Quarterly Planning Gave Me The “Oomph!” I Need

Happy Saturday to you!

I thought I’d share something I’ve been learning that has given me the “oomph!” I needed to move forward.

All health excuses aside, I have trouble acting on what I need to do. My mentor Dean will say, “I know you’ve been working hard,” and I think, “No, I don’t think so.”

For some reason, I’ve been struggling to act.

The Four Core Areas

What do I need to do?

I need to get traffic to my blog and offer, get emails, follow up with my subscribers, and make offers.

I’ve learned how to do these things, but I’ve been stalling in practice. I can’t move forward like a car at the first cold freeze. Yup, you guessed it, our car needed a new battery this week 🙂

I’m A Procrastinator. What?

It turns out I’m a procrastinator. Looking over my blog, I see now that it’s obvious. But, it came as a shock to me.

In school, I never had a problem meeting deadlines. I’d make a plan and be done in plenty of time, whether it was regular homework or a big project.

Well, it turns out procrastinators love to meet a deadline. We need structure and a plan. We have trouble when there are a lot of different ways to get to the same end.

Umph. That’s me.

I’ve often felt like my tasks for the day are vague. I just need to keep doing what I’m doing, and there will be progress in time. I find that overwhelming and daunting.

Affiliate marketing is great. You choose how you do the four core areas, but it’s all up to you to choose and do it.

And then you just keep acting without seeing results.

A procrastinator’s nightmare!

Ruth Soukup

So, I’ve bought Routh Soukup’s Living Well Planner for I don’t know how many years. We’re approaching ten, I’m sure. Before you check it out and balk at the price, let me tell you why I use it: There’s a place for everything swirling around in my head.

There’s the standard planner. It has a place to plan using her Goal Crushing System. There’s a monthly budgeting sheet, meal planning, and lines to write on beside each week and month… I could go on and on. I put everything in it: from what chores to do to when to mail birthday cards.

I am an avid fan of Ruth Soukup, so I pay attention when she sends me an email.

She sent me one, practically giving away her package about blogging. This is usually very expensive, so I bought it. I thought maybe it would make it easier to write my blog. It does seem helpful, and I’ll share what I learn as I work through it.

Of course, she added value as any good marketer does. There was free training that came along with it. I attended the meeting; it was helpful, and she added more value by offering us a higher ticket item.

She’s got her marketing down!

She’s got a beta program for her new Powerhouse system. It’s similar to her blogging company, but there’s much more to this. In short, I signed up.

Dean will be the first to tell you he’s not a motivational guru, and Ruth will get me moving forward. For some reason, I was stuck and helpless to figure out why.

Powerhouse, So Far

I’ll save you all the details and share what is so revealing.

Ruth wrote a book years ago called Do It Scared. I’ve never read it because I thought it would just be another motivational book. I don’t usually do those. I’ve since learned that Ruth goes over seven fear archetypes. She reviews seven areas that could hold you back and how to deal with the type that describes you. This free quiz determines your top fear archetype. If you pay $15, you get your top three fear archetypes. The results review how these three types interact together and what you can do to work with your types.

Anyway, it turns out I’m a procrastinator. I am most afraid I will make a mistake. I’m a self-doubter. I’m worried that I’m not enough. And I’m a rule follower. I like to do things how they’re “supposed” to be done.

What Should I Do?

More than anything, the quiz says, I need a finish line. Use an accountability partner. Set a date and come up with consequences. And then, celebrate my achievement.

Just as I dare to begin, the self-doubt pops up. An accountability partner will help me to focus not on my thoughts but on moving forward with my plan.

And as a rule follower, I doubt my common sense and wait for direction. Again, I need an accountability partner to encourage me.

I see a pattern here. No wonder I’m stalled!

Quarterly Planning

And now, we come to the heart of the matter.

Ruth’s Quarterly Planning system is copyrighted (I think that’s the correct phrase). She did ask us not to make it public, so I’m going to share the very bare bones. I’ll only share what is similar to her usual goal crushing system.

The quarter is just 13 weeks.

Pick five goals you want to focus on for 90 days that will most move your business forward.

For me, I need to do the four core areas. My five goals are more defined.

1. I need to set up Affiliate System and follow Dean’s direction.
2. I need to watch YouTube training for traffic generation and implement it.
3. I need to publish at least one blog a week, blog-hop, and respond to comments.
4. I need to send at least three follow-up emails a week.
5. I need to work two hours a day, 9-11 Monday through Friday.

These goals are not vague and are specific to where I’m now in my business. If I follow through, some of these goals will be accomplished and won’t need to be done next quarter.

Weekly Prioritizing

Then, each week, I do a brain dump of everything I need/should do this week. I’m limiting it to business stuff.

This is the cool part.

I group my to-do list into three task lists.

• First group: All the things I need to do to move my five goals forward go in this group. These are the most critical tasks for the week. They must get done.
• Second group: This is the urgent stuff that needs to get done. Doing them does not move my big goals forward, but I’ll need to fit them in somehow.
• Third group: I would like to do these things.

The benefit of grouping the to-do list is that not all tasks are equal now.

In case you’re panicked, “How will the urgent things ever get done?” I’ve found I can focus on the first group and do the second group when I need a break.

I’ll share this week’s tasks as an example.

• First Group:

1. Affiliate System Week 4 homework, Affiliate System Week 5 meeting.
2. YouTube training
3. Write a blog.
4. Blog-hop and respond to comments.

• Second Group:

1. Find out where the 2024 tracker is.
2. Find out where the recurring fee for the Affiliate System is being charged. I’d forgotten.

• Third Group:

1. I didn’t write anything this week.

Block Out Time

This is where I bring out my planner and block out when I will do my tasks from the First Group.

I looked at what I wanted done last Sunday and realized I didn’t have time to work on YouTube training.

This is okay because, on Sunday, I saw I needed to focus more on getting the Affiliate System done than my traffic strategy. Once Affiliate System’s initial set-up is complete, I’ll focus on learning my YouTube strategy.

If I hadn’t come to this conclusion Sunday, I’d have been feeling frazzled and defeated all week.

Conclusion

So, whether you’re a procrastinator or not, I hope you find this a helpful process.

I’ve got a big, overarching plan I can get excited about with very defined tasks for each day. I must focus and act to get those tasks done, or I risk failing to meet my big goals for the quarter.

I’ve got the “Oomph!” I’ve been missing.

And, remember that celebration I must give myself when I hit the finish line? I’m going to celebrate with a Pina Colada!

Challenges This Week

I stated last week that I would share my challenges with you.

• Monday, I was too tired. I don’t know what happened. I had to rest before work began. I didn’t get anything done.
• Tuesday, I felt much perkier. So, something must have just been off Monday. This is where I have a problem. I can accept that I will have “sick” days. But on the day I feel better, I have trouble moving forward. Knowing this, I talked to myself. I kept telling myself that it was okay that yesterday I only rested. I must have needed it. Today, my goal is to work on the Affiliate System homework for week 4. I felt diminished and like I couldn’t do it, but I just focused on doing it. Guess what? It got done!
• Wednesday, I went to the question and answer session Dean hosts. I have a co-branded funnel with Dean, and the email set-up is still in AWeber. I was wondering if I should take the lead in figuring out how to get that email compliant with the new email rules coming up or if there would be some guidance. Of course, there will be guidance. I am relieved!
• Thursday, I lost track of it. This is the day I set aside to write my blog. It only got started. And then, when I shut down my computer, I hadn’t saved my work and lost it all.
• Friday, I went to the meeting for Affiliate System Week 5.
• And, here we are on Saturday. I am posting my blog today. It’s a little later than I’d like, but Voila! It is done 🙂

Question

I’ll set up my lead magnet this week with my new professional email. Next week, I’ll be able to ask you if you would like to be one of my accountability partners. If you say yes, I’ll email you each week when my blog is published and share my thoughts, challenges, and excitement throughout the week. Occasionally, I’ll make an offer,  but it will only be if I find the product truly helpful. And you’ll be able to email me as well. We can encourage each other!

Is that something you’d be interested in?

Is quarterly planning something that would also help you move your business forward?

Let me know what you think of this week’s post!

Ciao for now,

Nakina