Plan to Your Purpose

Have you planned for next year yet?

Don’t stress. It’s okay if you’re in full-on holiday cray-cray time. But as you make space to do this, perhaps sharing my experience will help you.

This past week, I embarked on an annual planning session. I tucked away for two days, turned off email (kind of) and all distractions, and got to work on my business and personal goals for the year.

PS: I did this as an experimental virtual mini-retreat with several other rockstar solopreneurs. Whoa, the power of accountability and not going at it alone! This may become a full-blown REAL retreat in the mountains next year, if you’re interested. Stay tuned!

First, I revisited last year. You must celebrate what went right before you beat yourself up about what went wrong!

I carefully reviewed my goals and themes for the year. Some of them, I knocked out of the park – HURRAH! So I explored why.

Some of my goals were not quite achieved. Meh.

And a few of those goals fizzled. Epic fail. Not even close. I explored the lessons I could learn so I could improve. Some say there is no such thing as failure, but everything is a learning opportunity. Yes. But let’s get real. It still stings!

As you, too, evaluate your year and look back, you may want to do what I did.

Ask yourself: Do you want to do this again or try this again next year? And more importantly, does the goal still resonate or should you just let it go?

But most importantly I revisited my Purpose. And I committed to planning to that. Not to what others define as success. Not to some mythical standard that I think I’m supposed to reach. Not to what society even expects.

Here’s my purpose statement, in case you’re interested. I worked with a brilliant strengths coach this past year to come to this and then asked a gifted writer friend to polish and articulate it – and the results surprised even me!

My purpose is to…

– INSPIRE. I inspire people to start amazing projects and businesses rooted in empathy that create a positive ripple in the world.

– ACTIVATE. I shift people from thinking/feeling (nice thoughts, good intentions) into action (actual, concrete progress).

– AMPLIFY. I work with influential people (writers, entrepreneurs, activists) to help them amplify their voices, share their messages with thousands of people, and create an even bigger social impact.

My purpose is to…

Teach people that you can do incredible good in the world—no matter who you are.

You can be a firefighter, be a monk, open a bakery, or run a software company. No matter what type of vocation you’ve chosen, there is always a way to bring more generosity, compassion, and empathy into your work—and leave the world in better condition than you found it.

Plan to your purpose. It’s a much smarter and happier way to set goals that truly mean something to you.

Are you craving more wit and wisdom on goal setting and time management? Check out my little eBook, The Juicy Guide to Time Management and Goal Setting: Advice on How to Wrangle Your Calendar and Slay Overwhelm.  From Kam’s super-kind 5-star review: “This is the fourth eBook from Maria that I read and I know it will be the one I refer my mastermind buddies to over and over again!”