LESSON 2

O = Organize Your Life Around

What’s Most Important

Overview and Objective

Now that you’ve decided and defined what’s most important, you’re ready
for step two: set yourself up for success by organizing your life around
achieving it. In the training, we covered the biggest excuse we all use for
not finishing what we start:

“I don’t have the time!”

From this moment forward, you’ll never use that excuse again. Because,
by the end of this Fun Sheet, you’ll have scheduled the actions needed to
bring your goal to life and planned ahead to overcome obstacles that could
take you off track.

If it’s important enough to you,

you’ll make the time.
If not — you’ll make an excuse.

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 STEP 1

IF IT’S NOT SCHEDULED,

IT’S NOT REAL
Study after study has shown that deciding in advance when and where
you’ll take specific actions to reach your goal can double or triple your
chances for success. Did you hear that? DOUBLE or TRIPLE your
chances for success! So it’s not enough just to schedule time in your
calendar — you must also specify the location where you’ll do the work.

Exercise Instructions

1 CALENDAR IT.

Open up your calendar of choice (Google Calendar, Day Planner, iCal

— whatever you use!) and begin to block out dedicated, non-negotiable
chunks of time on your calendar to do the necessary work to reach your
goal. Do your best to include:


T H E A C T I O N / TA S K YO U ’ L L W O R K
ON DURING EACH TIME CHUNK


T H E L O C AT I O N W H E R E YO U ’ L L
WORK ON IT

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 3 Smart Scheduling Tips To Help:
1. REVERSE ENGINEER IT

Begin with the end in mind by looking at the date by which you want this
project or goal complete. You should have those specifics from Lesson 1. Now,
work backwards and schedule in the necessary time chunks over the days and
weeks ahead that allow you to reach your goal. If you discover your time frame
isn’t realistic, either readjust your goal or readjust your life. Remember, our
intention is follow-through success, not toxic stress.

2 . G U E S S T I M AT E

One challenge people have at this stage is not knowing how long it might
take them to complete all the tasks and steps to reach their goal. That’s OK!
Especially when you’re doing something new, it’s impossible to know. Just use
your best judgment and get something down now. Then during your progress
check-in time (again, another step from Lesson 1) you’ll be able to course correct
based on reality. Once you start to get a feel for how long things are taking, make
adjustments to your calendar and/or timeline accordingly. Go for progress, not
perfection!

3 . PA R K I N S O N ’ S L AW

Do you know about this nifty principle? It refers to the idea that work
expands to fit the time allotted. Meaning, if you give yourself 2 months to
get something done, you’ll probably take 2 months to finally do it. However,
if you only have 2 days to complete that same task — and it’s a MUST for
you — you’ll find a way to make it happen in that time frame. The way to
leverage this principle when scheduling is to experiment with setting tight,
yet realistic, deadlines. Test it out for yourself and continue to challenge your

assumptions about how quickly you can get things done.

 Check this box once you’ve scheduled time chunks for when
and where you’ll do the work needed to reach your goal.

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 STEP 2

OVERCOME PROBLEMS
IN ADVANCE
No matter how organized you are or how motivated you feel — things
will happen to knock you off track. From sickness to technology fails to
everyday interruptions, there are loads of obstacles, both internal and
external, to contend with on your path to finish what you start.

However, if you plan for problems ahead of time and plot out exactly
how you’ll overcome them — you’re far more likely to stay on track and

follow through.

Exercise Instructions

1 BRAINSTORM A LIST.

Brainstorm a list of the typical challenges, distractions and obstacles that

can take you off track. From social media sinkholes, internet outages,
group texts, daytime calls from family to not having food in the house.
Write them down.

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 2 MAKE A PLAN TO OVERCOME EACH CHALLENGE.

Make a plan to overcome each challenge. For instance, if your follow-

through problem is that group text messages interrupt you all day, one
solution is to put your phone on airplane mode or turn your phone
completely off during focus time. Is your challenge that you don’t think
ahead for lunch and it seems to become a big chore that takes forever? One
solution can be to prepare meals on Sundays to stay nourished and focused
during the week.

Look at your brainstorm list above and write down specific solutions to
tackle each challenge or problem. If you need more room, use your journal.

PROBLEM #1

H OW I ’ L L H A N D L E I T

PROBLEM #2

H OW I ’ L L H A N D L E I T

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 PROBLEM #3

H OW I ’ L L H A N D L E I T

PROBLEM #4

H OW I ’ L L H A N D L E I T

PROBLEM #5

H OW I ’ L L H A N D L E I T

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 FANTASTIC JOB.
You’ve just completed part two of The Follow-Through Formula. If you’d
like more strategies and tools to stay productive, these are some must-watch
MarieTV episodes.

 
6 WAYS TO S TO P H OW TO F I N D T H E T I M E TO
D I S T R AC T I O N S W H E N WO R K O N YO U R B U S I N E S S
WO R K I N G F R O M H O M E & I N YO U R B U S I N E S S

 
THE 4-MINUTE 4 T H I N G S R E A L LY
M E T H O D TO M A S S I V E PRODUCTIVE PEOPLE
PRODUCTIVITY D O E V E R Y DAY

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