Tips to Making “Do Something Great In November” a Success

Last week I posted the “Do Something Great in November” Challenge! (If you haven’t signed up for it, you can still do so – there’s no charge or sign up, just surf over to that post and take a read!)

Spending a month working like a madman (or madwoman) on a new project or activity can be tough. Below are some tips to help you set yourself up for success. While the tips are geared towards the November Challenge specifically, the advice can be applied to any form of goal setting you may choose to embark on:

Prepare

If you read the prior post about the November Challenge, then you know I am taking part in National Novel Writing Month (“NaNoWriMo”). In NaNoWriMo, you are not allowed to start writing your novel until November 1st. However, you can plot, outline, create character sheets, etc. In a word, you can prepare!

I am in the process now of doing all this for my novel. That way, when November 1st hits, I will be ready to hit the ground running.

In the same way, you should prepare as much as you can before beginning your big November goal. That preparation could take many forms:

• Clearing some things off your schedule to make time
• Buying workout gear so you can start right on day one
• Signing up for a group or class
• Researching your activity and creating a plan for the month
• Posting your goal in the comments on this website!

Keep in mind, preparation is not only about the specific task at hand. I know that in order to stay on track for November I need to keep my energy up. This means eating healthy, getting plenty of sleep, getting some exercise (even if it’s just walking) and limiting my consumption of junk food and alcohol. You can bet on Sunday, October 31st I’m going to the grocery store and stocking up on healthy stuff.

Question: What can you do right now to prepare to make November a success?

Aim For Progress, Not Perfection

One reason people fail to take action is because they try to be perfect. That’s a bad approach in general, and a terrible way to tackle the “Do Something Great in November” Challenge.

I am pretty sure the quality of my novel will be worse than a second grade production of “Requiem for a Dream”. That’s ok, for this month I won’t worry about that. I will just keep cranking out words and making progress. I can always go back and edit once draft one is finished.

For your goal, don’t worry about being perfect. Just keep taking action all month long. At the end of the month you can either edit what you created or evaluate your approach and make adjustments. Just give yourself one month to not judge (or over-judge) yourself.

Question: Are you willing to let go of perfection and just be happy with progress?

Plan for Hiccups

The worst thing you can do going into November is assume that you will be perfect everyday.

If I want to hit 50,000 words in 30 days, I need to write about 1,667 words a day. When I’m in a good “Flow” state, I can knock that out in about an hour. By that math, I should plan on spending one hour a day writing every day for thirty days, right?

Wrong.

I can be pretty sure that many days I will not be in “Flow” (or it will take me a lot longer to get to that state). Also, chances are that at some point some unexpected event will throw my day off and make it incredibly difficult to get in my writing. Or I’ll hit a creative wall where getting just 500 words out will take hours.

I need to mentally prepare myself for those “off days.” If I go in expecting everyday to be great, then the first time a hiccup occurs I’ll get thrown completely off track.

My goal is to set aside 2 hours a day to write (not easy, but doable if I wake up early), and to complete 2500 words per day. Some days I may very well get more done than 2500, and some days the 2500 will come faster than 2 hours. That should balance out the off-days (I hope!)

Question: Is your November plan based on everything going right everyday, or have you built in some “margin for error”?

Set Up a Proper Environment

Your environment will play a huge role in your success.

As a writer, I know that the emptier my table is when I write, the easier it is for me to be productive (cluttered desk=cluttered mind). When it comes to working out, if I wait until the evening the gym gets so crowded I tend to half-ass my workouts. As a person who loves eating unhealthy, I know that if I have no food in the house, I get very tempted to run out and grab an unhealthy burger or pizza.

Only you know the environment that will work best for you. Take some time this week to:

1. Think about what you need in your environment.
2. Set up your environment for success as best you can.

Also remember that environment includes the people around you. Are they the type of people that will support you in your endeavor or criticize you for being stupid? Will they help you or sabotage you? Will they understand if you take a month and don’t see them as much, or will they make you feel guilty about it?

Be careful who you share your dreams with. If you are going to try to do something great in November, the last thing you need to do is waste energy on the nay-sayers.

Question: Is your environment set up to help you maximize your chance at success?

Measure Success Based On What You Have Control Over

Take a good look at the goal you set for yourself for November. Is it set up so you can judge your success based on things you can control?

Say your goal is to “grow your business by landing three new clients.” Good goal, but the problem is that some of that goal is outside your control. You may just be unlucky and not make the right contacts. You can’t completely control the outcome. However, you can control your activities.

“I will make 10 cold calls a day,” or, “I will attend one networking event a week,” or “I will send 500 direct mail pieces this month” are all activities you can control that should help you achieve your result goal.

There is nothing wrong with a “result goal.” Have those goals, but then decide on a series of activities you can consistently do to achieve those result goals. Then commit to doing them and measure your success based on wether you completed those activities. And if you do complete those activities and see no results, just change the activities as needed.

(For more info on this topic, read my Result Goals Vs. Activity Goals post)

Question: Have you set a series of “activity goals” for yourself that you have direct control over, or are you pinning your hopes on other people and circumstances?

Sacrifice

Yup, it took me this long to get to it, but it’s true: if you want to do something great in November, you’re going to have to make some sacrifices.

In my experience, this is easy to understand but hard to implement. So many people (myself included at times) want to achieve something or make our lives better but are unwilling to change, sacrifice, or do something (anything) different to make it happen!

Your sacrifice doesn’t need to be huge, but chances are you’ll have to make some changes to do something great in November.

Here are some of the sacrifices I am making:

• Sleep – I’m going to be getting up earlier on weekdays to work on the novel.
• TV – For the first week in November, I am going on a total “TV fast.” No TV at all, for 7 straight days. Once the first week is past, I will still maintain strict control over my TV watching.
• Social Activities – I plan on maintaining a social life in November, but I’ll be turning down many offers to “grab dinner,” “hang out,” or “meet up for lunch,” that I would ordinarily say yes to.

None of these are earth shatteringly huge, but they all will shake me out of the status quo. And sometimes that’s all you need to get moving!

Question: Are you willing to make a few small sacrifices to achieve something really cool and big?

Here’s My Challenge to You

If you are participating in the challenge (and if not, I urge you to read, the Challenge Post and consider joining) then in the comments section below, add your own thoughts on one or both of the following:

1. What are you personally doing to prepare for the November Challenge
2. What other tips do you have for participants to help them make the November Challenge a success?

About

By Avish Parashar. As the world's only Motivational Improviser, Avish uses techniques from the world of improv comedy to engage, entertain, and educate audiences on ideas around change, creativity, and motivation. Connect with Avish on Google+

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