I mentioned last week that we’re closing off the year with a free training series called Get in Gear for the New Year. One of the elements of this course that’s already been active is the online support. There’s a Twitter parade of connections among #SMFAninjas who are excitedly checking in to create accountability, to share toys, and to take full advantage of the support that comes from celebrating one another when we take on a challenge.

It takes a lot of work to create success sometimes and that work can flow easier if there’s an active support system cheering you on. Create a team of accountability buddies — whether you’re joining us for Get in Gear or not, whether you’ve set off on your own 100-Day Challenge or not. And do so not to have another way to beat yourself up when you DON’T get something done, but to have a sense of responsibility for owning what’s working and eliminating what’s not. Just by being OUT about your goals, you’re more likely to achieve them. And, accountability buddies can let you know when your goals are too ambitious for the amount of time you’re giving yourself to get them done, as well as hold your feet to the fire when you’re slacking off.

Also integral to succeeding is scheduling the steps it takes to get things done. And that’s what I want you to start thinking about today. 2015 is going to be a spectacular year! It’s going to be filled with opportunities for you to leap to the next tier. It’s going to include good news and good times and good people. It’s also going to have its low points, as all years do. But because we cannot plan for what might go wrong in the future except for by keeping our head in the best possible space for being able to adapt and handle life’s twists and turns, let’s plan for what we can help go right!

Print out a calendar for 2015. Or buy a wall calendar with puppies on it or something. I want this to be a month-at-a-glance kind of thing, not a day-planner. You can use one of those too, of course, but for this success scheduling, let’s use months. Don’t have a calendar handy? Here. Use mine. (That’s a PDF.)

Great. Print that off. Grab a favorite pen. Grab several. My Success Schedule has loads of colors on it, as I like to color-code my activities and projects. Maybe you prefer one big-ass Sharpie. Great.

Now, for each month, we’re gonna pick a thing. Since most folks who DON’T schedule success look way too far out in the future and think there’s no way they could possibly get to everything on their list, we’re gonna break this down into 12 individual things you can easily get to, monthly.

So, let’s say your goal for January is getting your resumé spruced up. Awesome. Write the word “resumé” at the top of the month. Now let’s pick a few benchmarks within the month. Pick a day by which you’ll add those new credits you keep hand-writing in. Next, pick a day by which you’ll remove credits that no longer serve you, adding the word “selected” to the header for that section. Then, pick a day by which you’ll get more specific with your special skills — your level of ability for each of the things you say you do well. Finally, pick a day for proofing. Not just by you, but by one of those fancy accountability buddies I mentioned up top.

Sure, you could do all of those things in a single day, but will you? HAVE YOU? Or is “update resumé” still lingering on your to do list, months after you said it was important? Be honest. By having wee do-able goals throughout the month, you can earnestly start in on one little thing with just a few minutes of free time. Get more done? Great. Get less done? Why? You want to spruce up your resumé, right? Excuses become tougher to let yourself use when you have tasks broken down into tiny bits.

Let’s say you choose June for shooting that scene you keep talking about. Great. Write “shoot scene” at the top of the month. Pick days for each of the elements that you know have to happen. Pick a day for collaborating one last time with your writing partner. Another for breaking down the budget. Another day for bringing together the crew you need from within your web of trust. A day to shoot. A day to edit. A day to have an accountability buddy check out the rough cut and provide feedback. All do-able, right?

Sure, I’m totally oversimplifying the production process, but if you’re busy being overwhelmed by it, you need it to be simple enough to get plotted out on a calendar. Maybe give yourself something really easy for the month after something in which you take on something that can spill over beyond a month’s time. So, in July, you tackle “stay in touch” as a topic, and you pick four days throughout the month for sending emails, mailing postcards, hitting a networking event with a wingman, etc. Do-able.

This has the potential to be a HUGE year. Set yourself up for badassery by scheduling some success. No, you may not get to all 12 months’ topics and you may get frustrated by some of the things you keep NOT doing, even though you know they’re really important. But you’ll come closer to getting things done when you map ’em out, declare the plan, huddle with a member of your support team, and just START.

Wanna share with me how your success calendar is shaping up? That’s my email address below! Let’s see your schedule for success!

Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!

Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/001910.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.