Hello My Charmed Ones!
Last week I showed you how I create the plan for a new month to make sure I move my goals forward, but I kinda just breezed by two key elements that go into making that plan.
First, is my goal setting process and the second is my project planning process. I’m going to show you my project planning process in a video in just a moment but first let me catch you up on the goal setting part.
At the start of the year, I have an in-depth process I work through to set my goals for the year and to break those goals down into specific smaller objectives. During this process I choose up to three objectives to assign to each month and lay them out for reference on a dedicated insert in my planner.
So, before the year begins I have a skeleton overview of what I am focused on for any given month. In the monthly planning video, you saw me pull my objectives from the inserts they are mapped on, and transfer those to my monthly calendar spread.
That is the first part of my yearly planning process, the actual goal and objective setting. If you want to learn and replicate my process for goal setting, I have it broken out in the You Got This workbook and also in the New year goal setting master class inside the Productivity and Planning Master Mind membership. Next, is project planning.
For some of my objectives it is necessary for me to break the objective down into smaller action steps on a project plan. I don’t make a project plan for every single objective anymore. I did at one point, but I found it was overkill for some objectives and types of projects I do repeatedly and know the steps for by heart.
Let me give you an example.
For January, I didn’t need to create a project plan for any of my objectives but I finished all three. I had to create the master class for my membership, which sounds like a project but I just create a slideshow, handout and inserts so it’s three formulaic pieces that I don’t find helpful to list on a project plan. Since this objective wasn’t turned into a project plan, instead the tasks were written out directly on the monthly master task list for January.
Same applies to the second objective, updating my email welcome sequence. That objective simply required me to read over and rewrite three emails. If I wanted to be particular and break that work into many more pieces I guess I could have. I think we can break anything into minute tasks to track, but for me that strategy isn’t necessary.
I will say, between you and I, I see influencers all the time in the planning community, showing how they break down goals into smaller tasks and often I think it’s overkill just to have more things to check off their to do lists. If having more tasks listed to track inspires and motivates you to get the work done, by all means, please do that. Or if you aren’t someone who knows how to reach an objective by heart, and needs steps broken down for reference and tracking, please, don’t skip out on making project plans because they can be an excellent tool for accountability.
I just know for me, that if I over complicate a project with too many tasks, it overwhelms me and I might fear starting it. Instead, just thinking that I have like two or three things to do for an objective actually gets me started and if I have a few extra tasks that pop up while working on the objective, that’s fine because I have the momentum built up of starting. But that is me. Clearly, I’m a projective person who knows how to manage my time and accomplish many objectives and goals in a year, so do not hold yourself to my standards if you aren’t at that level of confidence and self accountability to your work yet! You will get there if you follow my methods and planning philosophy, just trust the process!
Finally, just to round out my January examples, the final objective was a promotional sale in my shop. That objective didn’t need a project plan, I map promotions into a campaign builder insert from the CEO Strategy Planner to track the posts that go out to share the promotion.
So now that you can see I don’t project plan every objective, let’s talk about how I project plan for the objectives that do need it!
I actually have two styles of project planning inserts I use, one is my standard project planning worksheet that comes bundled with the Master Planner or Project Planning Bundle in my shop. The other insert is my Strategic Planning Insert from the CEO Strategy Planner.
Today I am going to show you how I use the strategic insert as I map out an objective that belongs to June. Why are we project planning an objective for June so early? Because I actually need to start talking about this objective now to make sure everything goes smoothly in June.
The objective is to create a Planner Insert Design course. I’ve been asked about doing a class like this for years and I’m finally creating it! So this class will launch in June, if you want to get more information about the class, I’ll leave a link where you can get on the wait list and be the first to learn about it when it’s available but for now, let’s map out this objective onto the insert.
Watch How I Create a Strategic Project Plan in the video below.
DON’T FORGET
For the month of February, I have a 20% OFF Code for the Planning Inserts and Tools in my shop. Use the code FEB2021 at checkout in TheCharmedShop.com to get the discount!
I hope this information has been helpful for you in understanding better how to create a strategic project plan and how I break down a goal into individual tasks.
xoxo,