Key Point #5-Have a Plan! Okay, so now we’re at the final key to consider when creating your goals. This is one of the biggest mistakes that I see people make. They jump on the road to their destination, but have no clue as to how they’re getting there. They might even know some of the details, but that’s simply not enough. Working toward your goals without a plan is like attempting to drive a long distance without a road map. Think about this for a moment, would you attempt to drive across the country without a map that tells you how far you have to travel, how long it’s going to take to get there, the cities and states that you’ll go through and the places that are available for you to stop for what you need along the way like gas, food and a place to sleep? Of course you wouldn’t. As crazy as this sounds, this is what so many people are doing on a regular basis. They’re embarking on their journey, but don’t have a plan to help them get there.
Your plan is your road map. It details where you’re starting from, where you’re going and all of the points in between. It defines your milestones—those points along the way that are major accomplishments along the road to accomplishing your goal. You need to know and then map out your course of action. You have to create the larger pieces of the puzzle, or the milestones, that you have to pass-or accomplish along the way. Once you’ve determined them, you have to figure out the smaller tasks that have to get done so that you can reach each of those milestones and figure out what has to happen. Who do you need to support you? Do you have to have a budget to get there, and what’s it going to cost? What other resources do you need to get you from point A to point B?
That may seem like a lot to think about and you might be someone who thinks that planning is a waste of time, but I’m here to tell you that not planning is what will waste your time over and over again. When you plan and you consider all of the pieces, you also reveal the obstacles that could come up in the process, which allows you to create a plan for dealing with them should they arise. If they come up during your pursuit, you know exactly what to do, instead of wondering how to handle the monkey wrench and having to stop to figure it out and stopping your progress. This is just one of the ways that planning saves time.
So there you have it…the 5 key points for creating your goals. There are also other things that come into play to help contribute to your success and if you’re missing them, and the things that I mentioned in this series you will undoubtedly fail. If you’re struggling right now, get these key points in play. I’m sure that implementing them will help you.