Hello all ...
It's here .... 2013 has arrived in all its glory. Appears to be a bit different in nature than 2012.. 2012 saw lots of internet marketing announcements and "new" ways of doing things. It appears that in 2013, (remember, it's early), that much of last year's "new" has stabilized and during this year we'll be implementing and improving upon those announcements. One thing for sure ... social networking is here! It's not coming, it has arrived, and is an accepted and "must have" marketing resource for all sizes and types of businesses.
All of this said ... how do you stay "on top" of your plans, It's so easy to get distracted with so much information coming at us. It's also easy to get discouraged. You get set to go with one plan of attack and it takes longer, doesn't give you what you expected ... you get discouraged and let that specific task go by along with several others! You lose sight of what you're doing and your January enthusiasm dulls.
I was determined not to allow any of the above "negatives" get me in 2013. As I did my planning last month, my sights were set upon being in control of time. Time seemed to be my largest enemy in 2012, as you can see by my posting history here on my blog!! Figured if I looked "realistically" and "honestly" at the "time" involved in all my goal setting ... daily, weekly, and monthly ... I would be more likely to keep in check with my progress and my emotions. As I proceeded with this planning, a word popped into my head ... the word "maximize" kept coming to my mind. Instead of just saying Friday afternoon I want to write my blog postings, I said," Friday afternoon is for blog postings. If I want to "maximize" the potential of each blog can I realistically get them done in one afternoon. How many hours might it really take? Using the word "maximize" got me "into the purpose" of the actual task in my mind and got me excited!! The more excited I got about maximizing each task, I discovered what I was really maximizing was me, my business!! Getting the very most I can out of "me" for my success! That gave me a whole renewed perspective for my 2013.
Maximizing might not be "your" word. It came to me by default, and after this experience I started hearing about choosing "words" as a planning method, from multiple sources. Guess the idea of finding a word for your planning is in vogue this year. As I spoke about my experience on the Garden Club call this week, one of my callers told me about a coach whose blog that week had recommended doing away with business plans and in lieu, pick just three words to follow and plan your year by!! Then on facebook, one of my colleagues sent out a post for everyone to share the one word that described their 2013. And now, ongoing, in one of the groups I belong to on Linkedin ... everyone is submitting one word that represents their 2013 .. current count is over 188 different words! Here are a few: Deliberate - Possibility - Shine - Build - Winner - Dare - Purpose - Go - Thrive - Persevere - Fearless - Focused - Optimistic.
Give it a try. Choose your "word" and as you go about planning your day, week and month ... have your word handy like a guardian angel over your shoulder. Just let it remind you, energize you, keep you going, revive you ... whatever you need .. to keep you on your road to success. It really does work!!!
Enjoy!
Keep Your Business Growing,
margie
