Beer Belly Resolutions- Planning
I hate reading articles that start with words of wisdom from some old dead dude but the more I thought about introducing today’s post, like an annoying song playing over in my mind, the following quote was all I could think about.
“If you fail to plan, then plan to fail.”
No idea who wrote this short true statement but the article could probably end here and most would get the message.
Step 1: Realization
The other day I laid out the first step of 3 (Realization) in implementing lasting change. The biggest problem with implementing change is the lack of realization of your current situation. Once you have taken the first step in realizing the need for lifestyle change, the next step is planning.
Like the earlier quote alludes, in order to get to where you need to go you must have a plan to take you there. Without a plan leading you in the right direction (towards your goal), you won’t make it.
You wouldn’t set out on a trip without first mapping out where you need to go would you?
Then why is it that most set vague New Years resolutions and never take time to map out and plan exactly how to achieve them?
It would be great if you could turn on your computer, click on the browser, plug in your goal and have the Google Bots spit out a step-by-step plan on how to achieve it. Unfortunately no one’s developed the App just yet (I’m sure someone’s working on it).
Step 2: Map it out (Planning)
The reality is this- you need to think, plan and map out how you are going to achieve your goal. You need a master plan and here’s how to do it:
Take out a blank piece of paper. Break your goals down into short and long term. A long-term goal can be categorized in time periods of 1, 3 and 5 years. By short term I mean no longer than 90 days. Anything past 90 days is too far away and will cause you to lose focus. 90-day increments give you enough time to accomplish amazing things while allowing you to look back and analyze what worked, what didn’t and what can be improved upon.
Take your 90-day goal and work backwards from there. People call it end point visualization and what you’re doing is visualizing yourself having accomplished the goal. If you can see yourself achieving the goal than you can reverse engineer how you got there.
Write down exactly what steps you would need to take, who you would need to talk to for help, who would you need to act like to get it done, step by step, day by day until you’re back where you’re starting from.
Here’s the planning process in action
Our goal at BeerBellyBeGone.com is to build an army of 100,00 men and women by 2015 who adopt the “Earn Your Beer” mentality, live healthy and balanced lives, drink and enjoy beer, and make a difference in their lives and the lives of others.
This is a huge 3 year goal and the only way we’re going to accomplish this is to work backwards from having already accomplished it, breaking it down into smaller 90-day sub goals. On a blank piece of paper I then brainstormed and wrote down all the things I would have to do in order to accomplish this feat.
For example;
- blog 3 times per week,
- upload 3 weekly videos to Youtube,
- contact like minded websites/blogs and establish relationships,
- make myself available to do guest articles or blog posts,
- help our readers get in the best shape possible by answering questions, writing new and innovative workouts, monthly workout videos,
- weekly beer reviews,
- post tasty healthy recipes to the site,
- learn all I can about internet marketing and sales…
- and the list goes on and on.
I then break it down into monthly, weekly, daily tasks, divide them up between our team members and execute the plan. At the end of each day/week I re-evaluate our productivity and try to eliminate time wasters. This allows me to get more done the following day/week leading us closer to our goal.
It is really that simple. Take the time to plan or plan to fail.
Before I sign off I’ll leave you with another “thinker” from a dead dude…
“If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up someplace else.” (Lawrence J. Peter)
Set aside 5 minutes today and map out a plan or end up nowhere near where you want to be… See you soon with the last and most important step of the 3 steps to implementing lasting change- Action.
For a quick explanation have a look at the video below:
Yours in health,
Sean
Click Here and Start Earning Your Beer
