Posts in Goals
Our Q2 Rocks

Have you heard of the story called “The Rocks of Life?” If not, visit my March Goals of 2017 or google it! Here’s a brief summary for you:

The rocks represent the most important things in our lives. If we don’t schedule them and prioritize them, if we don’t put them in our jar FIRST, they won’t get done. (Go read the story and that will make a bit more sense!)

90 Day “Rocks” are quarterly goals that we set for NRP by asking ourselves, “What are THE MOST IMPORTANT things we have to do this quarter to reach our goals for this year?” We try to limit ourselves to only 5-7 rocks max, so we can actually accomplish them without getting too overwhelmed.

In short, we decide the most important goals we must reach this quarter, and everything we do revolves around achieving these goals. If we don’t set them, we are whisked away by our clients’ needs, our inboxes, the day to day stuff that takes up so much of our time.

NRP’s Q2 Rocks for 2017:
• Launch Film & Hybrid Shooting Course (Coming early June!!)
• Plan and Delegate for Maternity Leave
• Book 6 Weddings for Olivia this calendar year (any engaged brides out there reading?!)
• Book 13 Family Sessions for Elizabeth
• Sell out 12 Mini Sessions

Want to know our 2017 Q1 Rocks? I shared them in my March Goals!

We learned all about these 90 day priorities we call “Rocks” in the book Traction. I highly recommend it for small business owners!

Have any of you tried to set quarterly rocks yet? It’s not too late to start!

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April 2017 Goals

April Goals

  • Read Hands Free Mama and What’s Best Next

  • Take Milly to the Zoo

  • Date Night with Will

  • Family trip to Nashville

  • Run a 10K

  • Complete Site for Film and Hybrid Course

  • Launch new shop PDF: How Film can still be profitable

  • Host a Webinar: How to Hire your first Intern

Here’s the deal. You can create some truly wonderful memories that are sacred and beautiful, right now. You can take your business to the next level, right now. You can take a little bit of time for yourself and your family won’t implode. You CAN, and you absolutely should, plan something small, but something significant, that will actually cause you to live the life that you WANT to be living, this month.

I’ll be honest: I took one look at April and my first thought was, “There’s no way I can schedule anything special or fun. It’s too full. We’re going out of town for Easter, I’m shooting my first wedding, I’m leading worship in church twice, I’m signed up to run a 10k. Our month is done.” I realize those are all wonderful things! But I didn’t feel like I could plan anything for me, or for Milly, or for our marriage this month.

And then I remembered some of the principles I learned recently in What the Most Successful People do before Breakfast and I remembered – we tend to over exaggerate my busyness. I over exaggerate the fullness of my schedule. I lie to myself and say, “I don’t have time,” when indeed, I do. It just takes some forethought and intentionality!

You just have to take a closer look at your schedule, then block off time for what’s most important. It really is that simple.

So here’s to taking Milly to the zoo this month when I didn’t think I had time. I’m gonna MAKE time, because goodness we only have 4 more months until Baby #2 comes and I want to make the most of it. I’m going to take a yoga class because that hour to myself makes me stronger and rejuvenated to be a better wife, mama, and business owner. And I’m planning a date night with my man because a healthy marriage is vital to making this life of ours as beautiful as we want it to be.

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March 2017 Goals (& our 90 day rocks!)

I’m going to share a brief little story that has helped me SO much over the past year. It’s a little cheesy, but stick with me, because it’s really good!

•••

One time there was a professor, and he filled a big glass jar with a bunch of rocks. He asked his class, “Is this jar full?” Of course his students said yes! But then he reached under his table and filled the jar with a bunch of pebbles, which trickled down and around the big rocks and filled it even more.

“Now is the jar full?” The class responded, “Yes, it’s full now!” But then he reached down to reveal a cup of sand. He poured the sand over the big rocks and the pebbles.

“Now is the jar full?” The class responded, “Yes of course, it’s finally full!” And of course, the professor grabbed his glass of water and filled it to the brim. The professor finally said, “Now the glass is full.”

•••

The moral of the story is this: the rocks represent the most important things in our lives. If we don’t put the rocks in first, our lives will be filled with sand and pebbles and water… the day to day unimportant tasks that will take over. If we don’t schedule in our “rocks” and prioritize them, if we don’t put them in our jar FIRST, they simply won’t get done.

One thing that has been incredibly beneficial for us as a team is to view break up our NRP goals into this format of 90 Day “Rocks”: deciding what is most important to tackle within every quarter / 90 day period. We got this idea and phrase from the book Traction – an incredible resource we use for goal setting, best business practices, and our effective team meetings.

So what are our Q1 Rocks of 2017? What are the MOST important things to do to set us up for success this year?

– Hire a Studio Assistant
– Hire 3 Interns
– Relocate Callie and refresh studio
– Book 15 Weddings for 2017
– Add 1000 to our Email List
– Complete our Process Notebooks
– Purchase and complete Course Website

We’ve finished the first 3 Rocks, and now we have March to complete the last 4! We’re about halfway done with completing each of those, but we need to finish strong.

After reviewing our 90 day Rocks, now it’s time to mesh that with my personal life and share my March Goals!

March Goals

Do you set quarterly “rocks” or goals? I’d love to hear in the comments below!

Goals, WorkNancy RayGoals, TeamComment