Example of a Personal Business Plan

It’s that time of year again… time for reflection and to start out with renewed vigor on the path toward my goals!!

I recently wrote an article about goal planning for Ms In The Biz which points you to this page for specifics. You might want to read that first - it is called A GUIDE TO YOUR PERSONAL BUSINESS PLAN.

This is a companion article showing examples of the goal setting I do to help you get started.

I think it is very important to write things down. I read somewhere that people who take time to write down their intentions are 80% more likely to accomplish them than folks who don’t. In this Huffington Post Article Mary Morrisey talks about people being 40% more likely but I swear I heard 80% and that’s what I’m sticking to!

You can’t just think about your goals or visualize them, you need to actually write them down. Not type them… hold a pen or pencil in your hand and write them on paper. This articles from Forbes talks about the importance of putting your pen to paper.

I also read about a condition where the little endorphin rush you get from telling someone your goals or even your great idea for a story, film, activity, whatever…is about the same you get when you tell someone that you have finished the story, film, activity whatever. Then you are way less motivated to do it! So keep your idea to yourself or your film crew ’till it’s done and you’re promoting it! Read an interesting article about this effect here.

The article by "Stronger Than Circumstances” author Mary Morrissey also goes into a 7 day goal writing challenge that I encourage you to participate in.

Erin’s Goal Setting Process:

What I do is a combination of years of researching and experimenting with many different types of goal setting. I think it most closely follows the method outlined in “Your Best Year Yet” by Jinny S. Dtzler but with my own personal variations and some much needed brevity. You can read about it in the Ms In The Biz article I wrote here. It takes me about an hour but you can spend more time on it if you prefer.

The most important thing about this method is that while the big goal setting session usually only happens once a year it continues every month, week and day. If you want to adapt it for a new goal, you can do it at any time. It is a fluid document that changes with you. This isn’t a “New Year’s Resolution” scenario, this is a part of your daily habit.

To help you get going I’m going to share my process. Yes, you can use my goals but it works best if they are tailored to you, so it may be best to use mine as a guideline for how to set you own up.

I start with a year in review and I list the 5 – 10 things that I’m most grateful for, or things that went well. I try to get a few from each area of my balanced life wheel. I got the image below from an article on Life Hack.org The idea of the wheel is that you should be putting effort into every area so you have a round wheel. There are a million of these but this one has some clarifying explanations for each area. For example, some people are spiritual without being religious, and some folks might be agnostic but you can see the “Spirituality” spoke has morals and ethics; spiritual accountability, your life purpose, stewardship, local church affiliation and relationship wit God so choose the definitions that fit your world view. (https://www.lifehack.org/696285/how-self-reflection-gives-you-a-happier-and-more-successful-life) .

On my personal paper I might list specific names or get into more detail but since this is on the internet I’m keeping them more vague. The idea here is to be grateful and reflect on all of your ‘wins’. This whole process should be positive and empowering. Watch out for negative self-talk.

Wheel of Life found on MomColoredGlasses.com

Erin’s 2018 Self-Reflection

Family (10)
Love my husband, still think he’s cute! Worked out a system for keeping daughter on track with her diabetes and it’s going well. Continuing to work with my son by teaching him to cook and other responsibilities.
Recreation (9)
Had a lot of fun travel adventures last year and we agree we need to do more of that. We are all focusing on playing my instruments more and we had a few family jams last year which is so fun!
Development (7)
Pulled back from the amount of volunteer hours I was putting in so I had more time to focus on things I cared about. Spent time educating myself through books and classes on filmmaking interests.
Social (8)
I made networking a priority for work by going to WIF and other events and had several girls nights. Kept in contact with old friends. As a family we participated in a few group volunteer opportunities.
Career (8)
Continued production of YNTN and improved sound and editing. Booked VO and commercial jobs, auditioned for TV shows and films. Made promising relationships. Helped my son navigate a series pre-test contract which we all learned a lot from.
Photography business was very busy and partnering with an app developer was a great bonus!
Health (9)
Had some success with setting a bedtime for myself. Kept a relatively consistent work out schedule and added a mile to my run while keeping my per/mile time the same.
Spiritual (8)
Renewed my focus on meditation.
Life Planning (8)
Stayed on top of my daily self-reflection and updating goals weekly and monthly.

So as you can see there are some areas that need more work than others. Some years I’ve had much lower numbers in certain areas. For example, I was terrible about keeping touch with old friends and I didn’t go out much which I realized made me feel isolated, so now I make sure to take action to keep those friendships blooming. This section was supposed to be positive think of it like all the fun stuff you posted on Facebook.

Now I move into “What could’ve gone better?” Even though I’m looking to improve I don’t want this to become a pity party because then I spiral into a dark hole and I’m not productive. Treat it more like the analysis they do after a sporting event, look for areas that can be addressed and tweaked for a better outcome in the future. It has to be things that can actually be changed. You’re not setting goals here. Later you’ll decide which areas get your attention. It’s ok if there aren’t areas of improvement in every category. I’m sure I could find something if I wanted to build a big list, but really I just want to identify trigger points that I’ll actually have time to address and I don’t want to get to negative.

Erin’s 2018 Self-Reflection – Continued

Family
I’m going a terrible job of keeping up with the clutter and the disorganization is effecting everyone.
My night owl tendencies are making our mornings more difficult.
Recreation – no complaints.
Development
Didn’t spend enough time on my own needs.
Social – no complaints.