The Key Assumptions
Welcome back. In this week’s installment of the mini-series, From Vision to Execution, we’re diving into Step 3: Your Key Assumptions. This is another key step in the overall process and requires a combination of zooming out to see the big picture (The Vision Thing) and zooming in to examine The Parts & Pieces in more detail.
We began this process with an overview of the entire 5-step process. If you’re just joining us now, head over to the overview, which will get you up to speed quickly.
Step 3: The Key Assumptions
This part of the process makes the goals you set in step 2 (The Parts & Pieces) come to life and become real. At this stage, we need to add assumptions around time - how long it will take to get things done - and resources - are additional resources needed.
Adding this additional level of detail to your goals helps refine them even further. And it’s a critical step before we actually move to the wall calendar, that year-at-a-glance calendar that I showed you at the very beginning.
We used the SMART framework last week to get a lot more specific. The more detail we added, the more realistic and achievable the goals became.
Here’s where we landed last week after completing Step 2: The Parts & Pieces.
1. Get my website up and running
a. Buy my URL (Anne LaFollette Art)
b. Select squarespace as my website hosting service
c. Pick a squarespace template to use
d. Upload my own images and copy into the template
e. Publish my first draft by X date
2. Start to build my email list
a. Sign up for Mailchimp’s free email service provider
b. Watch the training videos
c. Create a simple one-page PDF as a freebie to give to people who join my list
d. Create an opt-in and thank you page for the freebie
e. Post the link to the opt-in page on my website by X date
3. Create weekly valuable content to share with my creative community
a. Decide on a blog, podcast or video show – I decided to start with a blog
b. Pick the day of the week that I’ll write and publish it – I picked Wednesday
c. Write, upload and publish blog post by X date
d. Draft the email to my subscribers with a link to the blog post
e. Send email to subscribers
Now we need to add key assumptions with a particular focus on two things: time and resources. How long will each activity listed in our SMART goals take? Are additional resources needed to get started?
At this stage, it’s helpful to have a community to support you and friends and colleagues who may be further along on the journey with great advice and knowledge to share. Working alone or in a vacuum can make this process feel a lot harder than it really is.
Share the work you are doing in Anne’s Art Club, my free creative community on Facebook. You’ll get encouragement and energy and help so that you keep making progress.
Here are some key questions to ask yourself as you determine timing and resource needs:
· How long will each activity take?
· Are they listed in the right order?
· Can some of them happen in parallel or are they interdependent, meaning certain steps need to happen before or after others?
· Did we miss a step?
· What additional resources might help?
Now it’s your turn to take action and make progress on adding key assumptions to your own SMART goals. I’m excited to see your progress and next week we’ll move to the year-at-a-glance calendar and play with post-it notes!
Remember,
It’s Never Too Late to Create
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MEET ANNE
Hi…I’m Anne!
My creative inspiration comes from a lifetime of observation. I grew up in Paris on the Place St. Sulpice and walked to school through the Luxembourg gardens. And that was only the beginning… Learn more by watching the video on my About page.
