Make your plan

In 1992, a psychologist in Scotland studied patients who had recently undergone hip or knee surgery. She wanted to see if she could boost their willpower to exercise, since movement is crucial to recovery after these serious surgeries.

She found that patients who did three particular things recovered 2-3 times faster than those who didn’t. These patients:

  1. Wrote down specific, detailed plans of how they were going to exercise.
  2. Identified points where they expected to encounter pain or difficulty and how they would deal with them.
  3. Rewarded themselves when they reached their goals.

You might be wondering what any of this has to do with the SPL. Well, the principles for harnessing willpower are the same whether you’re recovering from hip surgery or launching a product. You simply need to have the right plan to set yourself up for success.

To-Do: #SPLDay2

1. Visualize the finished product

Think about your product as clearly as possible:

  • What exactly does the end result look like?
  • How many words/minutes/features is it?
  • If it’s a digital good, what type of file is it?
  • Does it require input from anyone else (a partner, an interviewee)?
  • What is necessary to include in it, and what’s nice to have?
  • Where do you think you’ll encounter difficulty producing and/or launching it?

2. Work backwards

In order to launch 9 days from now, what do you need to do each day? Write down your to-dos, making them as small and specific as possible.

Start with the Course Outline (below) to plan out your marketing and sales tasks, then plug in your product-related tasks.

Star the tasks that you think will be especially tough, and write down your plans for overcoming them. Don’t forget to include a reward as well!

3. Put everything in its place

Gather together everything that you’ll need to create your product in one folder or area. This includes notes, data, quotes, images, video, screen shots, code snippets, tools, paintbrushes, paper, etc. While you’re working on your product, you want to know exactly where things are so you can be uber efficient. Try Google Drive or Dropbox for collecting digital stuff.

4. Research and outline

If you’re producing a story or educational content, you’ll need to do some research and outlining before you dive into writing. Give yourself a time limit, and use these two tips to stay focused:

  1. Search Amazon for a book on your topic. Use the “Look Inside” button to peek at the table of contents. The chapter headings will give you clarity on important concepts. (Tip from Pat Flynn)
  2. Organize your notes, quotes, and references using notecards or Post-its. Write a single thought and it’s source on a notecard, then organize them into themes. Turn the themes into the sections of your content, and the thoughts into the major points in each section. Voila, you have an outline! (Tip from Robert Greene and Ryan Holiday)

5. Share your next steps

Take a picture or screen shot of your to-do list, and post it to the Facebook group using #SPLDay2. Then paste the link to your Facebook post in the Assignment Log. Forcing yourself to write this list down and share it with others will help you see if you have the right scope and complexity for your project—before your start making it.