Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@atuttle

atuttle/How to make an annual plan.md

Last active May 18, 2021 12:40
Show Gist options
  • Star 0 You must be signed in to star a gist
  • Fork 0 You must be signed in to fork a gist
  • Save atuttle/ef8442bb6f1b6b1129052051a27666f2 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save atuttle/ef8442bb6f1b6b1129052051a27666f2 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Download ZIP
Raw
How to make an annual plan.md

How to make an annual plan

Notes from this video by Jack Conte, CEO of Patreon (and member of band Pomplamoose, which I mention only because it's relevant to the video.)

Why?

  • Gives you a greater ability to focus on what matters
  • Helps you understand what you want and how to get it
  • Let's you live your dream

An annual plan consists of:

  1. vision statement
  2. key results
  3. areas of focus

It's one page. Vision statement is 1 paragraph, KR's is a short list, areas of focus is a short list.

Vision statement

A paragraph that paints the future for you very clearly for what the world (around your area of interest) should be like a year from now, and it should get you PUMPED.

Ex (Pomplamoose):

In the rest of 2019 we will release the best album we have ever made (by November), continue innovating on the song-per-week format, and play 4-6 shows (West and East Coast). We will get 24M views total over the course of the year and release 3 music videos of songs from our album. The original album will get a million streams on Spotify over the course of 2020. We will sell out every show of our tour, playing 500-1000 person rooms. It will be fucking awesome and our proudest year as Pomplamoose!

Plans change. Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. Feeling guilty about it doesn't help you get any closer to what you want.

1: Ask Questions

  1. What do you want? What matters to you? What doesn't matter (that you think matters)?
  2. What are you best at as an individual?
  3. What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Why does it matter? What's the purpose?
  4. What do you think attracts people to your work?
  5. Do people / fans leave comments about your work? If so, what are those comments like?
  6. What are your fans like? Who are the people that you're reaching?
  7. What do they get from your music / videos? What impact does it have on them?
  8. What do you want to be doing 5 years from now?

2: Previous year retro

  1. Column 1: What worked well? What are your successes?
  2. Column 2: What didn't work? What do your fans want from you that they're not currently getting? MUST BE "Problem Statements"
  3. Column 3: What improvements do you want to make for next time?

Problem Statements

  • No solutions!
  • A "need" statement is not a problem statement
  • Get behind the symptom. Find the problem. Get curious. Get specific.

3: Visualize the future

Ok, it's January 1st (next year). Last year went perfectly. and you feel so grateful to be where you are. The last year was a DREAM COME TRUE! Imagine it. Dream it. Visualize it.

  • Tell me about your year. Don't think too hard. Just start talking and writing. Organizing your thoughts comes later.
  • What happened?
  • What didn't happen?
  • How many views/listens/fans did you get? On what platforms or using what tools?
  • What did you create?
  • How many shows did you play? How big were they? What made them great?
  • What makes you feel proud of your work?
  • Did you collaborate with anyone? Who?
  • How did you spend your time?
  • What was the big difference between your work this year versus last year?
  • What makes you feel proud of your work this year?
  • What's your relationship like with your fans?
  • What's your team like? How is it the same? How is it different?
  • It can be uncomfortable to think/talk about money, but avoiding it hurts you more than it helps you.
    • How much money did you pay out to your team?
    • How much money did you make?

4: Organize your answers into "buckets"

  • find the themes

5: Write the vision statement

  • Use your organized answers and brainstorming to write a vision statement for an inspiring year.
  • A good vision statement gets you PUMPED
  • You'll know that your vision statement is right when you think, "well if THAT happens, I won't need anything else!"
  • It should be specific and ambitious, but achievable.
  • It should help you see the future. It should be as clear as a photo on your smartphone. If you can't see the future, it's not clear enough.
  • "Here's what I want, and here's what success looks like" (This process is also good for hiring new employees!)

6: Choose Key Results

Brainstorm and decide on binary "Key Results" that tell you whether or not you've accomplished your vision.

  • Binary: you hit it or you don't.
  • Can be qualitative or quantitative. Do you know what it feels like to be fucking proud of something? That's qualitative and binary.
  • Makes you feel excited

Ex from Pomplamoose:

  • We're super fucking proud of our album
  • 24M views in 2019
  • 2M views on the original videos from the album by Nov 12, 2020
  • Sell out 4-6 shows at 500-1000 tickets per show
  • $110,000 in annual membership revenue

7: Choose areas of focus

Write 2-3 areas of focus you'll need in order to hit your Key Results and achieve your vision.

  • Directs your day-to-day activities, pushing you closer to your vision and goals
  • Be broad enough to work on for a year or more
  • Imagine feeling stuck 3 or 6 months from now. AOF should help unblock you, inspiring you into action.

Ex from Pomplamoose:

  • Innovate and iterate on the song per week format, including audio and video improvements
  • Build and execute on a comprehensive go-to-market strategy for our album (later decided he didn't like this one; "it's a plan for a plan")
  • Plan and execute three membership pushes

The future is not inevitable; it's CREATED by humans.

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment