It Doesn't Take Much To Get Organized
A wall calendar works for your business, for your family schedule, and for your personal life
Sue Lenthe recently interviewed me for an upcoming article in the Northern Colorado Business Report
on "Planning for a More Successful New Year." Perfect timing, since every November I tell all my audiences to plan now for what you want to
accomplish for next year. I told Sue that sometimes a very simple tool can
get you headed in the right direction.
For instance, in December drop by Citizen printing (at 1309 Webster, on the east
side of Ft. Collins just north of Mulberry) a get a free "Planning Calendar for
2009." Hang this year-at-a-glance calendar where you can see it every
day. Get a supply of those round colored dots (garage sale dots or
labels) and assign special meaning to each color. Decide what you want
to accomplish.
For instance, Linda Sioux Rosen always sends out a
personalized photo postcard for the Holiday season. She might put a
green dot on December 10th on her calendar, with the notation "mail out
cards." She knows it takes about two weeks for the cards to be printed,
so she puts a yellow dot on November 10th, with the notation "card to
printer." But she knows she has to have a special photo taken outside
with her Clydesdale draft horse for the card, and the weather is
unpredictable, so she puts a red dot on September 10th with the
notation "take photos for Holiday card." See how by starting with her
goal and working backwards she's able to visualize what she needs to do
to make it happen--without STRESS?
By using the wall calendar to target
dates for marketing campaigns, you get the perspective you need to plan
to make it happen. You'll focus on what you have to do in January to
make your client party happen in June! Dots can mark dates, goals,
meetings, deadlines, vacation time, birthdays--whatever you wish. The
wall calendar works for your business, for your family schedule, and
for your personal life as well. It gives you perspective and makes you
at least feel like you have a bit of control. No last minute panic or
projects done in a hap-hazard way because you were rushed! Amazing,
isn't it, how such a simple FREE tool can make you a more successful
business person?
Don't you agree that some people know how to make ordinary things
more fun? Diana McKinney (of Solid Sound Entertainment) had a
suggestion for those of us who make 'to do' lists on yellow pads, just
for the pleasure of crossing off items we've accomplished. Diana says,
"If you use a highlighter when marking items off your 'to do' list, it
really does 'show' what you have done." Yes, rather spectacularly!
My
friend Laureen Persson the massage therapist would agree. She uses
colored sticky notes for her 'to do' lists in her little day planner
AND colored pens! You should see her on a road trip--her maps are a
symphony of different colors for the trip out, the trip back, and
optional side jaunts. I suspect that these folks lead colorful lives in
many, many ways, eh?