Guest post by by Cass Mullane, Accountability Coach, Right-Brain Business Plan® Licensed Facilitator, Prosper Creatively, LLC

I’m sure by now you’ve hit your stride for 2016. You’re crystal clear on your direction, you know exactly the action steps you need to take to get there and you’re moving along at a good crisp clip.

Right! … No?

You’re not totally clear on your direction? You have a good idea of your direction, but not sure which action steps you need to take? You know the action steps, but just cannot seem to get moving?

If you’re having difficulty, you’re not alone. I can tell you that many, many businesses experience this challenge at the beginning of the year. Of course the reasons vary, but here are a couple of things that may be tripping you up:

1. You’re distracted by all the BSOs that are inherent in any new year.
2. You forgot to plan for success in 2016 while you were in 2015

So let’s take a look at these two whoops moments.

It’s 2016 and everything is bright, shiny and new. You’ve got new energy, new resolve, new ideas. You’ve also got an email box full of everyone else’s bright, shiny new things. “Look at the newest version of my great program!” “Look at my awesome organizing system that you cannot live without!” “Look at a brand new way to market your stuff that is guaranteed to bring in six figures this month!”

So you’re distracted. You’re diving down rabbit holes checking out all the things that might make your day more productive or your time more managed or your webinars more marketable. Now, one of these BSOs could be a perfect solution for you. You know you need a new Fill-in-the-Blank, but you don’t know what kind of Fill-in-the-Blank to look for because you don’t know where you’re going this year. You have no filters.

So let’s look at the second whoops.

If you forgot to plan for 2016 during 2015 that typically means you lose the first 6-8 weeks of the new year. You spend the first couple of weeks of January settling in from the holidays, then you start thinking about what you want to do, then you spend the rest of January into February figuring out how to do it and laying the groundwork to do it, before you can actually even get around to launching at the end of February. That’s 6-8 weeks that are simply flushed.

If that’s where you are, don’t beat yourself up about it. Instead, decide now to lift your head up, look around then take an intentional, proactive step and make your plan. What do you want to accomplish this year? What impact do you want to have? What resources do you need to get there? What is the result you’d like to see when you get there? Where do you start? How do you measure your progress along the way?

These are all questions you need to answer in order to get going now.

When you take a longer look, and get clear on where you want to go, this serves as a built in filter for BSOs. You tend to get rid of the distractions and focus more intently on what’s really important. You pay attention to what will help you get to where you want to go and you jettison the extra stuff that’s distracting you and holding you back.
So, make your plan for 2016 now with no regrets and no apologies. Go after what you really want. Be sure to include in your plan, for the fourth quarter, plenty of time to make an awesome plan for 2017. Then you’ll clear away all the noise and sail right into the coming year with ease!

* BSOs = Bright Shiny Objects

Cass Mullane is an artist with an MBA. Cass’ calm, comfortable approach consistently yields positive results for clients. Her business and personal coaching practice, www.ProsperCreatively.com, specializes in delivering solid left brain business skills to right brainers and creatives in a fun, visual way. She’s a best selling author, textile and mixed media artist and creator of the Cool Stuff Jar™ coaching program. You can also visit Cass on Facebook!