The Importance of Being Specific

Last week, we worked on choosing our Top 5 Goals for the Year. We're keeping it simple! We're not overwhelming ourselves with too much and setting ourselves up for failure.

This week, we're tackling our biggest goal head on!

If you're anything like me, you're so easily distracted that if you start with a goal like: Launch a New Business, you'll quickly get off track faster than a preschooler chasing the ice cream truck! I'm pretty sure my brain is worse at focusing than my own preschooler's in many cases! I need all the help I can get, and that's why I GET SPECIFIC.

Your challenge this week:

Take that great big dream of yours for this year, and break it down. Write down all the steps necessary for you to accomplish that goal. You can see on the blog my example of breaking down our Podcast Launch step-by-step to stay on track. You may need to add, revise or change these steps later, but the point is to write down as many things as you can think of that you'll have to do to reach your end goal.

Set due dates for each little task. Be as specific as you can so there's no room for straying from the course.

You can do this, and we can't wait to hear about your biggest goals in the Facebook group!

Be Brilliant this Week!

~ Beth Anne

Week 16 Update

Sarah and I have been working through all the specifics of our book launch along with the other products that will accompany it. The more specific we get, the more we realize how many different steps are involved! There's not just writing and editing, but also setting up an affiliate program, partnering with other bloggers, marketing, and for us, many other steps involved since we're developing a partner product too.

Getting specific has helped us IMMENSELY in tackling our goal head-on and clarifying timelines, due dates, and what plan of action makes the most sense.

To be honest, getting specific this week has meant that we've shifted timelines and strategies a bit. I've been reading the book, Decisive, by Chip and Dan Heath, (affiliate link, because I highly recommend it!) and it has changed the way I make decisions! If you're an impulsive, go-with-your-gut kind of decision-maker like me, I highly recommend this book! It has helped me to see where I use things like confirmation bias or a narrow frame of view to limit my options and fail to see the best possible choice out there.

If you're someone who agonizes over every decision, the book could be great for you too. It will help you to cut through all the distractions, look at all your possible choices, and pick the very best solution with confidence.

Sarah and I talked for over an hour today about several different options for a book launch timeline and strategy. We looked at the situation from every angle. We're still considering different options and working on a specific timeline this week. However, none of that would have been possible if we hadn't listed out every task and step involved in making this project a success. Steps sometimes get re-arranged, altered a bit, shifted, or, in some cases, eliminated, but writing everything out makes all of those decisions possible.

I'm also convinced that without a detailed list of steps, Sarah and I would have been way too overwhelmed to keep working on this project. When you see it as a whole, it just feels like too much – like a heavy weight dragging you down with each step. When you see just that task in front of you – the one you need to do this week – the project feels do-able.

I wish I could share with you our detailed task list for the book launch, but Sarah would kill me! Plus, it could very well change between now and the launch. I can't wait though, to share our list, plan of attack, and strategies after the fact. We'll tell you what worked, what didn't, and what we'd do differently next time.

How about you? Have you written out the steps for your biggest project or goal this year? Has it given you clarity? Have you re-arranged some things or developed different priorities as a result?

We can't wait to hear from you!

~ Beth Anne

Setting amazing goals? Head here next!