Three Tips For Your Achievement Planner

I hope your first quarter is off to an amazing start and you are ready to dive into March to finish strong! Today I want to share with you some tips in the use of your Achievement Planner. These tips were inspired by an email I recently received from a new client. She had just purchased the Achievement Planner and was questioning how to do a few things. Instead of just giving up and seeing these things as “blocks” or reasons she should quit the system, she did the exact opposite. She reached out, asked for suggestions, and then embraced the solutions! Sometimes the very things that appear as “roadblocks” are really opportunities to reach new next levels of growth.

Tip #1: Set yourself up to WIN every day by minimizing your TODAY’S TO-DO LIST.

I encourage all my clients to write no more than 5 things on their TODAY’S TO-DO LIST. These to-dos should encompass your personal and professional life and include only those things that MUST be done today. Usually, when I first tell a client to limit the Today To-Do list to 5 things, I see panic set in for a few of them. They tell me they have far more than 5 things to get done on a daily basis. I know that. I do, too!  However, this forces you to prioritize what is most important to get done that day. When you get those 5 things done, then you can go to your FUTURE TO-DO LIST and add a few more to complete. Picking only 5 to-do’s helps set you up for success each day and helps you set yourself up to WIN!

Tip #2: How to keep up with your overflowing FUTURE TO-DO LIST.

Have you ever had so many future to-do’s that they didn’t fit inside the box on the Today Page? That doesn’t happen to me often, but it does happen on occasion, mainly when I am planning a big retreat or around the holidays. So, if your Future To-Do list is overflowing, don’t fret. There is a solution! I take a blank Notes Page from the orange Notes Tab and place it behind my Today Page. This Notes Page is where you can write all your Future To-Do’s. Then each day you pick which one of those Future To-Do’s you want to move to the TODAY To-Do list. Using this method, you will be very effective at constantly accomplishing your To-Do’s on a daily basis and, eventually, your Future To-Do List will become manageable and fit inside the box on the Today page.

Tip #3: How to manage projects using the IMPORTANT PROJECT LIST.

The Important Project List is found on page 4 of your monthly planning page at the beginning of each new month. A project is often bigger than a to-do and not big enough to be a goal. Projects typically have multiple steps and various due dates associated with them. My recommendation is that you put these on the Important Project List section. The Important Project List can be found on the backside of the Month-at-a-Glance calendar (below SMART Goals and High Payoff Activities). This is where you can list any pending projects. Each Project will have certain action steps with target dates for completion. Any action steps that aren’t completed within the month are transferred over at the end of the month to the Important Project List for the following month.

I trust that these tips will be helpful in maximizing your use of the Achievement Planner.  Remember, it is very important to always set yourself up to win. It serves no purpose to make it so difficult that you end up setting yourself up to lose. Let this also be a reminder of how to view the roadblocks in life. I heard another coach say, “Your blocks aren’t IN the way; they ARE the way.”  So, ask yourself, “What blocks are inviting you to your next level?”

In love and gratitude,

Jenni