It would only be fitting that my first blog of 2018 was about needing a plan.
Plan plan plan, short medium and long term. This is something I am trying to live my life by. Every 1st January (maybe 2nd or 3rd depending on the New year eve) I write a list of ten things I am going to achieve this year. It is then cello taped to the calendar (yes, I am so old school and much to my friends’ annoyance I have a calendar… last years is cow yoga themed!) Some are related to work, finance, health, relationships and always a skill or growth option, ranging from learning to French plait my hair to running a marathon. Nothing is too ridiculous. Albeit learning the splits and becoming a milliner still have not happened!
When I was starting myinternalrecruiter.com, I knew organisation targets and accountability would be key for success. In any article about start-ups one of the top tips they give time and time again is to complete a business plan. Working in large corporates I knew how to write a budget and a plan for the year. This was the easy part projecting the key numbers and future projections. Armed with my business plan I had no idea what to start with. I was overwhelmed and tried to do a bit of everything badly. I knew I had to break everything down Business planning had to have structure. Like my yearly goals nothing was too small and nothing too ridiculous to plan.
I needed a 30 60 90-day plan, the concept of the 30 60 90 plan is simple you write a list of the things to achieve short term 30 days, medium term 60 days and long term 90 days. They all feed into each other and ultimately help you achieve the goals set. Its an oldie but a goodie
As I am only in the first 30 days I can only comment on this. The first 30 days are all the set-up details, email, website, telephone etc. I had no idea how long this would all take. For example, I am not a video content creator, IT expert or website designer but I have had to learn all of these skills quickly, there is no team to call and they will fix the issue for you. I set myself yesterday afternoon one hour to complete the introduction video… this was not long enough! I couldn’t get the microphone to work on the laptop, so I had to balance my phone on a pile of books and against a glass of water, ridiculous but it worked. This diverted my focus from everything else I had to do yesterday. Due to my extensive 30 day plan I have now re arranged the week and am back on track. You need to stick to the plan.
While I can’t predict the future or what the next 30 60 or 90 days will hold at least I have a plan. Here’s to starting the hard work but at least the work I know how to do.
Happy new year everyone let’s make 2018 great.
