Getting Specific
Congratulations! You have created the outline of your blueprint for your ideal future. You have a big, overarching goal. You know what this structure will look like – at least from the outside, in a very specific way. But a blueprint is more than a shell. It provides exact specifications for each room. In the same way, your overarching goal is made up of a number of smaller goals.
Let’s get some rooms on that blueprint! Just as you don’t jump from an empty shell to a fully completed house, you don’t jump from wherever you are today to a fully realized overarching goal. Just as your house will have clearly defined rooms, your goal blueprint will have clearly defined sub-goals.
This is the business goal from Part 1: Within the next 24 months, I want to build a coaching and consulting business working with high-potential, high-performing affluent women who want to put in the time and energy to create their ideal lives and/or businesses and I want to have a consistent income of $1 million from direct services and $1 million from passive income while working no more than 20 hours per week, no more than 30 weeks per year.
Creating Sub-goals
Sub-goals might include: 1. Identify ways to get in front of my ideal clients. 2. Develop persuasive reasons for these women to select my services. 3. Create materials for live and self-paced coaching programs. 4. Create an effective sign-up and distribution system.
Creating a logical flow
Each of these represents a room on the blueprint. The next step is to see how these rooms will best fit together. What’s the optimal flow through the space? What size will each room be? How does each relate to the others? This is accomplished by organizing and fleshing out the sub-goals. When you enter a house, does it make sense to come into a bedroom? Probably not. But could the kitchen or an office make as much space as the living room? Could be. The rooms on your blueprint need to be organized in a way that is logical for you. So too, your sub-goals should flow in a way that is logical for you.
The goals above might work well in the order they were initially presented. But there are other configurations that work well.
1. Develop persuasive reasons for these women to select my services.
2. Identify ways to get in front of my ideal clients.
3. Create an effective sign-up and distribution system
4. Create materials for live and self-paced coaching programs.
It might make more sense to have systems in place before taking action.
Rearrange your subgoals until you have a flow that works for you. Then, define the purpose of each room. Be very explicit. Develop and clarify each goal using the S-M-A-R-T model.
Finding Obstacles
A good architect understands that each project may have what appear to be limitations. A good blueprint helps uncover those potential limitations or obstacles so that architect and client can figure out how to address these real or perceived obstacles. Doesn’t it make sense, then, that you might want to look at potential obstacles to reaching your goals? If you can identify potential obstacles, then you can develop a plan to overcome them.
This is sub-goal #4: Create materials for live and self-paced coaching programs.
Rewritten as a S-M-A-R-T goal, it would look like this:
Within the next six months, repurpose, recombine and expand current articles, exercises and workshop materials to create one cohesive two-day workshop, one two-hour promotional workshop, one six-part teleclass and two four-part e-courses. What are some obstacles to achieving this goal? What action planning is necessary to overcome the obstacle?
Eliminating Obstacles by Planning
Obstacle 1: There might be time limitations. Action plan?
Review schedule and create a number of short periods of time to devote to writing.
-OR-
Outsource the rewrites.
Obstacle 2: There might not be enough material. Action plan?
Have guest authors contribute. -OR- Research additional material.
-OR-
Hire a researcher.
-OR-
Pilot the material and add contributions from the ensuing discussions.
-OR-
Use questionnaires or focus groups to generate content.
Using Your Blueprint
Get the idea? When you look at your blueprint from the broadest perspective, hone in to understand the general interior, then focus narrowly on the exact contents of each room, you will have the building of your dreams. Your goal blueprint provides you with the big picture and with the specific details you will want in order to create the life of your dreams.
Keep your blueprint handy. Remember that sometimes, as one room (sub-goal) is completed, you may want to change other rooms. That’s OK – this is a work in progress – this is, after all, your glorious, ideal life. Make all the improvements you want! You may be the do-it-yourself from first vision to finished project – if so, that’s great. You may want a council of friends or a great Life Architect to give you advice along the way. Get going! It’s never too soon to start working on the life of your dreams.