The power of planning
We all stress at the end of August. September is coming, back to school or back to work, the holiday season is upon us, the end of summer and the end of the year approaching. Have we reached our goals? What have we done since January? Why has the year gone so fast? How have we not lost the weight, found the love, got the promotion we so proudly decided to go for when setting up our resolution end of December last year? What happened?
Procrastination happened. Lack of plan happened. Lack of organisation happened.
Let’s see how we can nail this last 4 months together, succeed and avoid burning out
Setting up a plan will not only help you reach your goals but also reduce anxiety, stress and fear of failure. Organising will increase your efficiency and probability of success. It may even avoid burnout at work.
With September comes a lot of responsibility, maybe more than in January. People’s anxiety starts peaking.
Review your current situation
🤔Where you are now compared to the goals you set up earlier this year🤔 what have you achieved so far and how do you feel about it. Understanding your current situation is the base to grow. It is impossible to go somewhere without knowing your current location.
Readjust your goals if needed
⚖️Goals should be SMART ⚖️ SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely. ensure you can measure them, reach them by the end of the year but at the same time challenge yourself. If you set up goals at work, having achievable and timely ones may avoid burnout at work. The beauty of goal setting is that you can readjust as you go so do not be stressed because you have to review some of them.
Backcasting your plan
🕑Backcast from your end goals🕑, work out what you have to achieve each month in order to be where you want to be in December. This process is essential to planning as you want to go backward from your end goal. That’s how all the largest companies set their strategies. They see the vision, then the goals and break them down into mini-goals. If you would like more information on backcasting, contact us for a free intro coaching session.
🕑Backcast AGAIN🕑Now that you have your monthly goals, what do you have to reach each week of next month to thrive? Think about this question carefully as this will determine your day to day.
Keep it in writing
📝When planning for success📝 ; do so in your journal. You are 1.4 times more likely to accomplish a goal you wrote down than if you hadn’t. That’s more than 100%. Always keep a journal that you can use anytime. Ideas, goals, thoughts, appointments…. One for everything. Lifecreatorzz will soon have their bullet journal specifically designed for ADHD and ADD so keep tuned.
Your week starts the Sunday before
🥈 Make your Sunday efficient🥈 You prepared your month with weekly goals. That’s great. Now, the tricky part start. Have the discipline to write down your week and prepare each day on the Sunday. I use the Sunday evening but maybe the morning will work best for you. My Sunday evening is dedicated to plan and organize the week to come. That’s one of the secrets to avoid burnout at work. Organising and planning, ensuring you don’t have too much on your plate, prioritizing. All of this starts on the Sunday evening.
Your day starts the evening before
🌆Make your evening worth it🌆 Just like you organise your week on Sunday. Take 15 min at each end of day to review your day, be proud of what you accomplished but most importantly to prepare the next day hour by hour. Review the goals. If you have not been able to accomplish everything today, what was the reason? Re-adjust until you have a perfect sense of timing and how long things will take you. I like to only have 6hrs worth of activities because I know that I underestimate the time it takes me to do a project. I also consider time for lunch, to get ready, breath or simply go for a walk.
One Day = One Goal
🎯 This is the rule I always tell my clients🎯 You can even have two goals. One to increase your confidence (I like the “Make your Bed” one) and one to progress on your vision. Making daily progress will result in major change in your lifestyle. In addition, if you only focus on the most important thing, you can avoid burnout at work or in life. This will be more detailed in my podcast which will be released this September.
Stay focused
🎯 FOCUS🎯 Make full use of efficiency tools. Whatever works for you. Some would use post-it (electronic or paper) to remain focus and organise their time. Some of us will prefer to-do lists or reminder. This does not matter as long as it fits fully your ways of working. I use all of the above depending on where I am or what I am working on. For work, I like to mark emails and, in addition, add them to my to-do list. I generally prefer paper as I can tick off the items. This gives me a sense of accomplishment! As we are all different you need to try what works for you and what does not.
8 ways to plan effectively, successfully conclude 2023 and avoid burnout at work
1- Review your current situation
2- Readjust your year-end goals if needed
3- Backcast into monthly goals
4- Keep it in writing
5- Your week starts the Sunday before
6- Your day starts the evening before
7- One day = one goal
8- Stay focused and consistent
Remember that the most important thing is to make your wellbeing a priority. You can use several tricks to preserve your mental health like meditation or exercise.
Reach out to us if you need any additional tips or a free coaching session!