How To Put Your Dream On A Schedule

Last updated on April 1st, 2012 at 02:39 pm

When it comes to my own dreams, I am the queen of procrastination.

I need deadlines and milestones to keep my dreams on track.

I’ve had milestones on the calendar for a year – small, medium and large milestones all neatly set up. However, the infernal calendar keeps letting me know how quickly time is whooshing by.

One of my favorite business guru’s , Seth Godin reminds us “It’s the perfect problems that keep us stuck.”

Here is my perfect problem: I don’t have a ton of time.

How do you keep your dream on track?

Here’s an example that needs planning. I have a weekly meeting that gives me the opportunity to talk about my business. Every week I need to come up with a sales message.

I heard a great idea at a recent business networking event: plan your sales message every week for a year.

Yes, a year.

My first reaction sounded like my teenager – thhhpttt, whatever!

Then I thought about about the reality of that. How much time do I spend coming up with a sales message each week?

How hard is it to always come up with new things at the last minute?

Do I have a theme for what I’ve been focusing on?

I sat down and started looking at the next couple months. What events can I promote? What type of projects do I want more of?

What business do I really want an introduction to?

The ideas started flowing, and I mapped out the next 3 months of sales messages I can use at my meetings. I gave the idea a structure to work with, and POOF!

Results.

I did create a spreadsheet to get organized. I know, super boring and anal, but I have an example of what I used in PDF format if you are interested in doing something similar.

I was wrapping up this exercise when it hit me. Why can’t I apply that idea to my weekly dream updates here on 8 Women Dream?

I’m being brave and sharing my new monthly posting plan:

Week 1 -  book review of a topic that kicks my dream into gear. Business, speaking, income streams, etc.

Week 2 – what are the main ideas this book recommends? Test them in the reality of my business ventures.

Week 3 – The application of ideas continues. How did they turn out for me? What did I implement that changed my course?

Week 4+ – How are the results stacking up? This may take longer than a few weeks to confirm, but a couple week test is a great way to look at new ideas.

Spreading your self, or your calendar, too thin can seriously impact your ability to get to that next dream step.

Lord knows I’m consistently fighting to find time to work on dream tasks.

Now, your turn.

Take a good, realistic look at your calendar. What are you doing now that you really shouldn’t or don’t want to be doing?Where will you find an extra hour this week?

Comment and let me know – you probably have an idea we all can use!

~ Heather

Heather’s dream is to have multiple streams of income, starting with launching an e-commerce website that showcases her one-of-a-kind designer jewelry, which are crafted by her. Her newly launched sites are couture jewelry available through For Your Adornment, and Twitter background designs on Twitter And Beyond Dot Com. She also teaches Social Media tactics for business, besides being CEO of her own web design company. Heather’s post day is Thursday.