More Than WE Know

I love the exercise we did the other day when we wrote ourselves a letter from the future. It might have seemed silly, but it is an amazingly powerful tool. I have been doing it every year now for the past 5 years - and it is incredible how accurate it is!

The first year I did it, it was sort of a lark, and I actually forgot about it. At the end of the year I was digging through an old journal and found it. It gave me chills to see how much of it had come true.

Since then, I’ve made it a very deliberate exercise to write down exactly what I want to accomplish in the coming year, and to write it as if it had already happened. Almost without fail, I have accomplished what I set out to do, or something better.

Hint - if you haven’t written your letter yet, now might be a good time to do it!

However, except for that first year, I haven’t stopped at simply writing the letter. I have then used it to develop a deliberate action plan to achieve my goals.

Remember,

Goals + Action = Success

Goals - Action = Failure

So, go back to the letter you wrote and take a look at what you said you had accomplished by this time next year. Then ask yourself, “If that were true, what would have had to happen? ”

• what would I have had to learn?
  
• who would I have had to meet?
• what would I have had to do?
  

Then for each of those items, ask yourself

• when would I have needed to do it?
  

For example, in my letter I said that I had published two e-books which had led to speaking engagements and training classes. That implies that I had published the books in the first half of the year, so I could benefit from them in the second half. Therefore I must have written them by at least May so I could publish in June.

I probably wouldn’t write and publish them both at the same time. I’d write and publish one, and then the other. The first one would probably take me longer than the second, so I’m going to say that I would need to publish the first one by the end of April and the second one by the end of June.

So, in order to publish an e-book by the end of April, I’d have to know how to publish an e-book. I’d need to know where to find pictures to illustrate it, and how to convert it to PDF and create a virtual cover. I’d also need to know how to distribute it and market it. I’d need to have someone edit it and give feedback before I published it. That sounds time consuming. It would probably take me all of April to do it.

So, I would need to have already written it by the end of March. Before I could write it, I’d need an outline. I already have my topic and it’s a subject I know a lot about. Therefore, I might be able to start writing without much preparation.

Wow - counting backwards, it looks like in order to meet my goals around publishing 2 ebooks by June, I’ll need to start soon! Putting my time-line in sequence it comes out like this:

January

• write outline
• write first draft
• network - find people to edit, give feedback and advice

February

• write second draft
• send to network for editing/feedback
• find artwork for illustrations
• ask network - options for cover art and editing
• ask network - pricing options and shopping cart
• ask network - affiliate marketing?

March

• make final revisions based on feedback from network
• incorporate artwork
• hire graphic designer for cover art/or buy software pkg

April

• convert final book to PDF
• create ad page with cover art
• set up account with shopping cart
• set up affiliate relationships
• announce publication!

May

• assess lessons learned from 1st book
• create time-line for 2nd book to be published by end of June

Whew - I’m tired already - and that’s just for one goal!!

In order to achieve this goal, I’ll need to:

• do some work myself
• ask for some help from others
• do some research and learn new things
• hire some services

As I move through working my plan, some things are likely to change. Some will be harder than I thought and some will be easier. But I’ll have a plan that I can adjust accordingly. It’s aggressive, but not so aggressive that I can’t adjust it if unforeseen obstacles or opportunities present themselves.

So, what about you? Can you make a plan like this for each of your goals? What do you need to do and who do you need to reach out to in order to make them come true? And what one thing can you do today to move your goal forward?

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