Most people think the real 2020 starts on the 1st of January. But for the minority who are serious about setting up their best year yet, 2020 started at the beginning of December. So here we are mid way through the final month of the year, if you haven’t started your 2020 yet, don’t panic, there’s still time but these next couple of weeks are crucial because how you treat the end of your 2019 determines everything about your 2020.
I love the big planning exercises I do each December and early Jan. I have shared the key steps to these yearly planning rituals in previous years and can do so again in follow up posts to come. However this year I’m adding a few refinements inspired by what Peter Voogd shared on a recent podcast.
This is what most people do in December:
*take time off to relax and don’t think about the year ahead
*forget about their routines
*cut corners
*let best practices slip
…..and because of this take a long time to get momentum back in Jan.
But, if you do the opposite to everyone else, and you can do these 5 things I’m sharing it will put you way ahead of the herd
HERE ARE THE 5 ‘GAME-CHANGING STEPS’ I’ve been working on today and will continue into next week:
STEP #1 AWARENESS AND UNDERSTANDING
*Understand that what separates the winners and losers is always the final stretch, so your focus has to be on breaking the proverbial tape and sprinting through the finish line. This doesn’t mean work crazy hours but it does mean use your time effectively to hit completion points and set yourself up for success.
*This is the mindset required, and then we go into finding your reasons why you’ll finish strong.
STEP #2: REASONS COME FIRST AND THEN THE RESULTS
*You need to invest the time to stack up the fuel and inspiration that’s going to see you taking the massive action that’s in alignment with what you want and your values.
-Why do you want to be productive?
-Why do you want to maximise the rest of 2019?
-What do you want completed by Dec 31st 2019, and what feeling do you want to have?
-What are the reasons why you don’t want to have any financial worries?
-Why do you want to build momentum for next year?
*Take the time to write out your strongest reasons why you are committed to finishing this year strong and starting next year stronger.
-(for example when I did this they included wanting to celebrate my efforts and not feeling regret, wanting to make my family proud, wanting to inspire the people who choose to follow what I share)
*If your reasons aren’t strong enough you will become complacent, so invest a little time to do this.
STEP #3: WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN AND PRIORITISE
The best thing you can do to clear your mind is to write down everything, get it onto paper. When I did this I had it categorised things that were floating round my head under each of the business entities we own, and then under personal stuff. Everything is on there from accounting deadlines to buying JV gifts, pension payments, last minute Christmas purchases…. you get the picture.
*Be sure you take 20-30 mins within the next 2 days to do this brain dump and put everything down you need to get done and that’s whirring around in your head.
*Once everything is written down, prioritise it by labelling with DELEGATE, DELETE, CAN”T CHANGE OR TAKE ACTION NOW.
*Anytime you feel overwhelmed, write it all down and when looking at it to prioritise you’ll realise that most of it won’t matter a year from now. What will still matter a year from now is your family, protecting your financial future, your customers. The little, small value things should be delegated.
Fuzzy thinking = fuzzy results so want to get this stuff out of your head in order to make way for clear thinking.
DELEGATE- who can do the thing that is not in your area of strength, or do the task 80% as good as you and free up your time?
DELETE- What can you delete that you shouldn’t even be worrying about?
CAN’T CHANGE- Some things we worry about we just can’t change, and it’s wasting our energy. If can’t change it, stop worrying about it.
TAKE ACTION NOW- ie if need to write an response to someone and it’s been festering in your head, schedule a specific time to do it and when the time comes, execute. When you take something out of your head and schedule it, it frees up head space and you can enjoy being fully present in the moment (so so important at this time of year).
SCHEDULE the next 30 days
*Strategically think through the next 30-40 days and map out everything – family time, travelling time, workouts, planning time
*Write out profit producing activities for the month ahead
*Write out what you’re committed to working on for personal growth and when. *This should be outcome based rather than quantities of information consumed, ie how will you apply what you read/watch/listen to? What skill is most relevant to you that you want to master
*Write out clear expectations for anyone in your team
*Schedule in your commitments/booked events, networking etc
*Schedule your workouts
Write out 5 potential distractions you might face in the next 30-40 days. Then create a prevention plan.
STEP #4: CELEBRATE WEEKLY PROGRESS VS PERFECTION
This practice has been huge for me over the years (you need to do this all year, not just at this time). You do this by measuring and activity and effort each week, ie acknowledging your done list and not living in the “Gap” of what you don’t yet have (ie where you think you should based on certain reference points in your head). I do this at the end of each day and at the end of the week.
STEP #5: DEFINE YOUR HOLIDAY RITUAL
Create a ritual to get you back in the zone after your down time.
Admit to yourself you will be fully present with your family in your downtime and that you might not be as motivated to get back to business after a party/family event, but have a routine you can rely on to get you back in the zone. This might be exercise, or reviewing your reasons why, watching something motivational. Create a list of what you will do to get you back in the zone after Christmas. My morning routine and reconnecting with my bigger goals does this for me.
If you take the time to do all these things, you will create massive momentum in Jan. I’m super excited for crunching through my priorities this week and booking out more meetings and calls for January.
What are you doing to tee up an awesome 2020?