For day three of our #10Habits adventure we are going to look at the importance of having a PLAN. I personally hate to stop with just a nebulously defined “goal”. Unless we’re talking about my son’s soccer game, though there were precious few of those for us this season. *laughing*
Nope. We are talking about having a PLAN. As Leslie reminded us yesterday, Inspired Goals call for Specific Plans! See – it’s really common to hear people say “I hope my blog…” or “Gee, I wish my articles…” and it’s sad to me to hear.
The truth is something I’ve been saying for nearly three years now – “Wishes will blow away in the wind of change. Hopes and dreams are directionless. Goals have both – a set direction and time.” ~ Angela England
P = Precise – Have a Specific Destination in Mind
Like an airplane heading to another airport, there is a very precise target he has in mind. He files a precise flight plan with an altitude, a line he plans to travel and a VERY precise target. Thank goodness. Really – would you want to fly with a pilot who said, “Oh when I feel like landing the plane I’ll go ahead and put ‘er down.”
For writers, each precise target is very different depending on your desires. For one it might be “I want to write 4 new ebooks this year.” while for another it might be as simple as “I’d like to increase the community with my readers by seeing 10% increase in comments on my blog posts”. Each person may have a different goal – but it should still be precise.
L = Lasting – Over a Period of Time
Your steps to success should have a period of time. Again with the plane analogy – if there was no travel time we wouldn’t get on the plane in the first place. So if you goal is to increase the number of comments per blog post by 10%, WHEN do you want that to happen by? When will those ebooks be finished? How many new articles will you post per month? Per week?
A = Arrival Point – Where are you Heading Anyway?
Think long-term. If you are planning to write three blog posts per week, how many is that over the course of the year? Why is this ultimate arrival point necessary? Because we are fickle. Life is fickle. And uncontrollable.
It’s easy to say “I am going to write three blog posts each week”. Then what happens when my kids get the chicken pox. Or the stomach bug. Or we move. Or the power goes out. I’ve missed a week’s worth of posts and suddenly – what?
Has my plane fallen out of the sky? No! I’m merely blown off course a little bit. My flight plan is no longer following it’s precise goal. However, my arrival target can still be met. I simply readjust. I post a little more often for my blog posts to catch up and get back on track.
N = Natural – What is the Realistic Next Step for YOU?
Maybe your blog is just starting out? Would it make sense for your arrival point to be “Make $1,000 per month by February, with one-million readers per month.” Um….probably not. Likewise, if I’m a stay-at-home mom of three children, with another due in April, it isn’t realistic for me to say “I am going to write three articles per day at Suite101 and triple my article total there”. That simply isn’t the appropriate next-step for me given the level of my responsibilities apart from Suite101.
Whatever plan we make, it should include the natural next step.
Assignment:
What is the precise, natural next step for you? Does that plan include a time limit? Looking back over the inspired goals you created yesterday, do these plans have the natural, logical steps needed to achieve those goals?
The precise natural step for me is to redesing and become more serious about my blogging “profession” and not hobby and how it correlates to my small business consulting. I do have a plan but I love how you broke it down into the acronym. That will keep me better focused on what my plan design should be. I am working on time limits and being realistic. Thanks for the tips!
@kathysykes
http://www.kathysykes.choseit.com
@Kathy – That’s great that you at least know what you want to be focusing on. Plans can definitely take time to develop. Again the plane ananolgy – pilots don’t just jump in the plane and take off and then figure it out (although – ahem – I have personally been known to do that!). They usually develop a flight plan and THEN take off. 😉
I recently did that redesigning thing with this site for the same reasons. I took out all the Google and affiliate ads and cleaned up the navigation to focus more on my writing services for this site. Sometimes when you say – “What is the goal for this blog” you realize what you’ve been doing doesn’t line up with where you want to go. Then you just need to redirect. 🙂
I love what you said about wishing, hopes and dreams. I am so guilty of this. However, I am certainly trying to be more goal oriented. I am creating goals and I plan to stick to them this year. I will be creating a visualization board next month to help me with this. I will admit it is scary, but I know I will be pleased later. Thanks for the tips!
Sandra …@hicksgirl93, @BeautifullyWell
http://www.sandrahicks.blogspot.com
I love the idea of a visualization board!! Please send me pictures of it when you’re done, I’d love to hear how you put it together!
One suggestion – Don’t just fill in the dot of where you want to be. Fill in the path of how you’ll get there. If the visualization board symbolizes your destination, the PLAN is the path you’ll take to achieve it. Once you have your arrival point in mind, take a few minutes to jot down what the requirements will be for getting there.
I love that you told Kathy to take the time to think out a plan, Angela.
I need to put some serious thought into this one!
Basically this lesson and the fact that I don’t have a plan and can’t identify a specific goal is why I’m having challenges right now.
I know the goal I have identified is to behave like a more professional writer. I know what that looks like to me.
To me that means having a set time to write although it doesn’t mean I publish something every time I write. This is a big hurdle in terms of scheduling my life. The action I’ve taken this week is to take a step back and look at what I am doing at what time of day and what is not being done instead. Are there gaps?
It also means having a dedicated space to write. I love sitting on my back porch overlooking the kids and writing. That is where I am most productive — away from the internet and inspired by nature. But that isn’t practical or even possible in January. The action I’ve taken is painting the office an inspiring shade of blue that changes color with the light! This week I ordered a desk with drawers and a file drawer, a chair and a lamp where most of everything is hidden from the kids so my space can be my own. Unfortunately, it will be the mid/end of the month before this action sees any results!
I’m not sure how any of this fits into P, L or A N!
Great post!
I’m working on my plan for the year. I completely agree with planning (and how it really works!) and have had a hard time with that the past year or so. My writing life has changed dramatically as I’ve switched careers, and my personal life has changed in many ways (good ways – but big changes).
So in-between working, I’m trying to create my plan for the year. Most certainly for the next 6 months!
@Genna – I think it totally fits. You are taking very active steps to create a “you” space where you can feel comfortable writing rain or shine. Just because something doesn’t happen overnight doesn’t mean the plan is not valid. 🙂
@Chris – Glad you liked it! YES your life has changed. I’ll say! You are a professional author now – the real deal, so to speak. You go girl.
My hubby and I spent a few weeks around the holidays finishing up all the goals we had for our blog regarding it’s function. We were able to better organize the content so the RSS feeds worked better, and made it easier for me to manage.
One goal we were not able to accomplish last year was to find someone who could take my design ideas for the banner and logos and make them ‘come to life’ on the site. After two failed attempts with two different people, we decided to focus on content and function, and put the design off until this year. I will be on the lookout for someone who can do the work for us. For now, we are just using a basic flat logo that I designed so we can at least have out own look, and not just a piece of clipart.
Regarding my goal for expanding my content topics… I had two more areas I wanted to cover, and just today I found someone to help me with both (see me jumping up and down and singing?).
I will be starting discussions with a few fellow bloggers who have advertising on their blogs to answer some questions I have. Once I have a better understanding about how it all works, I will be looking into creating some income for my site to pay for itself.
Lastly, I will be working on narrowing down how I want to highlight opportunities for people to reach out to others in need. I will do this by researching what options I have, and how it can function on my blog.
@Ginny – LOTS of possibilities for monetizing your blog. I do a couple different things on Untrained Housewife and can share my numbers if you want to Skype or email me at ang.england = skype or ang.england at yahoo dot com = email.
As for your other goals – sounds like you’re off to a good start getting all the technical stuff out of the way so you’re ready for the MEAT now! Do you have a plan for how often you want new content going up? Once a month? Once a week? Daily?
I am DM’s you about the other. 🙂 Angela <>?<
This is a great post, Angela. The idea of laying out a plan is a great one and seems to me to be good, solid advice.
For me, my next logical step is to get published offline in at least one widely read pet magazine (I’m thinking maybe Dog Fancy and/or Cat Fancy, but am still researching which magazines are best suited to my article ideas). To that end, I’m in the process of researching how to go about querying an editor with an article idea. My goal is to query at least two print magazines with two separate article ideas by the end of February.
In the meantime, I also intend to continue contributing to Suite101, my own blog and to my Examiner page on at least a weekly basis (beginning next week), realizing, as you said in your post, that I may need to make slight adjustments as I go along and life (and my daytime job) get in the way 🙂
That’s great Lorie! In my ebook I talk a lot about moving online articles to print but I haven’t gotten that far on my blog yet. I can, however, send you a couple free-resource links for finding suitable markets. 🙂
I am currently working on how often I want to post things on the blog. I write 4-5 posts a week myself, and then I have the posts I get from my other contributors. So I just post them as they come in. My goal is to have at least 1-2 posts M-F (mine plus a contributor). So far, so good.
I’ll email you about the advertising info. Thanks!
Thanks, Angela. I would appreciate the links. And I intend to look into your ebook also 🙂
Fantastic acronym! Going to keep that in mind as I compile my lists and set my goals!
I have known for a long time the commonly explained ways to set achievable goals. But it’s never motivated me to actually get specific with my goals and create a plan for achieving them.
Today (a day late, sorry!) you have motivated me. I love this perspective and am moved to action. I’m off to PLAN!
Great post Ang! Just like our talk on the phone, you’ve passed on good food for thought. Specific. Got it!
Tamara
http://www.theunexperiencedmom.com
Well I myself am a new blogger, I actually started my blog last year yet there was not a series like yours to help me along the way. With no success on gaining any readers I knew I needed to set goals, therefore, in mid December I started reconstructing my blog and guiding it in a new direction (or atleast a “direction”). Your series could not have come at a more perfect time, I am so glad I came across your site…directed from other bloggers, I know now to remember where I read things in order to give them the credit they deserve.
My goals that I have set are not quite in order as your acronym so this is something I def. will be writting down. THANK YOU!
Wow, Angela. Thank you for breaking this down. I have a long list of goals and while I do have plans to achieve them all, I haven’t yet factored in the contingencies- a sick toddler, a change in DH’s work timings and so on. So, thank you for pointing this out and helping me rework a plan that would be achievable and doable as well.
Best wishes always.
It’s helpful to me to try to write ahead. For example – I have the Ten Habits posts already scheduled and completely ready to go. Because I knew my sister was due with her baby soon. I knew I had to go babysit my mom’s kids for a couple days. And that’s just what I KNOW about! With life in general, but especially with married-with-children-life when your time is NOT your own, you have to write ahead. Plan in series. Reuse your research. Maximize your efforts. And planning for some of that craziness to happen, means that when it DOES, you’ll be better equipped to handle it with grace with your family and friends who are calling on you. 🙂
I’ve decided part of my plan for my blog for 2012. I’m bringing foreclosure and finance horror stories into the open. I haven’t thought out much farther than that and have no clue how exactly to get from where I am to where I want to be. UGH.
Thanks for the tips!!