23Today we break down our yearly priorities and focus on Q1.
Pull out the 3 priorities you decided on yesterday.
Now it’s time to break them down into smaller steps. This is the process you’ll follow again and again until you get yourself all the way down to the day level!
Below is an example of 3 priorities, and some of the possible steps you could take to achieve them to inspire you.
The idea is to brainstorm the ‘next level down’ steps. Try to choose things that you could envisioning taking three months to complete.
Then, fill in the top level of your next chart – the Quarterly one – like so…
You can see that each of the 3 priorities will, once you achieve them, move you inexorably towards your year-long priority.
You’ll also see that all three don’t need to be ‘equal’. For example, in this first quarter, your focus will undoubtedly be on the first one – because creating and releasing 20 new products is a BIG job! So, the other two priorities – while still moving you towards your #Top3 for the year, aren’t as time-intensive (though, when you start breaking them down, you’ll see that they will both take quite a bit of research and planning!).
DO keep this in mind when you’re doing your planning.
DON’T schedule all the really time-intensive tasks in the same Quarter of the year!
Try to spread them out so you have the time and energy for all of them.
And remember… Q4 is already going to be busy with holiday sales, so be aware of that when you’re doing your planning!
Action Steps
1. Write down the major steps underneath each of your 3 yearly priorities from yesterday.
2. Pull out ONE of those steps from each priority and make them your 3 priorities for the 1st Quarter of 2023.
3. If you want to go all-out, you can now also decide on your 3 priorities for the next three quarters of 2023. However, this can also be done near the end of March, when you see how far you’ve come in achieving your first set of Quarterly priorities.
You can download and print out the proforma below if you want, or do this in Trello, or just on a piece of paper – whatever works for you!
