from taylorpearson.me
So at this point, you’ve got the big picture definition (what I want) done; now it’s time to put some constraints around it and figure out what is working, what’s not working, and a definite plan for the next 90 days. You do a version of this for each “Life Area” (Career/Relationships/Self/Health).
Review notes made over the course of the quarter for specific, big-picture things to think about (like “should I hire more people or 80/20 my clients?”).
Do an 80/20 Analysis – Review previous quarter’s big initiatives and respond to the following questions:
What went well? What are the 20% of things I’m doing that are driving 80% of results? –
While it’s important to make a decision on what you want without considering resources currently under control, once you start thinking about how to get there, you have to change that. I find this answer is usually surprisingly simple. When I look back at the last five years of my life, I can pretty much file everything under two buckets: Generating IP (writing, building internal processes, etc) and Building Strategic Partnerships (I would include internal team management/hiring within this as well).
What went badly? What were the biggest mistakes I made? Why didn’t I achieve what I set out to achieve?
What are the three least-valuable things I’m doing? What are the 80% of things I’m doing achieving 20% of the results? What am I doing to avoid The Resistance? If you get stuck on this one, think of someone that is three to five years ahead of you in your field. What do you do that they don’t? Stop doing that. –
It’s easy to think of more stuff to do, and much harder to STOP doing things which either aren’t working or are simply working worse than other things you could be devoting energy to.
Clearly Define a Goal – Thinking about the 25 year vision document, Perfect day as well as what is and isn’t working, ask: –
This where I think about what the market wants, as it has to be something concrete that I can realistically do in the next 90 days.
The How – How do I get there? Specifically, what dangers do you have now that need to be eliminated, what opportunities need to be captured, and what strengths need to be maximized?” What does the day-to-day life of someone that has already achieved this goal look like?
This forces you to fully answer the “what does the market want” portion as you there has to be some reasonable path to getting there in the next 90 days. Brainstorm as many possible options as you can think of for each of the question. There are no dumb ideas, only poorly prioritized execution plans. You’ll prioritize later.
The biggest dangers I have that need to be eliminated are…
The biggest opportunities I see that need to be captured are…
The biggest strengths I have that need to be maximized are…
On an average day, someone that has achieved this goal…
Count the costs – Write all the things you will have to give up and sacrifice to get there and make sure it’s worth it – This is one of my favorites and one that I recently added after reading The Twelve Week Year. It’s easy to get excited about “I want six pack abs,” but do you want to weigh and measure everything you eat, never eat out with friends, not touch a carbohydrate and stop travelling? I didn’t. Not worth it.
Choose 1-3 Key Performance Indicators for the goal
They must be specific and measurable – either a number or definitive yes/no
State them positively – rather than focusing on a 2 percent error rate, you would target a 98 percent accuracy rate.
I usually pick 1 key indicator and 1-2 lead indicators