Schedule Resolutions for a New Year So You Truly, Tangibly Accomplish Them

I've finished my blog editorial schedule for 2017 and I'm working on a schedule of tasks for the rest of the year, too. With a retail store you have to plan out your seasons and promotions ahead of time AND I'm resolving to travel + just live next year, so 2017 will have to be THE year of strict planning. But it should be for every creative business. Creative people tend to be less left-brained and go by whims, myself included, but successful businesses that hit sales goals are well-planned.

Here's how I'm breaking things down into small tasks and scheduling this year.

Step 1) Identify your big overarching goals for the year

I read once that setting two big goals for the new year and then breaking those down into action steps makes it easier to hit resolutions. My first big goal is about increasing our profit, yep, the goal for surely every business!

Step 2) Divide the big goals into smaller "themes" for each month

So if my first goal is to increase profits, what steps do I need to take each month to get to the bigger profit?

January: Fully Scheduled & Organized, Website Fully Online

February:  Getting Wholesale and Consignment in Order

March: Start of Spring Promotions

April: Etc.

Step 3) Then divide those into goals for each week and then each day of the week

January Week 1 theme: Website and promotions

January 2: Publish the new website, promote our art walk market

January 3: Newest products uploaded to website

January 4: Art Walk market day downtown

Etc.

Step 4) Focus and finish those tasks quickly so we can move on to the "fun" stuff.

Sometimes a strictly scheduled day feels like it's suffocating your creativity. But when you get in the habit of finishing your hardest, ugliest tasks first-thing you're liberated to work on other creative things the rest of the day. It takes some will power and routine setting but it's wonderful once you're in the habit. I still love listening to rain to help me focus.

Step 5) Think Seasonally

It's hard to plan ahead for a year in advance, you think you'll never want to do those tasks when the time arrives and you'll want to switch it up. Thinking seasonally (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter) keeps it fun as you plan. What fun things do you want to make for each season? What kind of promotions can you come up for them? What type of matching blog posts?

Are you doing anything planning and scheduling craziness for the new year? I adore the proverbial fresh slate it brings, I'm going to go crazy cleaning, organizing and planning every damn thing possible for the next couple of days!

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