Ok so – that’s a little rude… but the thing is we all make plans this time of year, what I want to know is HOW are you going to keep the plans your making?

What strategy are you coming up when making your plans to help SUPPORT you to keep your plan – or are you setting yourself up for failure by leaving it up to the universe to “make it happen”?

I have been posting my plans on my blog for about 4 years, this year in 2010, none of the specific plans i made at the beginning made it to the end- Why?  – Cause i didnt support myself, I didn’t have a way to remind myself and keep myself on track – well not one that worked anyway.

I have spent the last two days assessing what happened in 2010 and working out how to make sure that whatever tasks I set myself actually get done.
I REALLY REALLY REALLY don’t want to get to the end of 2011 and still be in exactly the same place I am in now.

So what have I done to help me?

You may remember this post I made during the year -

- How do you keep yourself on track? – In 3 bullet points

I still believe in this system and I mostly kept up with this, but there was an occassional month where I forgot – Why? Cause I am human and i forgot to print silly the thing out.

So, like I said I still believe this works .. but I asked myself How can I improve on the system?
Yesterday I printed 6months of these sheets out, to keep myself on track I have taped them to a day at the beginning of the month (on my actual work day rather than just the 1st day) in my diary.  This way when I get to the beginning of the month the sheet is there I am forced to pickup and start filling out.

As part of planning for 2011  I realised there are things I want to achieve in a quarterly or monthly period ie. sending out a newsletter.

So omg what do I do? I have gone ahead and written at the end of my sheet for the month that  this items needs to be done I will remember to do it. It’s just a way of tracking and holding myself accoutable to the things that I have decided need to be done.

Keeping a System

I also identifyed 3 things that I have decided I have to do everyday .. whether its half an hour or 5 mins.. it doesn’t matter – I am keeping it flexible but they are things that I have decided  are non-negoitable for my life. I knew they were important in 2010, actually some of them were on my goals list and I feel guilty when these things arent done and I know they HAVE to be done  both for personal and professional reasons.   I have come up with an abbreviation for them J.A.B. = Journal – Art – Body.

This commitment  is a major one for me and I am determined to stick to it. So I am going to have mulitple systems that hopefully will work to keep me in my MUST state for doing.

They say that it takes 3 weeks to form a new habit or behaviour so I am tricking myself by telling myself I am going to do this throughout January! (but really I want it done for the rest of the year but shhhhhhh don’t tell myself that).

So anyways…  I have writtend down everyday in Jan - Have you had your daily J.A.B? and boxes to actually tick when i do it. I have also setup on my computer a prompt in my mail that asks me in the morning and in the afternoon that wont go away until I say YES!

I have also specified actions that constitutes my JAB so I wont procrastinate by not knowing what to do. I as I said its not time-specific it is flexible to fit in with my life and if I make hard I know I wont do it  so I am trying to set myself up for success here..  -eg. Art component -  can be a sketch, working on a painting, illustration at the moment in the holidays it involves sketching cartoon characters as i sit with my kids and watch tv. It doesnt matter Its doing something!!! on this area of my life.

So -  I have adopted a few various strategies for various things to keep my plans on track. They are there to support me in what I plan not just specifiying what the plan is. So if you are making plans thats great but HOW are you going to keep them? What system have you got to keep you on track for 2011?