whats-your-planThe really cool thing about a vision is that it takes us to a place of possibility. With a clear, compelling, written vision for where we want to be at a certain time in the future, we can more easily chart our course on how to get there.

But how do you do that? How do you take a “right brain” expression of what your heart desires and turn it into an actionable plan that keeps you focused and on track toward your goals?

Call me a Strategy Geek if you’d like but this, my friend, is an element of business that I absolutely love. Planning gives you power – plain and simple – so today I’m giving you the process I’ve used to build seven businesses, over the last 30 years. You with me?

Step 1: Write out your vision

The good news is you have already taken the first and most important step… you’ve written your vision for the end of 2016 down on paper. I’m curious, how was that for you? For some, I imagine this is a new experience. For others, you may have been doing this for years.  If you would like a little vision-crafting guidance, click here for an exercise I created for my private coaching clients. Enjoy!

No matter what your experience, I’ve found that seeing someone’s vision can be a catalyst to refining your own. So, in keeping with my promise of transparency, I’m sharing my vision for the rest of 2016 that I wrote this morning. While I feel a little funny pulling back the curtain for you to see my desires for these next three months, I also know it’s not something other coaches do, even though it provides immense value.  Click here to check out my vision for this last quarter of 2016.

You’ll notice a few things…

  • It’s written as if it was December 31, 2016, looking back on the year I had already lived.
  • I did a quick celebration of the first 9 months and got really specific on what happened in the last quarter.

Step 2: Scan Your Vision for Projects, Benchmarks and Goals

Years ago, I noticed that while my clients could write out their overall vision with ease, where they often got stumped was in creating the plan to get there.  So I developed a process I call “Vision Scanning.” It’s a simple way to move from a right-brain description of what you want to achieve, to a left-brain, strategic approach to identify the projects, benchmarks and goals you want to achieve.

Here’s how it works…

  • Grab your vision and a highlighter and read through it, sentence by sentence. What you are looking for are clues of what needs to happen to make that piece of your vision a reality.
  • If you want to see an example, click here to see my same vision, only now with the projects, benchmarks and goals highlighted.
  • Once you’ve done this, list the highlighted items on a separate document for a list of projects, benchmarks and goals. You’ll use this Master List to manage your projects and daily to dos.
  • At this stage, I typically get out my Seven Questions for Conscious Decision Making (my Day 3 Blog) and see if there is anything that needs to go.

Step 3: Identify Your Priority Passion Projects

As you well know, a list of projects, benchmarks and goals does not make a vision. ;0) Stay tuned for my next blog on how to activate your manifesting mojo with a kick-ass project and productivity plan.

Are you enjoying the Big Finish Challenge? If yes, we would love for you to share what you are learning here or on the Facebook page.

Much Love, Jane

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