It's the most wonderful time of the year...

I love December.

I'm not a fan for the usual reasons most people love December though.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I love it for those traditional, holiday excitement reasons too. But at my core, my love for December comes from one little thing.

Planning.

December is my month to plan.

Well, technically I started in November... But that was just practice.

December is where the rubber meets the road for me when it comes to getting my plan on for the coming year. 

There's little I like better than sitting down, setting goals, and drawing my map to achieving them. 

Some people love cooking, or mountain climbing, or race-car driving. 

I love creating a project plan.

(I know, I know. You're probably falling all over yourself to invite me over to liven up your Christmas party, right?)

So what I've been working on behind the scenes here these last few weeks (remember, I said I had some planning practice back in November to work out the kinks in my 2015 strategy) has been LOTS of fun.

One of the best parts about what I do, besides helping other entrepreneurs plan and execute their own strategies for success, is learning by doing.

I love to experiment on myself and my business so I can learn some cool new shit, integrate it super-fast, and then use that newfound knowledge to help my clients and community make leaps in their businesses. 

2015 is going to feature a WHOLE lot of that over here. I can't wait. 

With "learning by doing" in mind, over the next few weeks I'm going to share the tactics I'm using over here to get 2015 set up for success so YOU can implement them into your business too. (See below for a quick hit I implemented just this week...)

And into 2015, my plan is to keep up that trend and share even more strategies, stories, and transparency around my business so we can all benefit from my Year of Experiments.

You'll find lotsa resources from me in lotsa places. Here on the blog, in your inbox (if you're subscribed to my newsletter), in some free webinars, on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, among other places. 

Plus, I'm committing to learning some cool and - full disclosure here - pretty uncomfortable stuff so I can share what's working in my biz (and what's not working) that would be worthwhile for you to try too. 

First up on the "sharing the learning by doing" track is a totally FREE webinar I'm hosting this Thursday at 5PM PST. 

Right after Thanksgiving I shared my new favorite trick for eliminating overwhelm FAST. I've gotten such great feedback about that tactic that I decided to host a webinar to take you through it in even more detail. 

If you're feeling at all stressed about your to-do list, or like 2015 is coming up on you way sooner than you're ready for it, I'd love for you to join me.

It's totally FREE and will be my first foray into my Year of Experimenting on myself for your benefit. :)

Click here to sign up now.

OK, on to my planning tactic for this week:

I'd been feeling lately like my schedule was getting away from me a little bit. 

I've got recurring client calls each week, and projects I want to implement in my business, but over the last couple of months I had been feeling pretty ineffective, like there just wasn't enough time in the day.

So, inspired by a friend and fellow entrepreneur, I decided to get my shit together and create a schedule that works!

This was the result.

I know, it looks a little crazypants at first glance, but in reality, for this Ninja brain, this was exactly what I needed to feel like I could actually get things done each day.

 

Entrepreneurs have SO many competing priorities; sometimes we need to go back to basics in order to keep ourselves on track. 

So here's how I got back to basics.

1. First I jotted down all of the things I wanted to accomplish in a given day. I was sure to include all those lovely "shoulds", "woulds" and "if-onlys" AND the ever important self-care practices I'd been letting slip by too often lately.

2. Next I grabbed my hand dandy post-it notes (which every good Ninja has lying around the dojo) and started filling in slots of time in each day.

3. It's important to note that the first things I filled into my ideal calendar were non-negotiable items, like my self-care routines and previously committed recurring client calls.

4. Then I made sure to add in time for revenue-generating activities, because mama's gotta bring home the bacon!

5. I double checked to make sure all the stuff that keeps my business running from day to day (like checking email, reviewing expenses, creating blog posts like this) were all accounted for.

6. And finally I made room for content creation and time for learning. (You know, for all those course I've invested in but never had the time to finish!)

Even though visually it looks a bit crazy and chaotic, since I've implemented this system I actually feel way less stressed and so much more free.

I know things aren't slipping through the cracks anymore, and I'm loving that I can choose to end my workday before 10PM sometimes... (feel free to comment below with an "Amen!" if you know what it's like to burn that midnight oil on the regular...)

OK, it's your turn.

If you're feeling at all like you just can't get everything done, or you're worried you're missing important pieces in your workday, give this a try.

Then post a photo of your end result on my Facebook page so I can see what your beautiful brand of crazy... I mean "structure" looks like too. 

Don't forget to register for my FREE webinar on Thursday!

I'm aiming to start doing them once a week in the new year (part of my Year of Experiments), so if this week's tactic was helpful to you, let me know and I'll add it to the queue as something to teach more in depth in an upcoming free webinar.

With love and post-its,