The process of accomplishments

So how is 2007 going for you so far?

Last week I posted a few of my resolutions for 2006. But just like you don’t go from a buffet line to the marathon finish line in a day, new years resolutions take a whole year to fulfill. Unless you have an infinite attention span the only thing you need is discipline.

Discipline? For example, most Americans are making a resolution to lose weight (again) and probably walked, jogged or ran 4 miles today. Congratulations! Now will you be able to put in 4 miles tomorrow? How about on April 26th? If you cannot answer those question you need some discipline but more importantly, you need a plan.

What makes a good plan? For example, my task for today was to update a few dozen web sites that I run. Everything from business to fun to pleasure. On one I just updated the copyright, on the other I created an archive for the previous year, the SBS Show page got completely redesigned from the ground up and Vladville, being the most spammed form I own, got its own CAPTCHA protection from bots.

So what’s missing from this plan?

Well, for starters, it’s not a plan. It’s an agenda and a weak one at that. It answers what but doesn’t answer how? where? when? what is a failure? There is no time allocation or priority to the list above. It doesn’t identify resources, it doesn’t identify time lines, it doesn’t identify means? It doesn’t say that I got Judy to cut 10 hours from my day by fixing my layout for me.

So before you even start on your agenda, take a second to sit down, relax and think what it is you’re trying to do. Try to see the big picture in it all. I know January 1 is the action day, do or die, what your first day reflects how 2007 will pan out and the rest of the motivational nonsense that people who don’t deliver results often blurt out. The key to success is planning. The key to failure is planning as well, not everything in life is a win – sometimes you will lose but you can at least plan to minimize your loss and not get blown out.

So perhaps a project management book is a little out of the question… but planning, that ought to be front and center. For me, the first month is all about looking back, cleaning up and setting up targets, expectations and alternatives. I hope it can be a month of planning for you as well. So don’t run the 4 miles today, sit down and write down what you need to do this year. Get your plan together. Then in May you’ll be able to look back at that plan and adjust it accordingly so you can accomplish it… if you don’t, odds are you won’t even remember what your resolution was. 

So step back, relax. Spend more time planning than doing. Joseph Strauss didn’t just show up at the Golden Gate with a few guys and a bunch of steel, they spent more time planning the bridge than actually building it.