90day Planning | TheLeiaV

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Today, I want to share a planning type or a method that I have been trying out for this year 2017. There is a reason why I want to share with you this is because I feel that planning this way, have proven to be more effective than trying to take on the entire year ahead of me as one whole big chunk of 365 days, back in Dec 2016.

If you'd like to see and hear me talk about this, click the link below to watch the video;

Now, with the beginning of every year usually most of us want the New Year to take us places that we want to go, goals that we want to unlock, people we want to meet and gain experiences that we have been dreaming of, for a very long time and the likes.

One thing I could say and share is that taking in all of the 365 calendar days into my mind was indeed very much overwhelming and not forgetting my quick burnouts. Contrary to the misconception of being a blog and a YouTuber, I too have challenges on this field of scope and the grass is most definitely not any greener on this side either. I wasn't too happy about what I was doing and where I was heading and want to achieve. On some bad days and I am being totally honest that I too felt lost when I first started out being a YouTuber then and now a Blogger.

The Ahah Moment

It was a random day when this thought occurred to me. I perhaps should take on a different route, something that is of a size-able chunk that I could digest better, deal with, plan ahead better and better perform for the goals I set for myself.. I remember thinking aloud to myself, 'What if I divide the year into four quarters, 90 days at a time and I would work on just 1-3 goals for every 30days?' It literally just stopped me in my tracks; this idea out of nowhere made complete sense to me.

I then remember thinking to myself, “Maybe I have been doing it, all wrong!” It was a huge relief to me and I recall a chuckle. It was an ‘Aha’ moment for me to realize that this route is do-able as I see the minimum goal here is to achieve and complete just one main task off my checklist.

Time to Review

This way, I want to be making sure that with each month and month end, I am heading somewhere towards the direction I want instead of just sitting at a dead end and wondering where it’s not working right and/or wrong. What would be worse would probably be, being distraught and unsure while traffic is coming at me from every possible direction. I am referring to any form of clutter from every possible source.

An example of how the 90day planning could and would work for sure is for an e.g; attempting to fit in some exercise and after four weeks, I could re-assess where I could do better with my fitness routine or give it a few tweaks here and there. I wanted to start doing Podcasts this year; it is something new to me and so the following month, I looked up articles, doing research on the relevant topics, pre and post productions and the nitty gritty and requirements for the first few podcast uploads. Planning too is vital, of course!

Keep at it

The main emphasis here is that; our dreams will not come to us! It is entirely up to us about how we find ways to reach and fulfill our dreams whether it’s going to be via a rocket, climbing up a ladder or with the help of a time travel device. The process is not going to be easy and you and I have to keep at it.

The misconceptions and assumptions towards someone elses' successes could sometimes be incorrect with our current age digital media. However, take heart that whatever it is that we want to attain, achieve and reach is within our control and easier with detailed and careful planning. Hence, the 90days planning seemed somewhat appropriate for me just because again, each of the goals are thoroughly being thought over and broken down into small steps to reaching it one step closer.

With three goals, side by side. It's easy to determine which ones may be needing more attention, which ones can do with less. How much lag is happening for each of the goals while making it easier to monitor them from this new view point.

Another example

Another favorite example of mine to utilize this 90day planning method is planning for a vacation at a destination of your choice; you could use the calendar to break down smaller tasks that would help you enjoy your holiday, a little better. Allocate a few hours over one to three weeks for your research. You could do the same for budgeting, accommodation, restaurants, locations for your sight-seeing, travel insurance, flights, online checking-ins. You do all the research required and necessary for your trip and by the time, you're there.. You probably know the city at the back of your hand, totally skipping on the travelers' frenzy or perhaps even speak the local language fluently, a huge plus.

About a month later, go back for a review and see how well the last goal took to accomplish and how you could use this to benchmark for your next goal. Whether it maybe, a smaller set of requirements for each of the three goals that are met. If they are, we can move forward from there. If not, see where it needs correction or a few other steps needing to complete the task and check it off.

How I use the 90Day Planner for a Recent Goal

Let's come back to a real life recent example, I wanted to start doing Podcasts, this year. I have interest in it and I already have a few ideas for the first few episodes and I am really psyched at this idea of embarking on another new platform to amp up my Blog and YouTube Channel. Yet, this alone was not enough to have a podcast up at my earliest convenience. It did not happen overnight and I need you to understand that things do not happen at our whim and fancy.

What started out was planning! Of course, what else will I do? I scheduled out days of the week where I can spare time for my research on beginners' guide to Podcasts, watch YouTube videos about it, read blog posts, listen to popular podcasters' stories and their beginnings, looked up Pinterest for more articles about this topic, research on equipment and software about how I can get started. I even enrolled for an Online programme for Podcast newbies.

Whenever I do get free time, I try out what I've learnt so far into practice. Get a feel for it and assess if I still would like to continue with this or put a stop to it. A reason for me to share this is to help you understand that there are more involved and you need to have interest and curiosity to fully immerse yourself into it. You should not be influenced about what others are doing and you have to do it too.

I stayed awake on nights when my kid turned in earlier than expected. I perform a few trials with the scripts that I have prepared with my mic, I have on hand for my videos and voice-overs. I listen to how I sound like; make some adjustments on the pauses and pronunciation. I try listening to myself and editing and performing the cuts on Audacity. Why, do I have to do all this? So that I know what it takes to have a podcast from start to finish and how long it would take me to do all the works that is required for one episode.

Podcasts are much different than writing a Blog post for my Blog and creating a video for my YouTube Channel. They come with their limitations and challenges on my end too and this is the only way I can get a feel for it if I want to keep doing this on the long run. There are no short cuts, at least for me.

Since it's not at all remotely related to my Blog and YouTube Channel, it's not going to be readily available at my disposal. I want to be the turtle in the Turtle and the Hare Race, who wins in the end. All that reckless rushing is not good for our health too!

Which is why, I feel that my 90day planner may be a right fit for you. I have made the free to download pdf document easily available for you just so that it helps you achieve what you have on your vision board. Click the link here to access the planner, right away! Make sure, you fill it in with loads of colors and words of your choice and get planning! It's free to download by the way if I haven’t mentioned already..

That's it for this week, this is my eight episode for my Girlfriends' Guide Series! I hope you find this post to be useful, I shall catch you on my next one!


Love,