The best coaches in the world agree on two things:
- The importance of a game plan
- The ability to ADJUST it as they go
New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick says, “The most important thing is to have a good plan and then adjust the plan as the game goes on based on what’s happening.”
So teams don’t show up having planned all the plays they’ll run in the 4th quarter. Instead, they run their offense and make adjustments along the way.
But when it comes to PERSONAL goals we try to plan all our plays for the whole year. Which not only is exhausting… It doesn’t work. Trust me, I tried for years. 🙁
Each year was a new opportunity for things to be different. Until they weren’t. A year is simply too long to project and track our lives.
Then I discovered the power of MONTHLY plans.
A month is just long enough to spark momentum and get real results. Yet short enough to make adjustments throughout the year.
With a monthly view, all the sudden our daily to-dos have real direction toward our monthly goals. They lay the foundation or “game plan” for the month. So we can just show up and run the offense.
The real magic starts with the daily highlight. This is a single activity we prioritize for the day. It lets us proactively answer the question, “What do I want the highlight of my day to be?”
On a monthly horizon, daily highlights establish massive clarity on what is important. And with massive clarity comes massive action.
I track my daily highlights in a simple sheet that let’s me define the highlight AND check the box to make sure I do it. (ahh the satisfaction of the checkmark!)
In the template below, under “DAILY WINS ✅” I check the box by doing the highlight itself. I then check another box by defining tomorrow’s highlight. (Defining the following day’s highlight the day before makes me 10x more likely to get it done.)
Then I list the actual highlights in the next section called “DAILY HIGHLIGHTS ⭐.”
Want this template? Enter email below and I’ll send it to you fo’ free. 🙂
Here’s how it works.
- DAILY WINS ✅ = simple repeatable habits. Start with an easy goal to check these off at least 80% of the time. (Monthly progress % is tracked with chart on the top left)
- DAILY HIGHLIGHT ⭐ = the one highlight of each day. It can be centered around work, but doesn’t need to be.
- WEEKLY WINS 🎉 = output from the week.
- MONTHLY OUTPUT 🚢 = what is shipped. The daily and weekly wins act as a flywheel for the monthly output. Aka, your VIP priorities for the month.
The small inputs (daily highlights) then lead directly into big monthly outputs.
The book Make Time explains how, “Plenty of self-help gurus have offered suggestions for setting goals, and plenty of productivity experts have created systems for getting things done. But the space between has been neglected. We call the missing piece a Highlight.”
The best part is that your monthly game plan does NOT have to be perfect. It’s just the starting point. Then you can make adjustments along the way. Enjoy the ride. ✌️
PS. Here’s quick video walkthrough of the template above.
Toss your email here if you want the template.