Get ready For 2023! [BTS Of My Planning Process You Can Steal]
The older I get, and also the longer in business I’m, a truly believe in the saying: ‘if you don’t plan, you plan to fail’.
And especially now with so much uncertainty going on, it’s you who can create some certainty in your life. So, if that sounds exactly what you’re looking for, then this blog post is for you as I share with you not only my process but also some of the tools and systems that I’ve implemented so you can jump straight into what works! Sounds like a plan? Then let’s go!
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The first few years of running my business were – let’s just say – adhoc.
I didn’t quite get my head around how I could plan for something ahead when I don’t know what happens yet. I was very much still in an employee mindset and didn’t feel much in charge over what I can do beyond my deliverables.
Little did I realise that – whatever you want to happen – doesn’t just magically appear. It’s designed, developed, and delivered overtime by … you guessed it: YOU!
So no matter if you’re in a corporate employee role or run your own business, I truly believe that taking control over your progress and level of success is very much in your hands and your responsibilities, no one else’s.
But it’s also easy to get lost in all the different ways how to plan and where to start and what tools to use - until now as I’ve not only systemised my process but also simplified!
The last 3 years have been very different with a lot of refinement and tweaking to land at a process and system that I’m really happy with because a) it’s done quickly and effectively and b) it makes you feel in control over your career, your life and with that future.
At the time of this recording, Chelsea – my incredible partner in crime who looks after social media and content creation for impaCCCt – and I just went through it ourselves for 2023 and it’s also exactly what I’m running through with my private clients in the next couple of weeks to get them ready for the year ahead. So grab a pen and notepad and work with me through the exercises.
1: REFLECT
Clearly, the last few years have been no smooth sailing with so many massive events happening.
From Covid-19 to war between Russia and Ukraine and a ton of other unpredicted events – it’s been challenging and that impacts everyone in different ways. Needless to say – it surely has built resilience, resourcefulness and forced us to rethink how we approach life and career.
So before you step into a new year, reflect on the most valuable lessons you’ve gained from this last one and reflect how you can build on the skills you’ve learned, the experiences you’ve gained and what those data pounts you’ve collected mean moving forward.
Questions to go through are:
Where did you start the year and where did you end up? What are you most proud of this year (this can be anything, personal and professional achievements – I’d actually recommend focussing on a good mix of both as one without the other doesn’t mean much).
Now you may be sitting there going, “well progress for the year could be very broad, so how do I clarify what I achieved?”. To assist with this question, see below the list of areas that you may wish to think about to further break down the progress of your year.
Think about the “Wins” you have had in each category. A win doesn’t need to be a major achievement, it could be quite small but has moved you forward and has progressed you to be closer to your goal/s in this area.
Work and Career - What were your professional wins? Did you get a promotion? Did you complete a project? Were you recognised within your industry for your work? Did you gain a better work life integration/balance? Did you recruit some great talent into your team? Did you extend your professional network and add some key new contacts?
Health, Fitness and Wellbeing - Did you complete a fitness program? Did you start one? Have you increased your understanding of good nutrition and how you can achieve better health? Did you learn how to do Yoga, Pilates or gain some knowledge of the need for a flexible and resilient body?
Finances - Did you hit your savings goal? Did you commence investing for the first time? Did you expand your financial knowledge on wealth creation? Did you get a better interest rate for your home loan? Did you pay your home loan off? Did you increase your salary or income this year?
Recreation, Leisure and Fun Time - Did you take that trip you always wanted to? Did you start a sport? Did you find a great park in your local area? Did you go see a musical or comedy show that you The recreation, leisure and fun time category is often associated with experiences with other people. Which moves us into our next area to reflect.
Relationships - Did you enhance your relationship with your wife/husband? Did you find a partner? Have you strengthened your relationships with your closest friends? Did you spend more time with family and friends? Did you repair a relationship with someone you had conflict with previously?
Personal growth and development - Did you complete some formal study this year? Did you commence a new course or read a book that is extending your knowledge? Did you hire a personal coach for the first time? Did you gain a new mentor? Did you find a new podcast that is teaching you valuable lessons in an area of life.
Community and contribution - Who’ve you connected with? Who’re the people that have come in to your life and what did you learn from these relationships? Did you volunteer this year? Did you make some donations? Did you give blood? Did you start mentoring someone younger? Did you start mentoring someone that’s older?
2: RESET
(Re)setting the vision for the year ahead
Ok so now you have reflected on the year that was and it’s time to shift to the future focus and the year that will be in 2023.
The best place to start is to start with creating a vision of what you want your year to look like. What does a “perfect year” look like?
Don’t worry about the how, just write down what the perfect year will look like for you.
Start with some broad intentions and use the 3-S framework that you can use as your guiding principles to make any project, partnership or commitment aligned with your values:
Start – Stop – Stay
For me – just to get your thinking going, a few intentions that I set which have come from the reflection part are:
Start: learning how to be more logical and don’t let small instances or events throw me.
Not sure what’s been happening because I used to be the most carefree person, living in my own bubble, never assuming anything bad could happen but the last year in particular, I’ve been more anxious and nervous about potential events that haven’t even happened yet so I realise this is a big crux eventually and I want to focus on prevention rather than cure early on to not let it impact me or the future business growth in a negative way.
Stop: chasing!!
I have now the 2x follow up rule which is the first follow up with a proposal after a call or meeting and a 2nd reminder. That’s it! If they don’t get back to me, bad luck. No more extending periods or shuffling times around to suit others. I’m getting too old (and also way too impatient for that haha)
Stay: daily exercising including 2 workouts a day and 2 long walks with my partner to connect and reflect on the day that was or what’s ahead for us.
There are a few more in each category but I just wanted to give you a few to make you reflect on your own behaviours and give you examples what those activities may look like.
Then, when you have set the broad intentions that should apply to all aspects of your life, work through the 7 categories again and build out your vision and goals for 2023.
Work and Career
Health, Fitness and Wellbeing
Finances
Recreation, Leisure and Fun Time
Relationships
Personal growth and development
Community and contribution
Finally, we focus on resetting and redefining what success looks like.
3: RESET
Now you know what you want to achieve in each of the categories, it comes down to resetting what doesn’t work anymore or start implementing what you need to do to make those goals a reality.
Don’t forget:
Your Vision = Your Super Power.
Going through this exercise, I have made it a little narrower this time to also reflect the Trusted Authority framework that encompasses all of the different life aspects and those big clusters are:
CAPABILITY (any skills or additional knowledge you want to acquire, may it be for the profession you’re in now or a hobby you want to learn)
CREDIBILITY: this comes down to the Three-O again: Own, On-the-Go and Others.
So reflect on the first O, OWN credibility: What is an asset (like a signature framework, building a community – online or in person, starting your own channel (like podcast, YouTube etc) you want to focus on?
On-the-Go: How can you build credibility through content creation (mainly on social media channels) and contribution (incl podcast guesting, panel speaking, keynote, etc)
Others: Who can and should you connect with to build your own credibility? Who could you partner up with who’s got already the audience you want to get in front of or has the authority that you want to tap into?
VISIBILITY – this comes down to the 3P: presence (meaning your visual and verbal identity, online and offline), profile (this is your online presence incorporating your visual and verbal identity – maybe you need a little upgrade when it comes to your profile photo or an overhaul of your LinkedIn profile since the last update was in 2020 … not pointing fingers but this happens more than I could ever count) and of course: promotion: where can you pitch yourself that helps you get closer to your goal? This could be to contribute regular content to an industry magazine, it could be including pitching yourself to media regularly, it could be to promote your own masterclass on LinkedIn to build your email list.
The opportunities are endless- it just comes down to your goal and this closes the loop where we started: what does a successful year look like for you and how can you make it happen?
