deborah Cole Micek, chief executive officer of RPM Success Group, is a business success coach and life strategist. Reach her at DCM@RPMsuccess.com or toll-free at (888) 334-8151.
Access an expanded version of this article at www.GetCoachedforFree.com.