Self Improvement
VISUALIZE YOUR GOALS BY USING POST-ITS
I love goal setting, do you? I’ve found that mapping out my goals is therapeutic and let’s me put into writing what I want for myself both professionally and personally. The problem is I’m also a little gun-shy when it comes to writing things down; I have a hard time visualizing my goals in a notebook, journal or even worse, online note-taking. I get a little overwhelmed at the blank page, get frustrated when my goals are totally out of order and end up ripping the page out only to start the tiring process over again.
Are you like me, in that, when it comes time to write your goals you struggle? You have goals in your head, you can almost see the big picture, but you get distracted, overwhelmed and end up not finishing what you started? I can’t imagine I am alone in this!
My friend Katherine is working on her thesis and in order to visually understand how things correlate, she uses post-it notes and sticks them up on the wall. By the end of it, she has this wall full of written words (which kinda reminds me of FBI profiles of the mafia!). I decided to take this idea and make it work for me on a day I dedicated to explicitly writing goals. I gathered up my colorful post-its, gold sharpie and pretty washy tape and went to work.
First, I started with a row of overall, over-arching goals. Big ideas that I wanted to explore. They were things like:
- Increase overall revenue
- Become an industry expert
- Grow Caribbean brand
- Continued team happiness at Jubilee Events
- Less weddings + more consulting
Once I had written out those items and taped them up to the wall, I was ready to begin to break my various projects / businesses down. I placed them in order that they make me money– because honestly– my first goal was to increase revenue, so it made sense to start with the biggest money maker and work my way down to the project that makes the least money (that project might surprise you!).
After I broke my projects down in order of revenue, I began to carve out goals for each. As an example, the third project that makes me the most revenue is my consulting (aka the new candicecoppola.com). The first goal was to LAUNCH, which was the most important thing I needed to do in order to take that first step of make my goal to become an industry expert happen. After I wrote that goal, I wrote mini goals / action steps next to it, each on their own individual post-it.
- Finish verbiage for website (with mini goals written underneath)
- Design packaged PDFs to send to prospective clients
After my LAUNCH goal, my next goal was to CREATE FINANCIAL PROJECTIONS based on the packages of consulting I offer. I broke my consulting packages down by price, and during this time I also brainstormed some new services. I continued and expounded upon topics BUILD REPUTATION & EXPOSURE, BOOK 10 CLIENTS YEARLY, BUILD PRODUCT LINE AND INDUSTRY EXPERT. With these clearly defined goals and action steps, I was so much closer to achieving what I wanted.
Some of the benefits for this goal-setting method are:
- The ability to see your goals in a larger than life setting. Why be limited to a small sheet of paper or a word document on your computer– when you can look across the expanse of an entire wall and see your plans for the future?
- The ability to edit your goals. I loved that I could take something down if it didn’t fit, or move around my goals based on their priority. As I mentioned earlier, I have a hard time organizing my goals on a few slips of paper (I hate when things don’t flow or are out of order!), so this method really worked for me.
- The ability to sit with your ideas and really think about them. I found this method gave me the opportunity to take a long, hard look at what I wanted. I actually got excited about each post-it I put up on the wall.
- The ability to keep them hanging. I transferred these to a notebook I keep on my desk, but would like to rehang them on my office wall for a constant, visual reminder of what I want to achieve.
How do you put your personal and professional goals together? Have you used this method before? I’d love to hear what works for you!
0 comments: