The old adage

"out of sight, out of mind" plays a significant role in whether

your goals will be achieved. If your goals are not front and center,

they will undoubtedly be forgotten in favor of following routine.

Goals require plans and plans must become relevant on a monthly basis.

Learn how to keep your goals in your sights and achieve your goals through

a systematic process of monthly planning.

The most important thing to keep in mind

while planning is that you must remember your goals on a consistent

basis, and they must have action steps that flow, systematically, into

monthly plans. In addition, the target dates for the action steps must

stand out as a time-scheduled event on the appropriate monthly calendar.

The only real way to accomplish this is through a systematic process

of monthly planning.

There are some basic components that

you need to incorporate into your systematic planning to make it effective.

First, you need to remind yourself of "Who you are" with a Mission/Purpose

statement that describes your very heart and soul. Next, learn to identify

your top priorities for the month, and lastly, organize your time-scheduled

events on a monthly calendar so that you can see them at a glance.

Creating Your

Mission/Purpose Statement

Everyone should have a written mission/purpose

statement. The reason is that we all need to know, with complete clarity,

WHO we are! Begin by writing a one sentence statement declaring who

you are. The best way to do this is to begin the sentence with the words

"I am" and simply complete the sentence.

For example, "I am an inspiring, caring,

and compassionate person" is a mission/purpose statement from one

of my clients. The objective here is to keep it simple, a clear declaration

of who you are. Don’t make the mistake of just reciting what you do

for a living. Your mission/purpose statement is for you and should declare

who you are rather than what you do.

Even though it is only one sentence,

this is some of the hardest work you will do. Just get started, and

it will evolve into the real you as you remind yourself of your mission/purpose

at the beginning of every month.

Identifying Your Monthly Priorities

If you have already identified your goals

for the year, they should have specific action plans with target dates,

and those target dates are transferred to the appropriate monthly calendar.

Your monthly priorities, then, are determined by the action plans and

target dates that you establish. Make sure that your target dates for

goal completion make it onto your monthly calendar as well as your daily

activities.

In monthly planning, it is important

for you to consider both personal and business priorities for the month.

Too many people limit their planning to business only. This practice

leads to imbalance in your life. Attention to both personal and business

planning leads to a fulfilling and abundant life.

Once you have identified your personal

and business objectives for the month, prioritize both lists. Then,

from your priorities, select your top one or two personal and business

objectives. These top objectives are your priorities for the month.

Spend the majority of your time focusing on achieving these high payoff

objectives.

Prioritization is important; don’t

make the mistake of trying to make everything a #1 priority. Something

has to be number #1 something has to be #2, and so on. Prioritization

brings clarity, and clarity creates focus. By identifying priorities,

it does not mean that you forget all the other monthly objectives. In

fact, I suggest that you review your list weekly. But, prioritization

does help you focus on those high payoff activities that propel you

forward.

Organizing Your Monthly Calendar

Your monthly calendar is the place where

you enter all time-scheduled events. It is important to build the habit

of going directly to your monthly calendar anytime you need to schedule

an event that has a date and time. The reason I suggest this habit is

to eliminate the possibility of double entry of a scheduled event and

missing an important date. If you enter time-scheduled events in more

than one place, such as a legal pad, journal, sticky notes, phone, computer,

and a calendar, you will miss a scheduled date from the double entry.

Build the habit of entering your time-scheduled dates in one place —

your calendar.

At the beginning of each month, make

sure you fill in your entire schedule, including work, personal, and

family time. Review your calendar with others who need to know your

schedule before the month begins. This avoids conflicts of scheduling

that come from lack of prior planning.

The #1 rule for monthly planning: always

plan next month before next month begins! Planning next month should

be a time-scheduled event at the end of each month. Professionals who

develop this habit avoid the "end-of-the-month syndrome," or doing

70 of your most effective work after the 15th of the month.

The reason for this habit is that you

have designed a comfort zone of retreat at the beginning of each month

where you tell yourself, "I have plenty of time." In your first-of-the-month

comfort zone, you are ineffective due to your lack of focus, and that

comes from lack of planning. You probably have great plans for achievement,

so as the 15th of the month approaches, you step up your activity. In

a frantic flurry of activity, you desperately attempt to get a full

month’s work done in only 10 - 15 days.

Clients complain to me all the time,

"I don’t know why I do this to myself!"

The answer is this: they have developed

an end-of-the-month syndrome from a first-of-the month comfort zone.

If that applies to you, it is time to change that. Monthly planning

is one of the cornerstones in the Next-Level Achievement System®. Planning

next month before next month begins can change your life and your results.

Start effective monthly planning

now and start seeing your goals being achieved!