September gives all of us the opportunity to start over—time to think about our priorities, goals and all the things that fill our lives. As the days shorten, my mind shifts to the coming year, which begins with the start of school, football season and Labor Day weekend. It’s time to clarify what matters most to me.

Why wait until December? I’ve watched this pattern unfold for many years. First, the momentum steadily builds in the fall, plateaus during the holidays, and then takes off again in January all the way through the spring.

By setting goals now—instead of January 1^st—we maximize our efforts by taking advantage of this annual surge that is surely on its way for the next 90 days. We can leverage off these business cycles to our advantage. It’s called working smarter, not just harder.

We will do ourselves a HUGE favor by carving out time this month to set new goals and put on paper what we want most from the time and effort we will be giving to our Juice Plus+ business. Setting goals will help us work and live with purpose and intention.

Here’s a simple two-step approach that I use:

1.   I determine what I want.

I write down specifically what I want to happen—a business bucket list—andwhen I want this stuff to happen. I don’t rush the process—always taking several days to open my mind to the possibilities while writing down my thoughts and feelings about the coming months. I fill several pages with notes and numbers, the names of people and where those relationships could go. It does not take long for me to realize what’s most important to me—and what’s not so important: Where to concentrate, and what to eliminate.

2.   I develop a plan of action.

Developing a plan helps me to understand the kinds of activities I will be devoting to the business. I do better when I schedule in advance the activities, the trips and the events that will build my team and develop my leaders.

I ask myself, “Who’s in a position to re-start their Fast Track to Sales Coordinator? Who has a shot at making National Marketing Director? Who are the people close to qualifying their businesses?”

Again, I’m putting every idea, every person and goal down on paper. As I go down onto the paper, the freshest and best ideas come up to the surface.

There’s lots of room for flexibility. Following the Fall Leadership Conference, we can tweak or even re-write our objectives. By putting all of this on paper, we have created boundaries around our time and energy. And, as a result, we’re going to be more confident about what to focus on when speaking with others.

For example, I want leaders to focus on understanding and effectively communicating to the people on their teams the centerpiece of our business model—the six-month business plan, also known as the Fast Track to Sales Coordinator. 

When we have all this information on paper—preferably a single page we can review daily—we can start to relax and let the business come to us. Names to call are at our fingertips. We know where we want to go. Our schedule is filled in with special events, weekly conference calls and other “big rocks”. Our story flows in a conversational way. We know that if we consistently expose two people a day to our product or our business, good things will follow. We can trust this process.

As I wrote in a recent blog, the mastery of setting goals and creating a plan is pivotal to our long-term success.  But the mystery of the unearned and unexpected will surprise us as well.

Our business is a serious thing, but it’s also a serendipitous thing. A Preferred Customer calls out of the blue to ask about becoming a distributor. A rep we’ve never met—six levels below us—shows up at her first Conference, ready to go to work.

Building a strong Juice Plus+ business doesn’t just happen. But, once we decide to make it happen—by setting goals and carrying out our plans—we will find so many things apparently just happening. Frankly, that’s one of the things I love most about our business. If I keep showing up—prepared, focused and intentional, if I keep sowing seeds and pouring into people, the harvest will not only come, but will also surpass all of my carefully planned outcomes.

So, let’s start over this September. Set some goals. Write a plan. Show up. Touch our business every day. The mystery that follows will bless us beyond our wildest dreams.