Planning for the New Year – A Visual Tip

Here’s another little tidbit I picked up recently if you like to visually track your progress toward a goal.  Most of us realize that reaching a goal means taking time, but it can be hard to keep scheduling the time.  A visual reminder can help, whether or not you’ve got a strategic partner to check in with on a regular basis.  Looking at this chart can be a quick reminder of how much progress we’ve already made, or how much further we need to go to get to our goal.

Using any spreadsheet program, make up a chart, with 100 squares on it (or, if you’ve estimated a specific amount of time it will take to accomplish a goal, then make a chart with one square for each hour fo time).  Each time you spend an hour working toward your goal, put an ‘X’ in one of the squares.  This way you can visually see yourself ticking off the hours toward reaching your goal – kind of like crossing off the days until Christmas – or until that vacation you’ve been looking forward to.

This is especially good if you want to track the number of hours you’re spending on marketing activities, such as attending networking events, writing articles, attending or giving seminars.  All of those activities make you more visible, and you need to spend a certain number of hours on those tasks in order to be effective.  Seeing your progress in front of you will keep you motivated and will be a reminder to keep going.  Post the chart over your desk or next to your computer where you’ll see it every day.

If you also keep track of the leads, referrals, new clients or other opportunities that arise as a result of these activities, you’ll have an idea whether the time you’re spending is bringing you the return you want.