What is your plan for the year ahead?
I know for many creatives out there, making plans and getting organised isn’t their top priority. But let me tell you - taking time now to think about what you want to achieve helps you become more efficient with your time and gives you more time to do what you’re good at – BEING CREATIVE.
So let’s get started. I’ve set up a simple step-by-step process that lets you focus on your goals with practical (and actionable) ways to help you achieve them.
List 3 goals
Start with three goals that you have for your business this year. Be clear and be specific. I find it helps to think about what you will accomplish if you achieve these goals. Here are some examples:
> Post regularly to my social media (this will help my work be seen by more people)
> Do more business development (I will build a stronger network on contacts)
> Get organised with my workflow (I will feel more in control of my workload)
Set a target date
It is important when you set a target date that you are realistic with your time frames. This is about helping you get some structure and purpose to your goals so it doesn’t become a case of ‘I’ll get to that…’ and then you never do. An example, working off the goals in Step 1:
Social Media - end of this month for a plan, time on a weekly basis
Business development - end of this month for a plan, time on a monthly basis
Workflow - End of this week, time on a fortnightly basis
List your tasks
Listing all of the things you need to do each day, week or month is important. Don’t leave anything out here - be completely honest with yourself about how much you have to do. An example, working on Social Media from Step 2:
Daily - scroll account, like posts, share other’s content in stories, comment on posts
Weekly - create a list of content topics, read blogs / news for interesting articles
Monthly - review analytics, plan posts for month ahead, design and write posts
Determine time for each task
Assigning time to each task can be challenging. Resist the urge to short change yourself here - do not underestimate how long each task will take! If anything, pad it out for the first month and track real time so you can reassess next month. An example, continuing with Social Media:
Daily: 1 hour, in two half hour blocks in the morning and afternoon.
Weekly: 1 hour, in two half hour blocks twice a week to read blogs and news articles; 15 minutes for adding content topics to a list, spread across each day
Monthly - 1/2 hour to review analytics; 1 hour to plan posts for the month; 3 hours to design + write posts
List resources
Listing your resources for each task makes it easier to hit the ground running for the time you have allocated. If we look at the Social Media example, it may look like this:
> Block out time uninterupted time in calendar
> Bookmark news and blogs site to visit
> Set up monthly automated analytics reports
> Take photos or search for photos online for posts
Schedule time in your calendar
This is your moment to commit to your tasks. To be successful in achieving your goals, it is important that you do not book over any of the tasks you have scheduled. This is the only way to stay on track and make a habit out of committing and following through on each task.
Monthly check-in
Each month, it is important that you take 10 minutes to check in with your goals to see how you are progressing. If your goals aren’t progressing, try asking yourself these questions to help you assess what changes to make:
> What has stopped me from completing the tasks?
> Have I allowed enough time to complete tasks?
> Are there too many tasks to complete?
> Can anything be delegated?
> What can be put to the side to ensure I prioritise my goals?