I've gotten pretty good at writing down and achieving goals over the years. I've lost 100 pounds, I'm in an amazing marriage, I am a CEO of a multi-million-dollar company and I am a proud mother of 4 incredible kids and as of Christmas day, I’m a grandmother to a new baby girl.
Sounds great right? But here's the thing, my weight is out of control again (I need to re-lose 50lbs ... yay), my finances are NOT where I want them to be and I could be doing more to contribute to my relationships. The career part I've got down. It's those other EXTREMELY important things that need my attention ASAP.
What better time than New Year's to get re-focused? So, I sat down to do my normal annual goal writing activities ... but this year is different. This year I have new tools, new stability and a whole new drive (reasons).
I'm going to talk about my new system for success, but before I do, I want to mention that contributing to my previous successes are things like the 50+ books in the past 3 years that I've read, the various Tony Robbins seminars (and others) that I've attended, the Podcasts I listen to (Freakonomics, Planet Money, Ted Radio Hour, How I Built This and Masters of Scale) and tapping into the high achievers in my Vistage group as well as my amazing my mentor Dan Tyre.
In other words, I am CONSTANTLY learning.
If that first paragraph is the tip of the iceberg, let this next paragraph reveal what is under the water.
That said, it wasn't until I found EOS (Entrepreneur Operating System) last year and read the book Traction by Gino Wickman that the light bulb went off on how to really gain traction in my personal life. EOS is helping us with our business, but I needed a system for my home life which, let's be honest, is MORE important than business and deserves more attention but usually for most of us gets far less.
Here are the steps I will follow this year to achieve maximum success in 2019. These are a culmination of trial and error over the years along with things I've learned from the greats and now EOS.
Step 1: Know where you are.
The first step to setting goals is to get a better understanding of where you are now vs. where you want to be in any given category.
A great way to assess this is using this “Wheel of Life” document every 90 days. We learned about this from Tony Robbins at UPW where you can fill in each part of the wheel to identify where you are. This is one of 100+ life changing things one learns at UPW and I HIGHLY recommend attending if you have the opportunity (no, I don't get paid to tell you that).
I created the list below for myself, to get even more specific as I completed the document:
- Complete opposite of where I know I could be
- Far from where I know I could be
- I’m doing some things, but not with intentionality (that should be a word)
- I think about it and set a plan, but don’t consistently follow it
- I set a plan and follow it 50% of the time
- I’m seeing progress, but it could be better
- I’m feeling P-R-E-T-T-Y good and can see the top
- I am showing up, planning, assessing and executing at least 80% of the time
- I am consistent. I am on track. I am close to domination
- This is AMAZING. I am showing up EVERY DAY, putting in the work and getting the results
Imagine a life where when you looked around and you rated yourself as performing at a Level 8-10 in at least 80% of your categories? How free or at peace would you feel? How connected would you be to those you love and who love you? How many people would you impact?
Here's a copy of my wheel based on this and let’s just say that I’m looking forward to my progress in the next 90 days and to see what this looks like when I get there.
Step 2: Get crystal clear on what a Level 10 looks like in each category.
I’ll share a couple of mine, for example:
- Health L10 – Living every day at 155 pounds, staying active in fun ways and finding ways to play and be outside with Andrew, the kids and the dogs.
- Wealth L10 – Spending less than we earn, zero debt, investing in our future and giving back while still enjoying life. Being on the same page and communicating weekly.
Step 3: Create a visual map and keep it front and center, ALWAYS.
Using a tool like Coggle, you can put everything you’ve discovered about what you want for yourself on a visual mapping file that you can print out and post up on your bathroom mirror, in your car, save it to your phone screen … anywhere that will help you keep your vision front and center. Below is an example of mine.
Step 4: Set specific measurable goals and give them dates.
Make the goals in each category one to two years out. I learned from Tony Robbins that the most invigorating way to work on categories is to give things more powerful names that make it even more exciting to work on the various areas of your life. Instead of just health I added “Total Vitality” and instead of marriage I put “Passionate Marriage” … because that’s what I’m really after.
Step 5: Identify 90-day rocks.
Now that the big goals are set, work the plan back into what you can accomplish in the next 90 days. This video explains the importance of Rocks and why they go first: Stephen Covey Video on Rocks (3:58 min). Create a rock and milestones for each rock for the next 90 days. Here’s how I built mine. Not every category needs a rock (for example, in my career I’m already doing everything I can and need to do at the moment). For each rock, try to limit to 3 milestones or less. Those pebbles in the video are REAL and your future self seems to have lot more time than she really does. Keep space for life to happen so that you can relax and be flexible in the ebb and flow of that too.
Step 6: Get a habit building app to support your daily activities.
You don’t want to write down a to do list of “10k steps” or “20 minutes of reading.” If you write down too many to dos, you will “to do” yourself right onto the couch. I’ve done it many times, and then nothing gets done. I don’t need to write down grocery shopping or laundry or brushing my teeth. But I DO need an app to help me check off a box for FLOSSING my teeth (because I suck at that), getting my 10k steps in each day and sleeping for 7 hours. Using an app for the good habits we’re trying to set up alleviates the need to add them to our “to do” lists and encourages us to keep working on the little things that add up to big things for our future selves every day. I read this article and opted for the Streaks app.
Step 7: Schedule planning time.
The final step is scheduling planning time, so you don’t lose sight of your goals. Here’s how I spend my time: Every day (10 minutes), every week (1 hour), every month (3 hours) every year (1 week). Here’s a video from Stephen Covey on the importance of planning and living in Quadrant 2.
Ready to Achieve Goal Traction?
I encourage you to attend our FREE Peak Performance Workshop on January 18. All the details are listed below.
A MESSAGE FROM MARI ...
You're already awesome. That's not in question. What I've learned is that in every area of my life, I could be doing EVEN better, and it's that small or big space between where I am and where I want to be that I can dig deeper and go further.
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