The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 2 Corinthians 9:6
When you are an entrepreneur, looking at your entire year with focus and prayer takes longer than a few hours. It takes days. It can be mentally, emotionally, and even spiritually overwhelming and exhausting for me if I don’t break it up into manageable chunks.
For me this means separating out the bigger business planning into months. Here is the schedule I follow to spend the time that my business deserves on these elements:
- Business plan: March
- Marketing plan: April
- Annual budget: May
- Continuing education plan: June
- Editorial calendar: July
- Standards review: August
- Process review: September
The rest of my annual planning is then spread across three days. When I used to try to stuff all of this into one day, I struggled. It’s hard to “be still and listen” when you are cramming things into an eight-, ten-, or even twelve-hour sitting. Give yourself the time and space to really get still and listen. This is where the magic happens.
Pre-planning, which I am doing in just about a week, my Faith-Filled Annual Planning Day, which I do while I host my Virtual Event, and a post-planning day where I wrap it all up.
Pre-planning, for me, is huge. I do it in November each year and have found that it really helps me get the most out of the Faith-Filled Annual Planning Virtual Event that I will be hosting this year on December 4th.
The elements you work on in pre-planning are more life-and past-oriented. Taking time to complete these in advance helps frame what you will work on as you prepare short-term intentions for the New Year.
I generally set aside four hours for this work. I already have a mission statement, life verse, and life intentions set out from my years of planning this way, so I can accomplish a review and an update in about 4 hours.
The beauty of my process is that once you have the elements in place that work for you, the next year, you will spend time simply reviewing things, rather than trying to create them.
Here is a list of items you might want to have for your own pre-planning. It is similar to the list I share with my Faith-Filled Annual Planning Experience participants.
- Bible
- Prayer journal
- Calendars (all the types you normally use)
- Journals you might want to use for planning
- Past year goals, plans, etc. (for review if needed)
- Plain white paper, various sizes: mind-mapping, drawing, creating
- Poster board or foam core board: vision board
- Magazines, stickers, and print outs: vision board
- Glue sticks: vision board
- Lined paper or a journal: for journaling, list making, letter writing, notes
- Colored pencils, markers, creative tools
- Scissors
- Pencils and pens
- Great music (I have two Pandora stations I use for my planning days called “Happy” and “Nature Sounds with Music”, because I need a station without words to focus sometimes.)
- Lots of water to stay hydrated, great coffee, tea, or beverage of choice
- Your business plan, marketing plan, editorial calendar, and anything else you might need to proceed with planning 2016.
Once you have things together, you are ready to pre-plan. I start with quiet time, then I review the current year. I even write it a letter. Gratitude is a huge part of this process. From there I review my ultimate vision, mission statement, and life intentions and prayerfully consider how I am doing with them. Journaling, vision boarding, contemplation, and mind-mapping are all a part of the process. It helps me get really clear on where I am in relation to the previous year’s Faith-Filled Plan and where I need to focus my attention and energy on my actual planning day.
So, tell me, do you have a planning process? I would love to hear about it!