Will 2011 be a breakthrough year for you? I believe the last seven days of the year are the most important ones, when it comes to planning out what your next year will be like. The end of any year is a perfect time to reflect upon what you have accomplished, take inventory of how you feel about your life, and to develop a written plan for what you want to achieve during the coming year.
Each year at this time I do this for both my personal and business life. I’ll share some of the business part here for you. First, I reflect upon what I have accomplished during the year. This year my business grew in both planned and unexpected ways. I had planned to teach a number of classes online, create several new products, speak at several events across the country, and to grow my list. This was the part of my business that I planned, and it worked out very well.
The part that I did not plan was related to my book – Huge profits With a Tiny List – being published. You see, I did not make the conscious decision to write this book until I was with my Mastermind group at the end of January, 2010. Even though writing a book was in the back of my mind, I had not made the decision to write until Armand Morin discussed it with our group while we were together in Las Vegas. I then told Jeanette Cates that it was my intention to write the book before our next meeting at the end of May, and she showed me how I could do that easily, without having to give up anything else I was doing.
This led to many new opportunities for me throughout the remainder of the year, so as I reviewed my business plan for the last two quarters I had to adjust for this. The result was that I earned more money, became more credible to my target market, and felt much better about myself – a huge jump in self-confidence and self-esteem – when it came to my business.
This is all related to your taking inventory of how you feel. When we have our own business we are responsible for our feelings of self-worth, so you want to make sure your business is giving you ample opportunity to feel good about what you are doing. My goal is to teach people how to build a profitable business they can run from home, so I feel good when my students share their success stories with me. This comes in the form of testimonials and emails about what they have achieved, and also what they tell me when I meet them in person at a live event.
Finally, write down what you want to achieve during the coming year. Everyone seems to recommend this, yet fewer than 10% of us actually take the time to put pen to paper. That’s right, you must actually write it down by hand before you transfer it to your computer. There have been many studies about the power of writing down your goals and ideas, and I chose to believe that this was a good idea about six years ago. I have been successful beyond my wildest dreams, so I believe it to be true.
Make 2011 your best year yet. Take the time this week to reflect upon what you have accomplished, take inventory of how you feel about your life right now, and develop a written plan for what you want to achieve in the new year.
Great timing, Connie. With 8 inches of snow on the ground and some unplanned time at home, it’s time to start writing those goals for 2011. Habakkuk was right on about writing down those goals 🙂
Theresa,
Thanks for your comment. I was not familiar with your reference, so I looked it up. Very interesting.
Connie
We definitely must have a written plan and follow it on schedule!! Everyone should read this article within the next seven days. I am applying this.
Lawrence Bergfeld
Thank you Connie!
This is my week to reflect, write, and plan for the next year. Feeling inspired to curl up with pen and paper now.
I would love to see what you and others have written for goals and objectives and the like. Being new at this sort of thing and being a visual learner, it helps me to get a better hold of such ideas.
If anyone is interested in really getting his/her goals written up, perhaps helping out someone is the incentive that they need and then many people, myself included, could benefit from their posting.
Wishing you all the success and happiness in your business and your life.
I remain, yours truly,
Monika
Since the snow is finally coming to Massachusetts tonight, I guess Theresa is right. Time available to work on 2011. I have already done Part 1, reflecting on 2010, thanks to your teleseminar/Fireside Chat. Next is looking ahead.
Im glad you feel good about the book accomplishment Connie and your should! It’s a handy reference and I have recommended it to many and given away several copies too. In fact, now is a good time for people to read through the book and think about what they may want to implement in 2011. With 50 ideas, there is something to fit everyone’s style, personality, need, and budget.
Great article, Connie. Ever since I’ve been in business for myself (almost 25 years) and most of those years working from home, I use the last week of the year to almost shut down completely so that I can take stock, renew my energy and make plans for the New Year. I don’t cook much, I don’t clean the house, I spend time reflecting, reading, writing, planning, listening to good music, napping…and for the past 20 years it ends on New Year’s Eve with a grand celebration of my anniversary of being married to the love of my life, Leon. It’s a terrible night to go out and celebrate, so we usually stay home and then take a short trip in January together. I simply LOVE this season.
I actually was thinking about that Scripture in Habbakuk when you talked about writing down goals. The Old Testament prophet taught us to “write the vision on tablets.” Now we can use paper. Some interesting points on Habakkuk:
1. He had to first “see” his vision.
2. He then made it known (shared it with others)
3. He made it stick by writing it down.
4. He made it plain – easy to understand.
5. He made it practical.
Then he ends with an encouraging word…even if it seems long in coming, wait for it, because if you have a God-given vision, it will happen.
Mmmm…maybe I should write an article about this! 🙂
To end this rather long comment…you came into my life almost a year ago. You told me to write my first article and publish it — that it would change my life. I did that, and now I’ve published hundreds of articles and written as many blog posts. You were right – things have changed. I’m very excited about all that I’ve learned in 2010 and I look forward to where that will take me (with the right action!) in 2011.
It’s good to know that wherever that is, you will be there cheering for me, as I am for you.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, my friend.
~~ Jeanne
Hi Connie, I love writing down goals and an action plan. In the past year I’ve found it especially helpful to not only write down goals, but to give them a time frame and plug them into my calendar. In my experience, that is the “secret sauce”.
Happy New Year!
D’vorah
Hi Connie,
I am grateful for you and your writing. Thank you for reminding me to “write out by hand” my plans for the new year 2011. It never occurred to me that this would be a great kinesthetic learning exercise prior to putting them on the computer. I am going to do this.
Traditionally, since I lived in the Frozen North (northern Canada) for decades, I always made my new year’s plans in April so that they would thrive and flourish along with the new growth and fine weather of Spring. If I developed good plans
in December or January, they just froze to death in the dark. :o)
Since I am in Utah right now, I guess I have no excuse, eh? :o)
Because of your encouragement, I am going to use this year-end 2010 time to do just as you suggest: put pen to paper and see what inspiring plans I can develop, and then put into action.
I think I need to look at four areas of my life: professional, spiritual, financial, and marital.
Thank you, Connie!
Doc Meek
“What if you are smarter than you think?”
Connie,
I will be planning and writing this week thanks to the gentle nudge from you. Your messages are always full of good ideas and reflect the genuine interest you have in helping your students to succeed.
I look forward to continuing to work with you in 2011!
Best wishes for a happy and prosperous new year,
Debby
Hi Connie!
This is a very timely reminder.
Indeed, now is the time to reflect, revisit my values & purpose and then write down my goals and plans for next year.
I am glad to have found you – someone who has a down-to-earth approach to online marketing.
Thank you for all you rhelp.
Ros
You are 100% correct, Connie! Writing down our intentions and our goals are critical for accomplishing them. Without a plan, it is like starting out from Florida thinking you might like to go to California and ending up in Maine then wondering what happened.
I am profoundly grateful for your guidance and direction, Connie. You have blessed my life and business. Whenever I find myself struggling, you have the unique ability to help me focus my energy and get rid of the distractions. May your 2011 be astonishingly abundant.
Whenever in doubt, remember my motto…
If you can’t raise, don’t call!
Donna Blevins
Poker Mindset Coach
Thank you Connie for those wise words. This is definitely my week for doing just that. I am starting by totally cleaning out my office and removing everything from the past that is not going to help me move forward into this new year.
As you know, I am expanding my business and this is going to be an exciting year for me. I am so looking forward to it and I would not be able to accomplish any of it without a written plan.
Joyce Jagger
The Small Business Marketing Consultant
Connie,
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I have been doing this for many years and has been very satisfying.
It also helps very much to keep me on track and not wander off into some other venture.
Wishing you a very prosperous New Year.
Ceci Davis, Parenting Tutor
I LOVE planning and setting out my intentions for the new year! I love it so much that I do it each month, but the New Year is the big grand event! You are such an inspiration to so many people and you lead by great example Connie!! I just love how much response and passion this blog post has brought up for so many people.
Goals are a big part of how we grow and move through our dreams to create a reality that excites us and motivates us to keep moving forward. Putting those goals on paper is magical and the magic is intensified when we keep that list in front of us on a daily basis as a way to really hone in on our focus all through the year. Great intentions pave the world with little or no results, to demonstrate what we are truly capable of we need to specialize in taking action!
This week is a wonderful week to set goals and dream about what 2011 holds. I like to start from the end. I imagine it is new years eve 2011/2012 and I write a future letter in great detail that shares what I have accomplished in present tense. I write it as if it has already happened and I am excited and grateful for a most amazing year!
I then take that future letter and pull out all the key accomplishments and put deadline dates to them. With each accomplishment I make a list of all the milestones and put deadlines to those as well so that I can accomplish each major goal within a scheduled time frame. I hit the ground running in January with the first quarter all planned out. Each quarter of the year is planned out and I also leave room for some new ideas and inspiration that are sure to come up as a result of my progress and new connections.
This year has been the most successful business year of my entire life! My future letter from last year has not only been correct, but I far exceeded what I thought I was capable of. I owe those parts to you Connie! You believed in me and saw in me a drive that I was struggling to demonstrate so I worked even harder so that I could prove you right. You saw in me who I could be and so I became what you saw! (Thank You from the bottom of my heart!)
Happy New Year!! May everyone have a great week of planning and dreaming!! Remember to dream big, plan the action you’ll take, set up a structure for yourself to take that action and add in a big dose of accountability……. and you will have an outstanding 2011!!
xoxo
Helen
It’s wonderful to see so many responses to this post. I use a small notebook to write down all of my ideas, and I date each entry. During this week I write down all of my goals for the next year, and then I save the notebook. It is only after the first of the year that I add it to my online journal. This has been very effective for me during the past several years.
Connie Ragen Green
I totally agree Connie. I had already set aside this week to prepare and plan for 2011 and your article hits the nail on the head! Reading this has caused me to put even more emphasis on the final written form of my plan and I can tell already that is bringing the picture into sharper focus. Now that’s value added!
Thanks so much for putting it in such a clear and powerful form.
I wish you and everyone here good health, peace and prosperity in the coming year!
Thanks for sharing your ideas on evaluating the past year and setting your vision for the new year.
Having been a member of Raymond Aaron’s mentoring group for more than a decade, I’ve been setting annual goals for many years.
Sometimes I found I set too many goals. Twenty was not unusual. So for 2010 I set only two major goals – one personal and one for business. Of course, these two, especially the business goal, contained many smaller goals. This worked out much better. I was more focused. I have limited my 2011 goals to two as well. Not sure if that works for others or if I will continue with that in 2012. That’s a Dec. 2011 evaluation item.
Like you Connie, I found that things changed over the year. Some things fell by the wayside and others, not even remotely conceived of in Jan. 2010, were accomplished. So keep an open mind to new opportunities to see if they are appropriate for your major goals.
I also like to review and adjust my smaller goals mid way through the year. This year I’m adding this as a quarterly task in my calendar. I find I can get deeply involved in a project or two and need to pause and reflect on how I’m doing and determine if I’m still headed in the desired direction.
Not only am I clarifying my 2011 goals, I also tidied up and uncluttered my desk. I felt I needed to get caught up on my paperwork and get organized so there were no distracting items in my work area. I did that Christmas Eve day. So I’m already starting on my 2011 projects.
May you have a fulfilling and prosperous 2011.
Susan Dumas
Author of Eliminate Plantar Fasciitis Pain in 3 Days
“When we have our own business we are responsible for our feelings of self-worth, so you want to make sure your business is giving you ample opportunity to feel good about what you are doing” … my favorite line in your post!
Reflection is the ideal activity to round out the year since the New Year will provide the opportunity for Renewal and Revival.
Wishing everyone blessings (too many to count) for 2011!
Melanie Kissell
Solo Mompreneur
Thank you Connie for having written this information. I had intended to spend time doing exactly the same thing. I was, however, still in the stage of intention. Your words have pushed me forward to making a clear decision to take action. Saturday is the day I have decided to take to make plans for next year and review this past year.
Happy New Year to you and all of your great readers who leave equally inspiring comments.
Doreen Frances
I love this post Connie. I am using this week to set goals and plan them out. I am tying up loose ends, finishing courses I never finished and catching up on current ones so I will start 2011 in sync. I’m also recharging my batteries by resting, reading, and listening to personal development audios.
I’m so looking forward to working even closer with you in the coming year. Thank you for all your encouragement and training this year. You are a blessing!
Celene Harrelson
Connie,
What a great post. There is something about writing your goals down in your own hand. It is as if you are making a commitment with yourself, a personal contract. This sharpens your vision of what it is you want to accomplish. With a clear vision, dogged commitment and an unbreakable will power you can accomplish more than you ever dreamed. Thanks for all you have shown and taught.
2011 is definitely going to be a breakout year for me and my family. We are expecting many great things related to our work from home business.
My wife and I have a date set just before the new year to have dinner together without the kids and map out all of our goals and a plan to get us there.
I can’t wait!
Great post Connie, taking the time to reflect and think about what you want the coming year to look like is so important. It can truly make the difference between a GREAT year and another humdrum year. The world is full of distractions and unless you have a clear vision of the direction you are headed, you may be surprised to wake up and find yourself miles away from your dreams.
Wishing you a great year!
Great article! I am a newbie to your blog, and I’m really enjoying your posts. I did the same thing, and I was especially anxious to plan for 2011 because 2010 turned out exactly how I didn’t want it to. So many challenges that were out of my hands yet effected me personally caused my whole outlook to crumble, so it was more of a year of soul-searching and feeling lost than a year of accomplishment. I look very forward to what this year will bring for both my personal and professional lives, and it’s going better than could have been expected already.
I am a big fan of written plans, because I am very picky about things being “checked off” a list each day. It’s what keeps me going, no matter what’s going on around me.