The 30-60-90 Plan: The action plan version of goals

The key to goal setting. How to set a goal. An action plan for starting a blog

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It’s getting close to the end of the year. Isn’t that crazy to say? And with the end of the year usually comes this impulsive desire to make next year better. The best way that I’ve found to do this is to create a solid 30-60-90 plan, an action plan for hitting goals 💪.

Now, I’m a big believer that there is no time like the present.

So I think that if there is something that you want to or should be doing, you should just stop procrastinating and start doing it right now. One of my favourite quotes has to be Mark Twain’s:

The secret to getting ahead is getting started. The secret to getting started is breaking down your complex overwhelming tasks int0 small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.

Mark Twain
Goal setting is a major key to success. Start learning how to do it right with this simple framework to help you plan your goals and achieve your goals. Check out this free printable to help you develop your action plan!
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The hard part with getting started is knowing exactly where to get startedGoal setting can be really tricky. We can often see the place we want to be but we can’t see the path we need to take to get there.

This is exactly what this post is about. De-mystifying the path that leads you to your goals.

How to Pick a Goal For Your 30-60-90 Plan

You might be a goal setter already or you might be wondering how to set a goal that makes sense for you. I hated setting goals when I was in school and I hated sharing them with others even more.

Why?

 I was so scared of what people would say about my goals. Scared of what I would feel if I didn’t hit the goals I set. I was scared to be a failure or think of myself as a failure.

Sorry, that got a little intense. But maybe you’ve felt this way too.

If you really want to get anything done, especially on a large scale, you need to set goals that scare you.

They need to be big enough to do 3 things:

  1. You have to be worried that you might not achieve it (Stretch Goal)
  2. It has to be something that you actually want and will make a difference in your life
  3. It has to be a SMART goal. (Smart like the acronym- Specific, Measurable, Action-Oriented, Realistic and Time Based)

Stretch Goals

The goal needs to be big enough to scare you and encourage you to actually do the work. The thing about a stretch goal is this, please indulge me:

Raise your hand over your head.  (Really, just do it)

Raise it as high as it will go

Ok, just raise it a little bit more

……. I’m waiting……

Could you raise your hand higher when I asked you the second time?

I bet you could.

We can always do a little bit more or go a little bit further if we make ourselves, even if we already think we’re at the max.

Your goal should be like this. You think it’s just out of reach but if you really go for it you can get it.

Motivation

Motivation has a lot to do with if you’ll achieve your goal.

That’s why it is critical that you set a goal that holds a lot of value for you. If you don’t think that achieving your goal will be worthwhile or it doesn’t get you excited, are you really going to do it?

No.

No one does hard things that they don’t want to do when they think it won’t benefit them. So pick something that does benefit you. Something that you can really get behind.

Make sure that when you write out your goal that your heart rate increases and it makes you smile, wither with grim determination or gratitude and joy. You want to really feel this when you think of having it accomplished.

SMART Goals

Smart goals are a huge thing for a reason.

You need to have a goal that you understand. If it’s losing weight, you could literally accomplish that by weighing yourself after dinner then again the next morning first thing. It’s almost certain that you will weigh less if you do this.

Did you accomplish something? Not really.

Having a specific enough goal that it can be measured so you know when you’ve done it, a goal that inspires action and can be done in a set amount of time will increase the likelihood of you actually doing it.

For creating your action plan I want you to set a goal that meets the above metrics with the timeline being 90 days.

Your Action Plan

I want to introduce you to a simple framework that will break your goal down and allow you to see how you will accomplish it in 90 days. It’s the 30-60-90 plan. Or as I like to call it: the action plan version of your goals.

In a 30-60-90 plan, you set a goal to achieve in 90 days then work backward through the months to give yourself a set of milestones and a timeline to work in.

As you stay on track and achieve each milestone it becomes inevitable that you’ll accomplish the larger 90-day goal.

I’ve used this structure in my professional life for years.

First with myself in order to achieve the fastest management promotion in the history of the organization I was working with, and then with the individuals I supervised in my own business when I opened it.

And I’ll tell you, it works as long as the goal fits the criteria above.

I can’t stress the importance of that enough.

Set the Goal:

What is it that you want to do?

In three months what will you have accomplished?

Let’s say you’re starting a side hustle in the form of a blog.  The goal might be:

In 90 days I see myself with a fully functioning website with page views of 3,000 a month and 200 subscribers. 

(If you do want to start a blog you can take a look at my resources page here)

Build your 30-60-90 plan

Days 60-90

In order to achieve this goal in this time frame I need to:

  • Be spending 10 hours a week on building my blog
  • Have 30 posts including 2 round-ups (milestone)
  • Be averaging 100 page views a day (3000/30=100)
  • Be averaging 17 new subscribers a week (200/12=16.6)
  • Post consistently – 2x a week
  • Sending a weekly broadcast to subscribers with great content and a prompt to revisit my site. Encouraging returning readership. (drive traffic)
Days 30-60

In order to be in a position to be doing what I need to in the 60-90 day time frame I need to:

  • Be spending 10 hours a week on my blog
  • Have 2 great lead magnets and include one on every post (get subscribers)
  • Have relationships built with at least 3 other bloggers in my niche to contribute to a roundup post that can be shared through their networks (drive traffic)
  • Be consistently using my specific traffic strategy to promote my posts
  • Have 75 subscribers on my list by day 45 (milestone)
  • Have 25 posts on my blog (milestone)
Days 1-30

In order to be in a position to accomplish what I need to in the 30-60 day time frame I need to:

  • Design a logo and build my website – find hosting and put together my layout (milestone)
  • Set up an email service (milestone)
  • Post 15 posts over the course of the month (milestone)
  • Create 5 lead magnets and decide on the best ones to promote. (milestone)
  • Send out 5 guest posts to bigger websites to build relationships and get featured  (drive traffic)
  • Do research on my audience and where they “hang out” so I can promote my content there and get their attention (drive traffic)
  • Learn to create graphics using free software (milestone)
  • Get my first 50 subscribers (milestone)
  • Spend 15 hours a week setting up and learning all the basics.

Things to keep in mind

As you see, starting at this last section each point directly feeds into a point from the section above it. ex. 15 posts in the first 30 days. 25 posts by 60 days, 30 posts by 90 days.

When you’re creating your 30-60-90 plan these stepping stones are key as they will let you know if you’re on track. You can flesh this out even more later by breaking down each 30-day window into its weekly counterparts. Then schedule time each day to accomplish one of these smaller tasks that add to the larger picture.

You’ll also notice that it doesn’t take nearly as long to do most of these steps as you might have originally thought. The easiest way to build confidence is by checking small things off your to-do list.

Once that confidence has been built by you taking those first steps all you need to do is keep your momentum by taking more small steps daily.

Even the journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step

Confucious

Want to get more amazing printables like this one? To get you organized fast check out my Printable Planner, it’s chock-full of goal setting and planning worksheets that are bound to save you time and help you achieve your dreams!

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Goal setting is a major key to success. Start learning how to do it right with this simple framework to help you plan your goals and achieve your goals. Check out this free printable to help you develop your action plan!
Rachael

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