How to Plan and Achieve Your Goals

So now you have the goal, you need the plan. To do this, look at where you are now and then look at all the things you would need to build the life you are picturing. For instance, you might find that you need a certain amount of money to make your dream of traveling happen. 

In that case, you need to look at the options available to you to make that money. Or maybe you want to achieve a career goal and you realize that in order to do that, there is a certain amount of experience you need to acquire first. How can you acquire that experience? 

There are many examples of how you might go after a particular goal but the thing to remember in every case is that you need to focus on small steps that are just ahead of you. That might mean the next small promotion. It might mean a small upgrade to your home. It might mean developing any form of small income. 

With that in mind, you can break your smaller goals down even further. Now the objective is to look at the smallest possible steps that you need to take on a daily or weekly basis to move towards your goal. So if your goal is to achieve fitness, then the smallest daily steps might be choosing your diet and exercise that day. 

Examples: If your goal is to be physically fit, then find a training plan and a diet that works for you, and commit to sticking to that every day. Likewise, if your goal is to be a top novelist, then your daily goal is going to be to write a certain number of words per day.

Make your interim goals easy to accomplish but ensure that they help you make positive – if small – steps in the right direction. Try to maintain these targets. Then let them motivate you when the times get rough so you can feel good about the ways you "showed up" for yourself and your future.

To help you visualize this, here is the basic pattern: 

Dream/Vision (Overarching Goal) > Plan (Stepping Stone Goals) > Daily Target (Daily/ Weekly Goal) 

Changing Your Thinking 

So why is this change in planning step-by-step so important? The answer is that focusing too much on a distant goal will make you too detached from what it is you’re trying to accomplish. 

For instance, if your only goal is to become a novelist, then you may lack any real structure or plan for achieving it. It is very hard for you to stick to an undefined goal. It’s too easy for you to procrastinate, take shortcuts, or even forget all about it. Even if your goal is more specific and time-sensitive – such as losing 15 lbs. in six months – you are still too detached from it. Why? Because you might still think it’s okay to skip a workout or to cheat on your diet a bit and put off the goal today, but that leads to more "sliding" until your goals seem unreachable. 

By the time you have one month left on your diet goal for an event (such as a wedding) and you’re still no lighter, you might give up. To achieve results, stay focused on the daily goal.

If you keep focusing on the daily targets, you will find that the overarching vision takes care of itself. It’s like building a house brick by brick, or taking a journey step-by-step. 

Some Final Tips 

Just to help you stick to your path, consider a few pointers. 

One: Keep your daily targets easy to accomplish. Introduce them slowly. Don’t be in a rush to get to your end result. It is better for you to just enjoy exercising instead of letting yourself get burned out.

Two: Keep track of the days you succeed and lose. Jerry Seinfeld uses this technique and calls it "the chain." Every day that he does what he sets out to do, he puts a big cross on his calendar. This is rewarding and addictive in and of itself and his desire not to break the chain is reportedly enough to keep him from giving up. 

Three: Use the most practical and proven methods to get where you want to be. You must believe in your plan. 

And finally: Don’t get disheartened if you miss one day. The aim is not to, of course, but if you slip up, go easy on yourself and just jump straight back on that horse!