Something I’ve started experimenting with my one on one coaching clients is implementing some of the common teachings of various productivity experts (shoutout to Charlie Gilkey, Jessica Abel, Brian Moran).
The concepts are relatively simple. Instead of setting long-term, vague goals, set short-term, specific goals. Its much easier to follow through. Its easier to plan, easier to stay on task, and easier to deal with unexpected setbacks.
But the most useful part of productivity research is this simple process: every week at the same time (usually Sunday night or Monday morning), ask yourself the following questions (some of which come straight out of Brian Moran’s book The 12 Week Year):
- What’s the biggest thing (good or bad) that happened this week?
- Why did it happen, and if you were to do it over, what would you do differently?
- What did you accomplish toward your strategic priorities this past week?
- What’s standing in your way from making better progress next week, and what are you going to do about it?
- Are you tracking ahead or behind your targets this month?
Far too few artists and entrepreneurs spend enough time thinking about their goals, and holding themselves accountable for what did or didn’t work. I LOVE these questions.
So, in my coaching work I’ve started asking artists to email with the answers to these questions each week. You’d be amazed how fast you start taking action when you ask yourself these questions every week.
(I do this with my own peer mastermind group as well – and I love it.)
What have I seen from implementing this work?
One of the big takeaways is cutting back to stay focused. Stop trying to do so many different things. Working backwards from your goals means what you should be doing becomes very clear.
Another is just plain getting more done. When you start being really clear with yourself about what you want to do, you can quite often actually get it done.
It is true, however, that implementing these systems on your own can be a real challenge. Having partners to work with is a powerful way to stay focused and accountable.
This is one of the reasons that we are doing our mastermind group starting in July.
A curated group of 10 artists, meeting twice monthly to discuss goals and hot-seat your businesses together with peers who have moved beyond the beginner stage.
Want to join us? Click here.
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