Why a Red Gucci Purse is Totally Part of Strategic Planning

You might be asking yourself, “What in the world does strategic planning have to do with a Red Gucci Purse?” My answer to that would be EVERYTHING! 

It’s the beginning of the year. You’ve updated your strategic plan, including your 2017 goals, and are getting back to business at hand. This is great, but how do you keep focused on achieving those goals while keeping everything else going? And for multi-step goals, at what point do you claim success?

If you’re a driven person, as I know many of you are, you are likely to keep setting new goals and driving for more without stopping to take a breath and acknowledge your accomplishments. This forward momentum, no matter how impressive, will inevitably lead to burnout.  I’m going to help you avoid this by introducing you to my ‘Gucci Purse’ rewards program.

For those of you who have participated in my Own Your Future Strategic Planning process, you know that Step 2 -Inspiring Future - includes establishing major milestones. Milestones are significant accomplishments that give your business a big lift.

While milestones are good, hard driven people tend to keep moving the goal line. It is great to keep driving - but you need to refuel your tank before moving on. In order to push myself to achieve, I like to have a physical reminder or memento.  The personal reward I am currently working to earn is a Red Gucci Purse, which I will treat myself to when I’ve completed the professional recording of my No More Feast or Famine webinar series. I found an image online for the purse I want and taped it to my milestone timeline, right below the webinar series recording date. The Red Gucci Purse will serve as a visual reminder to me that I focused, persevered and made that milestone happen. Even after the recording, there will still be tons of work to be done to market and distribute the webinar series. But for me, recording the webinar series represents a major milestone. The reward will help propel me forward to take those next steps.  

Not everyone’s reward needs to be a pricey gift. Other ideas are treating yourself to a day off, getting a massage, or taking a trip. The idea is that you stop, acknowledge your hard work and celebrate. Identifying the reward-worthy point can be tricky. For example, you may set a milestone to secure a new type of client. Do you get the prize when the client says yes, when you start the work, or when you get paid for it? For complex multi-step projects, consider identifying a critical step in the process that feels like the biggest hurdle.

I’d love to hear about which milestones you plan to celebrate and how. What’s your ‘Red Gucci Purse’?