Are you tired of feeling stuck, unable to start or finish those big projects and goals? You’re not alone! In this episode, I’m diving into the three most common planning mistakes that are likely holding you back. From planning in a vacuum to getting overwhelmed by timelines and not integrating your goals into your calendar, these mistakes can stop even the best intentions in their tracks. But don’t worry—I’ve got you covered! I’ll not only break down each of these pitfalls but also give you actionable strategies to avoid them. Whether you’re working on a long-term project or setting new goals for 2025, these tips will help you make real progress without burning out.

In this episode I cover:

• Why people struggle with starting and finishing big projects 
• The 3 most common planning mistakes
• Practical strategies to overcome these roadblocks
• How to align your plans with real life
• Tools and techniques for effective planning
• Preparing for a productive 2025

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FULL TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:00] Are you someone that continues to struggle with either getting started on a new big project or actually getting them done on time or just finally completing them? Well, if so, it is probably because you are making one of the three most common mistakes that people make when they are Starting to either create a plan or get into action on a new big project or goal,  

[00:00:23] hey there and welcome back to work life harmony. I've been getting a lot of questions and we've been having some interesting discussions lately inside of the top student community around how to make progress or sometimes in certain cases, how to actually get started on some of those bigger projects or goals that you may be working on things that are going to take some, some thoughtful planning, maybe preparation, you know, something that's going to take more than just three or four hours of your time. 

[00:01:00] And what people think is, I don't have enough time for these bigger projects, right? But the fact is, there are three mistakes that I see over and over and over again when it comes to planning out a big project. And these three mistakes are what are causing people to either not even get started or start, but then have it just remain unfinished, kind of lingering on forever and ever. 

[00:01:31] And so then we get to a point where we're like, well, that's just it. Like I, I'm not even going to bother trying these things. Clearly I don't have time. So today we're going to be breaking down what the three most common mistakes are. And then obviously, what are we going to do to make sure that we don't make those mistakes? 

[00:01:47] So mistake number one is something I have talked about in previous episodes, and it's this idea that I call planning in a vacuum. And unfortunately, I see a lot of workshops and stuff out there where people are teaching you know, goal setting and you can swap in the term goal or project interchangeably here. 

[00:02:10] All right. But something that maybe is a longer term project or goal that you are working on. And I see where people are teaching really well, how to break this down into bite size chunks, and then create a plan from that, but where they continue to fall flat. Is they are doing this in a vacuum, meaning when they are laying out the plan to get it done, they're not actually integrating. 

[00:02:40] The real world. Namely, what is what is your life actually like now? And I'm not just talking, looking at your calendar for the big things that are there, the actual day to day life, realistically, how much time do you even have available on average in a given week to work on this? And so when we are not integrating that into creating our plan, here's what happens. 

[00:03:09] Thanks. We get all excited about this great plan that we've got. You know, we have it all mapped out. We're ready to go. And then day one hits and our real life smacks us across the face, right? And all these things are competing for our time that we didn't have clear visibility into. And so what gets put on the back burner? 

[00:03:29] The project or the goal, right? And this happens day after day after day. So let's kind of give an example with this. Let's say that you had a desire to write a book. All right. And you went through training on how do I break this down into a plan? And you realize, okay, you know what? There's if I can write a certain amount of hours per week, maybe you decide 10 hours a week. 

[00:03:52] If I can dedicate 10 hours a week, I can see that I can have this book done. Let's say in 10 months, I'm just throwing random numbers out here. So I have not written a book. So I do not know what that would take. So they make this goal. All right, I'm going to carve out 10 hours a week, and in 10 months, I'm going to have the draft of my book done. 

[00:04:09] But what they didn't have visibility into was seeing over the course of those 10 months, maybe there's seven weeks where they're not going to be able to write for 10 hours a day due to planned trips, vacations, etc. And they're not, they don't have visibility into that. So before they even get started, This plan is not going to happen, right? 

[00:04:31] Because they didn't, they didn't know they didn't have clear visibility into it. And this is why I approach annual planning and goal planning the way I do. If you are coming to the annual Planapalooza event, we're going to be giving a lot of tools around this. And this is why the outputs that we create there called our year at a glance and our annual one pager. 

[00:04:53] are not done in a vacuum. All right. We actually bring in real life into this process so that you can start creating plans that are actually realistic. And that way you're not going to get discouraged when all of a sudden two weeks in you're completely off of your plan. Now, the second mistake that I see, and this is a mistake that prevents people from even starting is this. 

[00:05:20] They think that they need to create the timeline first. Now, what do I mean by that? Alright, let's say you have a, a goal to, say, start a podcast. Alright I've had people ask me about this actual goal as an example. And so you're thinking, alright, I know nothing about what it would take to start a podcast. 

[00:05:43] And, and you get frozen in this state of, I don't know what I should do first. You believe that you need to sit down and create the perfect timeline of what to do first, second, third, fourth, fifth, et cetera, in order to get started. And so because you are riddled with this, I don't know where to start, we just give up. 

[00:06:06] So we're like, well, see, I don't know how to start a podcast. So the way that we get around this is by separating the brainstorming aspect from the actual planning or creating the timeline. So what I encourage you to do is if you find yourself frozen like this, when something that you're just like, I don't even know where to start is to say, all right, you know what? 

[00:06:29] The first thing I'm going to do is I'm just going to brainstorm and write down everything that I can think of that, that I know today would need to be done in order to achieve this goal or have this project done. All right. So back to our podcast example, you might be writing down, well, I need to pick a name for it. 

[00:06:46] I need to actually decide what my first couple episodes are going to be about. Oh, I need to actually have an image for it as well. Oh, I need to research. How do I even get it out onto apple? I don't even know what microphone I might need to use or software, right? So you just start jotting all these things down. 

[00:07:03] You're just brainstorming without worrying about the order of events. And when you can separate those two things, it sounds so simple, but unfortunately our brain is always trying to tell us, I want this in order first. And so we need to let our brain know, we don't need to create the order, we don't need to create the timeline, we just need the space to brainstorm. 

[00:07:29] Then once you have all of that information out in front of you, I like to do this kind of work in a software tool called Trello. It's free. It's a great place for brainstorming. You can even do it with just post it notes on your wall. Now you can come look at everything and say, all right, now that I can see everything that I'm juggling here, Now I'm ready to start thinking about what a timeline might look like. 

[00:07:50] So if you find that you are someone that struggles to start on a new project because you're constantly stressing about what do I do first, separating the brainstorming from the timeline is going to be a game changer for you. Now, the third mistake. And this comes in actually succeeding on the implementation part is that even if you knew about mistake number one, all right, and you, you knew to create a plan that was realistic because you were incorporating everything into your life and you have this beautiful plan mapped out. 

[00:08:23] That is a good, realistic plan. The third mistake is people don't translate the plan. Into their actual calendar, the calendar that the tool that they use on the regular to make yes, no decisions about their time. All right. And so what happens you will know that this is you if this if this has ever happened, you've got this great plan and the plan is sitting over in 1 area, but then your calendar is in another area. 

[00:08:52] The 2 things were not integrated together. And all of a sudden you go to look at your plan and you realize, Oh, in a couple of weeks is when, you know, I'm spending the weekend doing X step on my plan, but now your calendar is showing, you know, you're not, you've committed to all of these other things instead. 

[00:09:09] All right, so an example I recently gave in a goal setting master class, we were walking through an example around a home renovation project. So perhaps as part of this, you know, maybe you were doing a room in your house and you're mapping it out and you're realizing it's going to take a good 3 months and, you know, at the end, you need an entire weekend for kind of the painting aspect of doing all the finishing beauty up. 

[00:09:36] Well, if you're making this plan now, but that weekend isn't coming for another 3 months. What will happen is if you don't know how to integrate your plan into your calendar the right way, and this is something we cover in Planapalooza as well, what will happen is in your mind, you're thinking, Oh yeah, I'm going to, you know, that weekend in January, we're going to be doing the painting. 

[00:09:53] But if it's not on your calendar, three months is a long time. Requests for your time are going to come in. You're going to say yes to things. And all of a sudden you're rounding the bend on this home renovation project. And you're looking at your calendar. And guess what? Every single weekend in January is booked. 

[00:10:09] And weekends were the only time you had to do this. And so this is why projects that we plan out or goals that we are working on, if you find they're always taking significantly longer, it's likely because you didn't know how to integrate it into your calendar. in a way that supports you. All right. And there's actual specific ways that you can do this depending upon the type of project. 

[00:10:34] So if you find that you have struggled for a while to either get started or to complete some of these goals or projects, I promise you what you're going to learn in Plantapalooza this year. It's going to be a game changer for you because we are not going to be planning in a vacuum. Mistake number one, you are not going to be building timelines first, right? 

[00:10:56] Meaning that you're going to be paralyzed and you absolutely are going to be Learning how to put the right information into your calendar and the right level of that to support your plans. So if you've not grabbed your ticket yet for Planapalooza, you can still get one. It's meagansummerl. com forward slash plan. 

[00:11:18] And let's make 2025 the year that you are super pumped about the progress that you are making on your projects and plans.