Do you work on the hoof ? Do you suddenly find that while you have been working your butt off you haven’t actually achieved much? Have you set any actual goals or are you just working towards an unknown goal?

If any of this resonates with you, you are not alone. Too many of us are working hard but not really knowing where we are going. Because we don’t know where we are going we end up doing stuff we think is good for our business, Blog or Website.

I will be honest and tell you that I fell into the goalless trap but I knew I had to change. Some of you will find being organised and setting goals easy and natural. This post will probably seem useless to you. However, for the rest of us, it can help us to set goals and actually achieve them.

In this post I will help you to:

1. Set your goals, short and long term.

2. Work out how to achieve them.

3. Organise yourself so you do the work to achieve those goals

Now many of you will now be thinking “ I hate plans“ “ I cant stick to the plan” “ I don’t need a plan, I work intuitively” and do you know what, that’s okay we are all different. However there’s a reason you are reading this post. Maybe you feel overwhelmed by the tasks that need to be done to make your blog successful. Maybe you feel that you are doing all of the right things but not getting the results you expected. Maybe you are just open to a different way of working efficiently.

So Let’s Get Started

1. Set Your Goals

Each and every one of us will have different goals but we have some commonality. We need an end Goal and we need short term goals that will get us there.

Goals need to be specific. You can’t just say I want more Instageam followers. We need to say how many Instagram followers we need.

So what is your end goal? Be very specific here. It will probably include a monetary goal. It may also include some lifestyle goals too. It may also include some personal goals regarding your health or lifestyle.

I want you to think a year into the future and write down your specific goals.

If at this point you cannot be bothered. That’s okay. I used to be like this too. I didn’t know what I i really wanted and so this exercise was too hard.

Sometimes we need coaching in order to totally define that end goal. One thing that has helped me is having a vision board but I was only able to do that through a coaching process. It doesn’t have to be that hard and you can create your own vision board by just cutting out images from a magazine or maybe use Canva if you are already using it for your graphics for your blog or website.

Don’t be like me and stop reading. Even if you cannot envisage your end goal you can still make short term goals that may make your end goal a little clearer.

2. Short Term Goals 

It is definitely easier to make short term goals if you know your end goal but It is still useful to make short term goals.

This maybe; how many followers you want on your social media accounts or visitors to your Website or sign ups to your email lists or even how many sales you make.

Be specific. It’s no good saying I want to increase sales. How many sales. Being specific involves actual numbers.

3. How do I achieve My Goals

Now we get into the nitty gritty of what you have to do to achieve those goals.

How much time do you have per week? Be honest with yourself here. If when you get home from work you need an hour to chill out and clear your brain, then you don’t have this time to achieve your goals. Work out exactly how much time you have in a normal week and when.

Every day you should take 15 minutes to plan your day. I actually like to do this the evening before but if doing it over breakfast suits you that’s fine but you have to use this time management process.

1. Write down a to do list.

2. Give each item on your list a time that it will take to achieve.

3. Now take a look at your specific goals (I set new ones each month) and see which tasks help you to achieve your goals and which maybe will have little impact.

I rate each task using the following system:

A = Urgent, needs to be done now if not yesterday

B = Important to achieve goals

C = Would be nice to do but not urgent

D = Dump it, not necessary at all today

Once you have a time and a rating for each task, slot them into the time available for that day. It goes without saying that the Priority goes A To C. It might be that you get an hour in the morning but the A takes longer so slot it into a longer period you have in the evening and fill up the hour in the morning with the Bs and Cs.

Be realistic and plan your day efficiently. Tasks that can’t be completed that day will be moved to tomorrow’s To Do List.

Here’s an Example So You Can See How It Works

To Do List Monday

Write Blog Post 3 hours A

Answer and Sort Emails 1/2 hour B

Promote last blog post 1/2 hour A

Instagram post 10 mins B

Pinterest posts x3 20 mins B

Facebook Groups 20 mins D

Twitter x 3 10 mins B

Pinterest Course 1/2 hour C

Research Keywords for next blog post 1/2 hour A

So that’s 6 hours of work I need to fit in or 5 hours 40 minutes if I dump the Facebook Groups. Now obviously your list may be similar to this but it will have different times and ratings. Each day will also be different. If you only post once a week there will be days when writing blog posts won’t feature in the list.

I would also add everything else you need to do that day too. Grocery shopping, work, walk the dog, cook dinner etc I just left these out for ease of showing you how to plan and organise your days so that you can get organised, efficient and ultimately successful.

Let’s Plan Our Day

I use a diary for this but any piece of paper or notebook is great too. As is, any online planner you may like. Sorry I cannot recommend one because, I hated any I have tried to use. I’m an old fashioned pen and paper kind of person, despite running online businesses !

6am Wake, shower, breakfast

7am Promote last Blog, Answer and sort emails

8am leave for work

1pm lunch, pinterest Posts, Twitter

2pm work

6pm chill, cook dinner and eat

7pm Write new Blog Post

10pm Instagram post, research new keywords

10.50 pm plan tomorrow

11pm chill or do pinterest Course ?

11.30 Bed

So I managed to get everything I needed to do into my day, giving myself a choice at the end of the day of watching some T. V before bed or getting that Pinterest course done. Remember it was a C so nice but not vital.

I do this everyday and the jobs change every day too. The weekends are different too but I also plan those.

Once you get used to it, it takes no more than ten minutes to do and it stops me from doing unnecessary stuff .

I actually use schedulers for my Social media accounts and spend an hour a week scheduling everything I want to go out in advance.

For Pinterest and Instagram, I use Tailwind. I use Boardbooster for Pinterest too as that is where most of my traffic comes from. Read my post on Pinterest here. I use Crowdfire for twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. Using these schedulers means that I can plan everything in advance and it will all happen on auto pilot throughout the week.

Just try this 3 step process and get yourself organised and less stressed. Make a To Do list, Time and rate them, Create a daily schedule. Give Tailwind, Boardbooster and Crowdfire a go too and get your social media promotion on track. They all have free trials so you have nothing to lose but you may get more time !

If you have any questions just comment below and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

With Grace and Gratitude

Karen

This post contains affiliate links and if a purchase is made I may get a small commission but it won’t cost you any more. If you join Tailwind through my link you will get a $15 credit for your first paid month.