As I am almost at my final destination after over 30 hours of travel from Europe back home, I got thinking about what my plans were for the rest of 2016 as now that I have had a month full of play and relaxation, it is time for an intense period of work as well as setting the big intentions for 2017.
This got me to think about and differentiate why some people succeed at seeing their plans to fruition and others love the process of planning but their plan never seems to work out as originally laid out. I recently received from the printers the Ultimate 2017 Planner which is an A4 Style Diary/Goal Setter and Planner that I have created for the second year. There was so much raving feedback after the 2016 one, that I upgraded the design and created triple the quantity for 2017.
I know a lot of people like to get inside my head and get just as organised and streamlined as I am, so I thought in this article I would have a chat about the 3 biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make in the planning process and what to avoid if you want your Big Hairy Audacious Goals to come true moving forward.
So here goes:
- Love the idea of planning and getting organised, buy all the right stuff for it but fail to put anything into action or action it too late.These are people who love stationary and the idea of planning and maybe they do a tiny bit of it once in a while but they haven’t built a muscle around this at all.Its very sporadic, ad hoc and so are their results…
To overcome this symptom, if you recognise yourself in it is to commit to only purchasing a couple of items for planning rather than a full cupboard of wasted money and unused stuff. I myself only use my A4 Planner and a Whiteboard annual calendar that sits on my wall for planning my events. Make some time on the same day each week where you will focus on your weekly, 90 day and annual goals. Work backwards from what those goals are and then put the actions you need to completed in your planner in order to make your goals a reality.
- Notorious plan changing – this is a big one.I have seen so many entrepreneurs make plans and commit to them for a short period of time and as the time nears for that plan to be executed they either delay or cancel the action that needs to be taken.They think they are legitimately cancelling or delaying due to some dumb ass excuse they think is so real that they sabotage their efforts towards success time and time again.
If you are one of these people – STOP IT! Every time your commit to your growth, the universe will challenge you by throwing situations or people that will appear truly legitimate as an excuse to throw you off course. These are just little tests to ensure that ‘You are worthy of your success.’ Whenever something like this happens to me I ask a different question: How can I use this in what I am wanting to do? How am I creating self-sabotage here? You and you alone are responsible for the good and bad stuff that happens in your life. It is sent your way for you to learn the lessons you haven’t learnt before or to confirm you are on the right track by sending you better things your way.
What you do about it is to take the action anyway. Don’t delay or cancel your plans repetitively (this should only happen at the most 10% of the time). Earlier on the plane Francesca and I (my co-author on the book Bums on Seats) opened up our 2017 planners and made our commitments for 2017 on what will unfold. We both know this is now set in stone especially as a lot of the events are commitments we have made to each other of where we will travel to do events.
This is so crucial especially if you are in the business of keeping appointments or more so holding events or seminars. One of our number 1 Oaths we have in the year long home-based Bums on Seats Mastermind is – I will Never Cancel or Delay an Event.
- Set goals that are way too Unrealistic – this comes up a lot… ‘I’ve done goal setting before and it doesn’t work.My goals just don’t come true.’I can relate to this when I was in the first year of my business, I did the same proclaiming I would generate six figures in just a few months.I went out and too action but those actions did not turn into six figures until my third year in business.
What I learnt instead was to set my aim a little better calibrated with where I was at. Perhaps to first had aimed at getting my first paying client, 5 more clients in the following 90 days or secured 3 speaking gigs in three months. When I did this all of a sudden I started reaching these goals as they were more believable and closer to where I could stretch to in the beginning.
I never started out wanting to build a 7-figure business which we have now. I didn’t think six figures was within my reach. With better calibrated goals and stretches that challenged me I grew into the business owner I am today. I believe the regular check ins with my plans, actions and goals enabled me to become the 7-figure business owner I am today.
If you can really identify where you are at and what you want and then be able to communicate this into written goals and aligned plans than you will begin to really see how the Law of Attraction will start to work in your favour.
Love Nat x
Work Hard – Play Hard!
P.S. We have a few opportunities coming up before the end of this year to ensure you really take 2017 to the next level. Here are my top 3 I would recommend you check out:
- Ultimate 2017 Planner – Check out and Get Yours Here today (limited stock – once sold out we do not reprint)
- VIP Marketing Days – Full Day 9-5 at our home in Diamond Creek Melbourne includes meals and Whiteboard 2017 Wall Planner.Set your commitments earlier rather than later.Groups are max 10 participants and we only host 2 of these days per year (11 Oct and 10 Nov) Email to enquire today here.
- 12 Month Bums on Seats Mastermind – 12 Full Days (meals included also at our home) for 10 max participants Live and Live Streaming also available from interstate.Email for a Qualification Conversation here.We only promote this until full then all locked in are in for the year and we don’t intake anyone else until the following year.
