Grid - Better With a Plan

The 9 Box Grid is a powerful visual tool that has application in business and in social media. This post will show you 3 ways it is commonly used and how you can adapt this concept to help you achieve your goals.

What is a 9 Box Grid?

As the name implies, it refers to 9 boxes, arranged in a 3×3 grid. With this one simple tool you can better plan anything from your week to your year, and everything in between.

Let’s dive deeper into three ways that you may already be familiar with this concept and how to adapt them for your planning.

The Grid is a Classic Talent Management Tool

Image of the 9 box grid showing how it is used as a performance management tool

In business management and Human Resources, the grid is a simple and easy to use talent management tool.

Managers will label the horizontal axis (the bottom) with a scale of current performance and the verticals axis (the left) with a scale of future potential. This creates a matrix of 9 boxes where the two factors overlap.

They will then rate their employees from low to high in each area. Where they fall on the grid will indicate the different roles they plan on your team and suggests different support, development, encouragement, and intervention actions may be needed.

There are some concerns that this model is too simplistic and gets easily misused. Despite that, the basic premise of arranging ideas along a 2-axis chart is solid. Take the below example. Same grid, different labels and now you have hacked this tool to help you reach your goals.

Image of 9 box grid hack to use it as a workout planner

Let’s say your goal is to add healthy movement to your day. Easier said than done when you lead a busy life. However, I’m betting you have a least a few minutes to spare.

Here I have hacked the same grid you saw above to create a workout planning tool. To do this I made one axis the time you have available and the other your level of motivation.

You can customize it with your own favorite activities of varying durations (15-30-45 minutes) for days when you have more or less energy and motivation. Now, no matter how you feel or how much time you have, you can quickly eliminate excuses and make healthy choices.

It is a Visual Strategic Planning Tool

Image showing the 9 box grid as strategic visual planner

You probably noticed the grid is also a common format in photo-based social media applications. Feeds, such as my Instagram, use grids to display posts in rows of three-across.

The grid can help you strategically plan your overall layout. With this birds-eye view of your content, you can quickly assess style, color, theme and consistency.

Brand influencers often use this tool to strategically plan the types or categories of content they are working to build. And you can use it to quickly decide if the overall effect is the one you want. Think about what your audience to see when they first browse to your profile. Decide if it will convey the look you want.

Moreover, you can use this beyond your social media feed. Other applications that lean on visual style can make use of the grid to ensure key elements flow together. This includes photography, wardrobe planning (especially capsules wardrobes), quilting, interior design, art, etc.

To use this technique yourself, lay out samples, descriptions, labels, or photos of your project. Check that the colors, materials, textures, and other design elements are cohesive and give the desired impression.

I have been known to apply 9 Box Grids to mood boards and presentations. I’ve even made one out of paint swatches to be sure I like the overall impression before I commit to it.

The Grid is a Retrospective Reflection Tool

Image of 9 box grid used to assess a social media feed with notes critiquing the results around the margins.

You’ve also likely seen 9 Box Grids make an appearance across social media at the end of the year. These “Top 9” or “Best 9” posts are where people share their 9 most popular and liked posts formatted as a Grid.

I used to think posting a Top or Best 9 grid at the end of the year was bit gimmicky. I also didn’t like the bragging and unhealthy comparisons. But once I started thinking about it I found they had benefits too. Most importantly, this technique is both a creative way to celebrate your successes for the year and reflect on your value to you audience.

To get the best values out of this trend, take time to think about why those posts ranked in your top 9. Ask yourself what you see reflected in those posts. Are they a reflection of your core brand? So they align with your own perceptions on what should have ranked in the top 9? If not, what else is it that your audience sees and likes in your feed.

This introspection can help you derive insights to guide future posts even as you reminisce about where the past year. Or why wait until the end of the year and make this retrospective a quarterly exercise.

As you can see, the 9 Box Grid is a powerful tool for visually planning that can be adapted in many ways. Why not try one out and let me know what you think by tagging @BetterWithaPlan on social media or in the comments below.

If you liked these techniques, you’ll want to check out my next post to discover even more ways to make a 9 Box Grid work for you.

And if you want to see even more planning techniques and tips in action follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, or Facebook as @BetterWithaPlan

Do you have big goals? Does it ever seem difficult to figure out how you are going to get from here to there? Last post I shared 3 ways the 9 Box Grid is commonly used in business and social media. I also gave you some hacks to use it in other ways. If you haven’t read it yet, be sure to check out that blog post first.

So why am I posting on it again? As I was reasearching that article I looked back at my own planners to see how I had used this tool for myself. And you know what I found? I use it all the time!

This tool is so versatile and one of the most common ways I use it is to help me break down big goals. Keep scrolling and I’ll show you how to use the 9 Box Grid to approach big goals and climb some metaphorical hills.

I’ll give you more examples of where I have found this tool most useful. And if you sign up for my monthly email updates, I’ll give you my free goal breakdown PDF. With this, you’ll be able jump right into using this tool. Let’s go!

Breaking Down Big Goals

You can use a 9 Box Grid to break down big goals and make them more manageable. Its a great way to take something very broad or too far in the future and boil it down into manageable tasks. Simply put, you:

Refine your goals
Break big goals into objectives
Focus your objectives
Assign tasks

Complete your tasks and you’ll meet your objective. Reach your objectives and you’re on your way to meeting your big goal. Tracking them all in a 9 box grid helps you visualize what needs to be done, even when you don’t have your grid in front of you.

Sounds too easy, right? Well, it might take more than one cup of tea to do this. But it also doesn’t have to be overly complex or take forever. Let me walk you through it and give you some examples.

Refine Your Goals

You start with one big aspirational goal, like: Travel the world. That’s great, but really vague. You might know generally what you want but its not clear enough. Your goal is waaaay up there on a metaphorical pedestal at the top of a hill in the distance.

If you leave your goal like that you’ll have a hard time visualizing what you want, much less know what direction to head first, how many flights of steps there will be to reach the top or how to go about climbing them. It’s hard to see the path in your mind and even harder to tell if you are making good progress.

landscape photography of mountains covered in snow — Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Pexels.com

There are other ways to refine it but the one I recommend to help you expand your goal to a bit more is SMART—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-based. Type “SMART goals” into a search engine and you’ll find a million great resources to go deep into the topic.

The short version is that you apply each one of the parameters in the mnemonic acronym to help you add relevant words to your goal to achieve better results. So instead of “Travel the world”, its: To travel to at least one country on each continent within 15 years.

photo of pathway surrounded by fir trees

That’s something like a trip every two years. That’s a better goal. You’ve given a name and coordinates to the top of your metaphorical hill.

However it’s still not clear which direction you wan to head first, how you go about getting there,or what you need to do in the days, weeks, months ahead. So lets set some objectives to give us direction.

No clear direction

Break Big Goals into Objectives

To break this down, you’ll need a blank grid with lots of space to write. Sign up to get a copy of my printable PDF version or just draw your own.

Start by writing your big SMART goal at the top. Now think about the types of things you need to do to reach your goal. These will become your objectives at the top of each column. Make note of any deadlines or other planning factors that are relevant as well.

In some cases, its helpful to think in terms of timelines. If I’m planning a big project, I might want to set an objective for the 1st month, 2nd month, and 3rd month or a near-term, mid-term, and long-term outlook. This helps me focus on the right thing at the right time and is good when sequencing and deadlines are important to your goal
Often I’ll look at things topically. When I was planning to run a half marathon, I set objectives around training plan, nutrition, and gear. When re-vamping my nutrition after a medical diagnosis, I focused on Healthy Lunches, Quick Dinners, and Make Ahead Meals.
Other times, I might want to set objectives around different functions. For increasing Journal sales in the fourth quarter, I might set objectives around Writing, Graphic Design, Advertisement. For learning foreign languages, I focus different objectives around Reading, Writing, and Speaking.
Certain goals lend themselves to having more concept-based objectives. I used Gather, Get Ready, Be Comfortable to define and plan my approach to setting up my spaces after a big move. When developing a campaign to raise awareness around diversity challenges I set objectives to Educate, Inspire, Engage.

Making Better Objectives
Generally you’ll want a near-term scope for your objectives. Ask yourself if your objectives convey what you really need to focus on over the next 12 months. Will they help your reach you big goal? Are they reasonable to accomplish, given the time, money, and other responsibilities you have.

For example, if you want to become the President but are still in high school, focus your objectives on your senior year activities, getting into college or the job market, and volunteer work. Save objectives about your political platform, raising campaign funds, or community outreach for future planning.

Continuing my world travel example, I’d focus my objectives on just the first country because thats the only trip I can reasonably afford to take next 12 months. They would be to Fund my Travel, Plan the Trip, and Get Ready to Go. Notice I’m not trying to tackle the whole big goal with this, just what I’m going to prioritize in the near term.

Travel Goal, Objectives & Planning Notes

These objectives become the sign posts along our metaphorical hill, to keep you climbing in the right direction. If you haven’t already, in your grid, write one objective above the top of each column of boxes. Next we’ll further break down these objectives, adding details on how we want to get there.

Focus Your Objectives & Assign Tasks

Now you are going to take each objective and break it into 3 focus areas. Write each one at the top of a box under the appropriate objective.

Like objectives, focus areas can be structured as time-based, topical, functional, conceptual, or other format, as appropriate to the objective. Focus areas should categorize how you plan to reach your objective.

Then, under each focus area. is where you will write out 3-6 tasks that you need to do in that area. Feel free to write full sentences or use a short hand, whatever you like best (or have room for). Your focus areas and tasks can be set up sequentially, concurrently, or a mix of both.

Depending on how big your goal is, you could easily have more than three focus areas, and almost certainly more than 3-6 tasks. With this method, you’ll only choose the top three to areas to track in the grid, at any given time.

As you brainstorm, make note any and all focus areas you come up with—make good use of your margins. While the overall grid is focus out at 12 months, your specific tasks should be focused on defining what is achievable in the next 30 days. As you complete tasks, you’ll want to update with new tasks or swap in different focus areas and tasks. I recommend re-evaluating monthly.

Back to our travel example, under “Fund my Trip”, I would focus on Save More, Spend Less, Look for Deals as my 3 box headers. Tasks under Spend Less would include reviewing my auto-subscriptions, set-up or review my budget, cook at home/don’t eat out, and plan for a no-spend November. All things I can do this month to spend less.

Skip forward a month and assume I completed all my initial task. I then update the Spend Less focus area with new tasks: sticking to no-spend November, tracking monthly expenditures, use up freezer meals/don’t eat out, and research handmade gifts instead of buying them. Or maybe my Save More focus area has me well on the way to saving what I need for the trip. I can then replace Spend Less with Earn More and add looking into extra shifts, seasonal jobs, exploring freelance, or selling handmade goods instead.

Fill in your focus areas and take some time to plan out your tasks for the next month. Now you have a completed grid.

You’ve added handrails leading up the metaphorical hill. They give you something concrete to work toward and can help you stay focused on what needs to be done at any given time. You’ve also planned out the details like what shoes to wear, gear to take, and added snacks and water to you bag. You have built yourself the trail map that tells you how you are going to get there.

What To Do Next

As you plan your months, weeks, and days, refer back to your grid. The column and box headers keep your actions focus on moving toward you goal in meaningful ways. Having your tasks written out means you can be sure they get added into your planner and not skipped or forgotten.

I sometimes draw a little sketch with just the objectives and focus areas in my planner. When I have some free time, its a handy visual to encourage to put effort in activities that move me closer to my goals.

It’s also very helpful when new things land on my plate. I can take the new thing and compare it to my objective and make better decisions about how I’ll spend my time. If the new thing isn’t part of my focus but could move me toward my objective, I’ll add it. If it doesn’t I am reminded to think hard about the trade offs before I add it.

I hope you find this method useful and consider incorporating it into your planning.

If you do, drop me a note in the contact page or find me as @betterwithaplan on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook to let me know how it worked for you. And don’t forget to grab your copy of my FREE PDF before you go.

Tag Archives: Grid

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