Overview
Now we are in to the heart of The Happiness Plan planning phase. This part takes a little practice so be prepared to make mistakes. Just being honest.
At the same time, don’t worry about being perfect. The Happiness Plan is all about being flexible. It accounts for the reality of not being able to plan for every possible contingency.
It’s time to break down each of your S.M.A.R.T. goals into the steps it will take to accomplish the goal.
No different than driving directions, it’s a turn-by-turn, step-by-step breakdown of what needs to be done.
For each step we’ll also want to make note of any resources needed and potential roadblocks that might prevent you from being able to complete the step.
Don’t worry if you don’t get everything. You can always adjust it later.
Break it down
Step 1: write down your s.m.a.r.t. goal
Write down the S.M.A.R.T. goal for easy reference.
Step 2: brainstorm the list of steps to accomplish the goal
There are two approaches I used to do this:
1 – The Brainstorm Method
Write down anything and everything you can think of. Doesn’t matter how big or small.
Once I have the list I’ll go through it and organize it into sequential order. For bigger steps I might break them down into smaller ones if possible.
* As a side note, there is a point where you can break down a task smaller than is useful. Don’t worry about that right now. You’ll get more comfortable with what works for you as you gain more experience using The Happiness Plan. For now, focus on getting it down on paper.
2 – Take One Step Back (Thank you Mike Michalowicz!)
Start with the end goal in mind and take one step back. What was the last thing you did to accomplish the goal.
Take another step back. What did you do to get to the next to last step?
Repeat this until you get to the start of the process.
– Most of the time I use the first method, but when I get stuck I’ll use method 2 to figure out how to get from one step to another.
Step 3: Resources and roadblocks
Write down a list of resources you may need to accomplish each step.
A resource could be anything like: money, time, freelance work… anything that needs to be consumed to accomplish this step.
You’ll also want to think of any potential problems you might encounter. If something you need to accomplish a task is going to cost a significant amount of money, make note of it as that may become another goal you’ll need to accomplish before you can move forward with this goal.
example
In the previous step we converted Learn Spanish into a S.M.A.R.T. goal which looks like this:
Learning 300 words of Caribbean Spanish before my trip to Puerto Rico in January.
Let's take a look at how we might break it down into action steps...Learn new words 250-300
Learn new words 200-250
You get the idea…
Learn 50 words
Before we can start learning ANY words we’ll need to find a resource where we can learn.
In order to decide which learning platform/method you want to use you’ll need to do a little bit of research.
So, a potential first step might be to research the best way to learn Caribbean Spanish.
If you don’t know the answer to how your are going to learn the language then you’ll want to make note of this in the Roadblocks.
Depending on the method you choose; phone app, private tutor, online class, you may need to be able to pay for these services. You won’t know the details until you do some research.
For this example we would write down the steps we are fairly certain of, any known resources you’ll need, and the roadblock.
Step 4: repeat for each s.m.a.r.t. goal
Repeat steps 1-3 for each S.M.A.R.T. goal.
If you run into any questions, get stuck, whatever… Post up your questions in the Facebook group or send me an email. You’re not in this alone!
Step 3: Give yourself a huge pat on the back!
Was it as difficult as you thought it would be? Send me an email and let me know. I LOVE hearing from people about their accomplishments. It is literally one of the big reasons why I love doing this!
If you’re up for it, let’s dive right into the next step while this stuff is fresh in your mind.