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Lot’s of ‘Goal Setting’ advice out there it seems…

So I thought I might throw my 2-cents in, please let me know
what you think of it.

When it comes to getting ready for the ‘New Year’, I have
a routine that I have followed for years and years, I’m really
not even sure where I learned it, but I have dome it for years
and years.

The funny thing is, last year right around this time, I was sent
by a friend and Mentor of mine to a page that he had just
put together for some of us to help us – get a jump on the
“New Year”!

He had sent us to a Bonus page that contained a video that
had him telling the world about My Method!!

The very same method that I had followed religiously for
many years – and there he was telling the world about it!

He, of course, had no idea that I was also following the
very same regiment that he was following at the beginning
of each year -but- there it was.

What was and is this regiment that both my Mentor and I
were both following at the beginning of each year??

It’s a Brain Dump and Complete Business Plan for the
entire next year, and it can take a week to ten days to
complete.

It is also THE most essential part of the success I have
each and every year with my business.

Here’s is how it works:

The first thing you do is get yourself (3) pads of paper.

Next, you write at the top of one of the pads of paper:
1) what your ‘Income Target’ is for the next year
2) what ‘Goals’ you will need to accomplish in order to
reach your ‘Income Target’ for the year and
3) what ‘Tasks’ you will need to perform in order to
accomplish your ‘Goals’ for the year.

Really put some thought into this.  You should not be
finished with this task in 10 minutes.

Now, tear that sheet or sheets off the pad.

Next, you want to write the words ‘Brain Dump’ at the
top of the next sheet.

On this sheet or sheet(s) as the case is with me, you
write down every little thing that comes to mind that
you would really like to get done with or to your
business over the next year, every little thing that comes
to mind.

You might want to add audio to some of your sites, or
you might want to build a membership site, or you might
want to teach a class in something – whatever.

This is you complete ‘Brain Dump’ of business idea’s,
wants and needs.

This task alone can take me a full day, just to give you
something to judge by.

Once you have completed this task, tear that sheet or
sheets of paper off.

Now, you should have a sheet or a couple sheets of
paper that contain your Income Target, your Goals
and your Tasks in one pile and in another pile you
should have your complete brain dump of idea’s.

Looks like a real ‘mess’ doesn’t it?  Well it can.  When
I do this task I am pulling things out of files in my file
cabinet that I put there over the last year.  Things are
coming off my bulletin board that have been there for
months.  I’m even making new notes about things that
are just ‘coming to me’ while I’m looking everything else
over.

So when I do this – it’s a mess…

OK, now for the organization of this ‘mess’.

So now you have two stacks and 3 pads of paper.

Take one of the pads of paper that you have not used
up to this point and at the top of  the 1st page write the
words MASTER LIST.

Now take absolutely everything you have in the two
‘stacks’ that you have created and write every little bit
of it into (1) list.

Next, you take your first two lists and you put them in
a file folder labeled with the year and the words ‘BRAIN
DUMP’ written on it:

For example:  “BRAIN DUMP 2009″.

Then you take this list you just created that contains at
the top:
- Your Income Target for the year

Followed by your Goals, followed by your Tasks, and
last but not least followed by absolutely everything else
you want to do with, or to, your business over the next
year..

Then you start to label every item with either an “A”,
a “B” or a “C” depending solely on their position of
importance they play when it comes to actually ‘Making
You More Money’.

So, building that new ‘sales website’ – that’s an “A” item,
but ‘organizing the shelves in your office’ would be a “C”
item.

A “B” item might be something like ‘install Open Office
on my computer and learn how to make PDF’s with it’,
because this will add to your ability to make money in
the near future by giving you the ability to write your own
reports to launch products you create or have created.

Install an Anti-virus on my computer – an “A” item because
it protects the entire life of your company and everything
in it.

Place that ad for that hot new affiliate product in one of
the niches hot ezines – “A” item.

Take a trip with your wife that puts up with all this Internet
Marketing stuff – definitely an “A” item in my house )

I think your getting the point….

After you have assigned and A, B or C to each item, you
then take your (3) pads of paper, and you write at the top
of one pad ‘A-List’, the next ‘B-List’ and the 3rd ‘C-List’.

Then you take your ‘Brain Dump’ list of tasks or ‘want to
get dones’ that you created and you break it up amongst
the (3) Lists one at a time so you have your ‘A List of
To-do’s, your ‘B List of To-do’s and your C List.

After you have completed this, you are not finished – did
you think you were??

The last step is to take each of the A, B and C lists you
just created and assign a number to each item on each
list based on their level of importance when it comes
to whether or not they add to your companies ‘bottom
line’ profits.

Start with the most important task on the list and label it
with #1, and move on to 2, then 3, then 4 etc…

Use a pencil for this because as you are making out your
lists you will change the level of importance on some things.

You’ll decide you need to change #9 to #11 and move #11
up to #7 and put #7 where #9 was etc… so doing this part
in pencil makes that easier.

  **NOTE
      If you have a spreadsheet program and spreadsheet
      making ability, this is a good task for that ability.

When assigning importance, try to always keep in mind that
the ‘have to do’s are always more important to do than the
want to do’s!’

Now, this is only the last step in your ‘Pre-organizing List
Building Duties’, – now it time to take these lists and ‘build
your ‘Plan For The Year’.

With your Income Target, your Goals and your Tasks
clearly defined, it’s time to pull it all together.

This is what I do…

I take a program like Microsoft Excel or even a real simple
program like Microsoft Paint and I build a ‘grid’ that will
resemble a 12 month calendar, giving myself a space for
each month that is approximately 3 inches tall by 5 inches
wide with the rows done in a 3 months wide by 4 months
long pattern.

You can even draw this out on one of the other pads of
paper with the year at the top and then a grid of  blocks
2 inches tall by 3 inches wide in a 3 blocks wide by 4
blocks tall pattern right under that.

The top left block is January, the block to the right of that
is February, and to the right of that is March.  Under January
is April, under February is May, under March is June etc…

That way each row represents one quarter of the year, 1st
Quarter of the year, 2nd Quarter of the year etc…

I do this because one of the ‘extra steps’ that I have evolved
to taking that was not in the lesson plan when I was taught it,
is to take a day each Quarter and see if any little ‘adjustments’
need to be made to my lists, and if do – make them then.

Then I start filling in the months w/ abbreviated notes that
show exactly what ‘Big Tasks’ I want to get done, and what
month I want to plan on accomplishing it.

As I write a task down, I get it off my list – at all times keeping
in mind the question “Will this task really add to my bottom
line if I take the time to accomplish it”.

I generally put only ‘Big Tasks’ on this ‘Calendar’ that I am
building.  Things like Seminars I plan on attending, eBooks I
plan on writing, Products I plan on developing, Vacations I
plan on taking – only ‘things’ I can’t possibly ‘take a NO on
getting done at that time’.  Things that, as they say, ‘must be
written in cement’.

*Pay Attention Here*
Then, this is how I pull it all together…

Once this task has been completed, I have eliminated a large
number of #1, #2 and even some #3 Tasks, so that’s a nice
start.

Now all I do is at the end of each day, the very last thing I
do for my business each day, is to write down my schedule
and list of Tasks for the next day based on the hour of the
day.

First the “A” “No 1′s” that need to be accomplished get written
down first, and then I just start filling in the blanks (or available
time periods) with ‘Tasks’ off of my “A”, “B” and “C” Lists.

It became evident to me the very first time I did this routine
that certain Tasks would need to be done daily, and certain
Tasks would need to be done twice a week or weekly, so
these Tasks were always the easiest to schedule first (besides
the “A” “No. 1′s” anyway).

If you ‘plan out your next day’ as your last project of each
day, you will be very impressed at the improvement you will
see in your ‘Accomplishment of Important Tasks’ ratio.

As I am sure you have read before, or been told before, if
you take the time to write out your ‘goals’ and ‘plan’ out your
daily schedule the easier it is to actually get your goals done.

I firmly believe in this, and being ‘this way’ has driven my
success to levels I could have never attained otherwise, and
there is no doubt of that.

I am only a high school graduate, and yet I have owned and
run ‘several’ companies that have done sales in the ‘millions’.

I am successful and, better for you, I can teach others to be
successful also.

I am not trying to boast, that is merely the truth.

I have done this many times with both Online and Offline
businesses, and many people from many different walk’s of
life – but that is a story for another day and I don’t want to
get off track from what we are discussing right now.

I hope this “Brain Dump and Goal Planning” exercise is one
that you will now start to use.  If you do, you will see your
level of accomplishment improve dramatically.

I start every year out this way.  This is one of the reasons you
have not really heard from me in the last week or so – I have
Big Things planned for this year.

I will start to share them with you very soon……

Til then, I hope this helped.

- Garrett

P.S. I am considering putting a “Brain Dump and Goal
Grabber Package” together.

One that would contain all of my Spreadsheets and Forms
that I have developed and perfected for my yearly ‘Brain Dump’
ritual, along with a detailed How-to, maybe even some video’s
etc… – What do you think??

If you think that’s a good idea or have some input to share, drop
me an email at:
dannweb(at)garrettdann.com

 
**FOOTNOTE
 
I have Microsoft Office installed on my computers now, so
when I get to this point I transfer my list to a program I
built in Microsoft Excel.

This way, copying and moving tasks by a line or two – or
three, is a piece of cake.

If you don’t have Microsoft Excel you can install Open
Office from OpenOffice.org. totally for fr.ee 

There is a program within it called “Calc” that lets you work
with and even create spreadsheets just like Excel, and it’s a
piece of cake to learn how to use.  There are even ‘How-to
Video’s’ that you can find also for fr.ee on YouTube and
Google Video.

It also contains the program ‘Writer’ that will take care of
doing PDF’s for you.

This Software is ‘Open Source’, free to the public, and can
be found and downloaded from right here:
http://why.openoffice.org/why_great.html

If no one ever told you about this before, I’m sure you now
consider me you new ‘best friend’.  )

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 at 4:05 pm and is filed under Daily Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.