A few years ago, I coached a brilliant leader who held a lot of responsibility. She came to coaching because, despite her extraordinary skill, she couldn’t seem to keep everything moving forward anymore. Things were starting to fall through the cracks and, given her profession and her work ethic, she knew something had to change.
Much of our coaching involved creating written action plans and breaking them down into quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily tasks.
Her immediate relief was palpable. And at each of our meetings from that point forward, she’d comment on how ‘magical’ the plan was. “I don’t even have to think about it!” she exclaimed more than once. “My plan tells me what needs to be done, and I do it. I actually have room in my brain again to think new thoughts!”
This week, write down your goals and plans.
Open a fresh document or pull out a clean journal, and start by mindmapping your projects and goals.
Then, prioritize them in order of importance.
Then, one at a time, create a detailed action plan for each of your top priority goals. (I typically recommend focusing on three Bold Goals at any given time.) Break each goal down into milestones, identify the necessary action steps, and – crucial step here – enter them into your planner.
Your productivity and peace of mind will likely soar as a result!