š” Create a Plan to Achieve Your Goals This Year (Issue 613)
What are your plans for 2025?
My Invincible Career community met yesterday to discuss our goals for 2025. We gave feedback and shared ideas on how everyone could make a plan to achieve them.
Note: Premium newsletter subscribers receive an invitation to join my private community and attend these live meetings every month.
By now, I hope you also have a short list of your big goals for this year and mapped appropriate subgoals into all the months and weeks of 2025. Now, this may feel like a āplan,ā but it doesnāt really describe how you will make progress to accomplish those goals.
You will need a plan to attack each unique goal. At its most basic level, a plan is a list of resources and tasks you need to complete before you can reach that goal. Using a timeline to determine sequencing also helps you prioritize, focus, and manage your energy for those tasks more effectively.
For example, I establish a tentative date when I think I can accomplish a goal based on my estimate of the work required and how long I think it will take. Then, I plan and schedule the actions I must complete to make it happen.
As I capture those actions and tasks, it frequently reminds me of other things Iāll have to do. The act of planning makes it real. It also reveals gaps in your strategy.
Inevitably, the final detailed plan educates me about the actual scope of the project and helps me create a more realistic timeline. I sometimes say that projects always take 2x longer than expected and cost 3x more than you budgeted.
But maybe thatās just me! š
Create your plans for the year
It is time to create more detailed plans for achieving your list of goals for the year. What specific actions do you plan to take?
Each of your smaller subgoals will require a list of actions and steps you will need to complete them.
When will you begin?
What actions will you take each day?
What consistent habits do you want to start?
How are the steps organized to support each other?
What can you do in parallel vs. tasks you must complete in sequence?
When do you think you will be done?
How will you determine you are successful (i.e., accomplished the goal)?
For example, letās say you set an overall goal to publish 12 articles this year. You then created subgoals for publishing an article of at least 1,000 words each month. You also mapped these subgoals into your calendar for the year.
Now, you need a plan that describes how you will accomplish these subgoals. What are your daily habits, actions, and steps you must take over four weeks to build up to publishing an article?
Your writing plan could include:
A new habit of brainstorming writing topics for 30 minutes every day in your morning journal.
Choosing a topic for your next article on Sunday night.
Spending an hour during the evenings (Monday - Wednesday) researching that topic online and writing notes.
Writing a draft outline on Thursday (e.g., I use the Ulysses app for writing).
Noting where you want supporting quotes, data, interviews, etc.
Gathering more information on Friday to fill in the holes in your outline.
Writing a rough draft over the weekend, then letting it sit until Monday.
Reading your rough draft on Monday, making notes, and editing.
Searching for a suitable article image on Unsplash on Tuesday.
Doing a thorough revision of your article on Wednesday and sending another draft to a trusted friend for feedback (like the members of my community!).
Running a Grammarly check on the article and coming up with a great title on Thursday.
On Friday, doing one last read-through of your article out loud, making final edits, and publishing on Monday morning (e.g., on your blog or Medium).
Repeating this process for the next cycle.
As you work through your plan and process, Iām sure you will find ways to tune and optimize it. Keep adjusting until you are happy with the results and efficiency.
Planning makes it real
A goal without a plan is simply a wish.
I wish my boss would promote me.
I wish I could publish a book.
I wish I could get into better shape this year.
I wish I could find a better job.
I wish I could start my own business.
Creating your list of goals and subgoals helps break things down into manageable chunks. But those exercises didnāt explain how you would achieve those goals or what you would actually do.
Thatās the point of this planning exercise. Get specific! What are you going to do every day to ensure you stay on track and make progress?
Of course, this plan doesnāt have to be set in stone. You should measure progress, evaluate results, and course-correct as needed.
Given that you probably have multiple goals for the year, youāll want a plan for each one. But youāll also have an overall high-level plan that prioritizes and schedules your smaller plans. For example:
Goal 1 - Join a gym and start working out every day by the end of January.
Goal 2 - Update LinkedIn profile, resume, portfolio, and personal website by the end of March.
Goal 3 - Start interviewing in April and land a new job by the end of May.
Goal 4 - Start writing in February, finish a chapter every three weeks, and publish a short book by the end of Dec.
In this imaginary example, youād want to first begin on your health goal and set that plan in motion until it becomes a familiar daily habit. Then, you kick off your writing plan to support your goal of publishing a book by the end of the year. Finally, a couple of months after youāve established your writing habit, you start working on your next plan to find a new job.
I think you get the idea. Happy to talk more about your goals and plans in the comments.
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Iām Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you become a more "Invincible You" so you can live your life on your terms instead of being controlled by someone else's rules. My wife and I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe.
Excellent.