On this 250th episode of my Monday Morning Pep Talk, I will discuss the importance of breaking your goals down into bite-sized, shorter-term bursts of action to meet your personal and professional goals. Using this evolved concept that I'll discuss today, inspired by the books The 12 Week Year and Traction, the idea of creating a 3 Year Strategic Vision and chunking it down in 12 quarters, chunked further down into 12 weeks per quarter, you can stack goal attainment victories faster than you ever thought possible. Today, I'll take you through the process of how I discovered it, how I use it and how I teach it.
Before I jump into today's call, I want to remind you of my professional purpose and that is to help you, the full service, full fee Advisor, optimize your productivity and help you become the best version of yourself. Why? "Because Happy Advisors Sell More Real Estate". I do that by teaching you how to handle the challenges and opportunities that you face every day. If you can effectively manage those certain situations that arise on a daily basis in your business, you'll be more productive and live a life that is the best version of you. My ask is that you listen as if you are in a one-on-one coaching session with me in my office or on a phone call.
I want to take you back into the archives to May 21, 2018. I rolled out a "new" concept called "Plan, Sprint and Celebrate". Keep in mind that at that time I had not yet read The 12 Week Year or Traction. On that MMPT, I challenged everyone to start changing their mindsets around how they got specific projects completed. Here are a few paragraphs from that MMPT:
Here is your SUMMER 2018 Game Plan:
- Do an Audit on your business and life. Take the next 2 weeks, grab 2 hours, look at your business (Memorial Day weekend). What worked? What didn’t work? What have you learned? What areas do you need to personally improve at? Are you on track to hit the goals that you made for yourself? Memorial Day weekend is a perfect time to sneak away, find those 2 hours and journal what you need to focus on immediately.
- Pick 1 major project and 2 smaller projects and commit to implementation prior to July 1. This is the PLANNING portion of your game plan. First, decide what these projects will be and plan them out. Time Block 3-5 hours a week to work on these projects. Line up all of the resources you will need to execute on your plan.
- Commit to your PLAN and Execute. Put all of your energy into getting these projects done by July 1. This is the SPRINT portion of your summer 2018 game plan. Just 5,4,3,2,1 DO IT. Create momentum. Once you get the ball rolling, good stuff starts to happen.
- Finalize your plan and CELEBRATE your success over your Fourth of July holiday.
- REPEAT! Do the same PLAN, SPRINT and CELEBRATE process with larger projects in JULY and AUGUST culminating with your CELEBRATION over Labor Day weekend.
By doing this, you will create major momentum as we go into the fall months where we will really focus on your 2019 Business Plan. It is very easy to want to take your foot off the gas during slower months but let me tell you, the real $$$$ is made between June and December. The difference between a good year and a great year will depend on how you execute the last half of the year. Listen, I’m not saying you need to go FULL GO, all of the time. I’ve just learned that you have to do everything you can to create and keep momentum throughout the year.
This concept worked for me prior to 2018 and it works today. The idea of putting significant focus and energy behind specific projects is a fool proof way to get things done and quickly. It wasn't until 2021, when I broke out another version of "Plan, Sprint and Celebrate" for the summer business planning season, that Joe Kirk from Lakes Sotheby's International Realty texted me and suggested that I read The 12 Week Year by Brian Moran and Michael Lennington (published in 2013). I bought it immediately, started reading it and every page confirmed and validated that the "Plan, Sprint and Celebrate" process works. Here I am today, on the final Monday of Q3 2024 giving you the "Fly Light" version of this concept constructed over a decade of intense goal setting and strategic vision manifestation.
Here is the 2025 Business Planning Guide, a free resource to help you navigate the end of 2024 and set yourself up for a smooth start to 2025.
- Take the guide and rate yourself "Stuck", "In Process", "Proficient" or "30,000 feet" in each area of your life and business under each foundational section. These foundational sections include "Vision, Clarity and Standards", "Habits, Routines and Rituals", "CRM and Relationship Management", "Standard Operating Procedures" and "Marketing and Lead Generation".
- Schedule a minimum of a 1/2 day in "airplane mode" to focus on your 2025 Business Plan.
- Identify the areas that require attention and specific action plans to improve your rating by the end of 2025. This is called a "brain dump".
- Take the "lowest hanging fruit" and most important projects from your brain dump and prioritize them into the next quarter. Limit the amount of projects you take on each quarter based on your capacity.
- Pro tip: In Q4 or every year, your focus should always be on CRM and Relationship Management. You want to go into the following year with all of your clients in a good place (batteries charged). Listen to last week’s call - Episode #249 You Cannot Automate Thoughtfulness - for an in-depth discussion on this topic.
- Repeat this process each quarter of each year, planning your specific projects, sprinting towards completing those projects and then on the last week of the quarter, celebrate your success and plan the next quarter.
- Pro tip: as part of your weekly planning meeting, identify one major TO DO each week to get you a major step closer to completing the project or projects you stated as your goal for that quarter.
This should all be attached to a strategic 3 Year Vision. That topic requires its own MMPT as my thoughts on it have evolved. Don't worry, I will speak clearly and directly on the topic within the next few weeks.
As we move through the FLY LIGHT series of MMPTs that go deep into the archives of the best content from my 10 years of writing and producing these calls, it is only fitting that Episode 250 is on the topic of "Plan, Sprint and Celebrate". I have had my most productive years when I execute on this simple strategy. 2025, for me, will be the 3rd year of a 3-year vision cycle and it’s so motivating wrapping up 2024 as I review my progress. That positive progress has me motivated and thinking about 2025 and how I will put the finishing touches on a strategic 3 Year Vision I thought was a real stretch when I created it in the fall of 2022.
Team, it works.
Do you trust me? Then I need you to believe in this strategy even before you see the results for yourself.
Thank you and if you are not getting my emails, contact me at jim@askjimmiller to get on my exclusive list. Have a great week.
