Define your personal goal - guide

To live your life your way - Make a plan

Many people spend their days following the same routine over and over again.

Working hard, but not seem to get what they deserve. They pass through their entire

lives in dreams for happier, more vital and meaningful experiences.

However to achieve these dreams and desires, they dont understand how important

it is to spend at least ten minutes a day to record them, thinking over them, and most

importantly - start working to reach them.

Do you worry about what will happen in your future?

You do? One of the main reasons to feel this way is that you dont take enough time

thinking about what you really want from life. After all, would you go on a great

journey without any real idea of the destination? Probably not!

When identifying and pursuing the most intimate dreams, you will

create your own unique compass that will lead you and guide you

to your happiness!

Drawing up a personal plan is a powerful method through which youll determine

your ideal future. Additionally this will motivate you to turn this vision into a reality.

The process of setting goals helps you choose where you want to go in life. By

knowing exactly what you want to achieve, you know where and how to concentrate

the efforts. Also you will quickly start noticing things that distract you, so you will be

able to make the necessary to avoid them.

Do you know the answer to this question What is my greatest

wish?

This is the first, crucial question you need to ask yourself, to determine your personal

plan. Actually is not at all an easy or an obvious question. The answer largely shows

the way each person defines himself. Also will light the way to the place you are

heading. Determining your greatest wish, can be done with the help of the questions

below:

What do you want to achieve in your life?

What are your values?

What do you care for?

What motivates you?

What is your passion?

The answers to these questions will give you a kick-start for the design of your

mission.

Hey, you! What do you want?

You must have goals, otherwise how will you know, when you have reached the

desired location? However these goals should be reasonable something that you

can achieve, not something dispiriting unachievable.

"If you dont have a clear vision of what you want to achieve and how you will achieve

it. If you dont have specific goals, you will not get anywhere." Ralph Waldo Emerson

The six steps for better personal planning

To ensure the plan will bring the best possible outcome - there are just six steps -

and you are already doing the first (reading the manual). Do not rush it without

these steps it will be much harder, but when you make them, you can be sure that

your idea is well thought and backed by the necessary resources.

1. Why do you need a plan?

2. Specify your future goals and how you will reach them.

3. Describe the resources you need to achieve your goals specific knowledge,

materials, help from others, etc. - which you will need throughout.

4. Ensure your plan is realistic and backed up against future barriers and

obstacles.

5. Examine your online plan under a magnifying glass, how it will apply in action

and how you will control it. Make sure you have double checked everything.

6. Proceed with implementation of the plan.

1. Why do I need a plan and why set goals?

Top-level athletes, successful businessmens and all the great achievements are due

to predefined plans. Goal setting gives you long term vision and short-term

motivation. Also focuses and systematize the acquisition of needed knowledge and

helps organize the time and resources so that you can get the most out of life.

By setting clear objectives and targets, you can measure and be proud of the

achieved results. Additionally you will see the progress in what might previously seem

like a long pointless waste of time.

From strategic plans to action plans

Your project is a document that begins with the strategic objectives and identifies all

the steps necessary to achieve them. This is a detail list for doing or achieving

something.

Planning gives you a chance to make your mistakes on paper before you make them

in real life. You can check your idea before even start working on it.

Planning will help you calculate and obtain the required resources for the successful

implementation of the project. Building the idea ready to launch; how much money

and time you will need. What daily habits you need to change in order to achieve the

goal. More work, reading, writing - less sleep, relaxing. These things are too often

ignored.

Basically, a plan must specify the purpose of the individual, how

and when they will be achieved, what resources and what facts

support these conditions

Preparing your project for success will force you to look even for the slightest details.

Planning is a continuous process that ensures the best position and the brightest

future for you in the changing environment. Additionally, there are about a thousand

other benefits for having a personal plan:

Planning makes you more confident in the future project - You will be better

prepared for any future shocks, because you will already consider the possible

outcomes.

Planning gives you an invaluable tool for monitoring and controlling of your

personality - If something is not in the plan, you should ask yourself why

you're doing it. Is the progress meeting the expectations? If not - why? And

what do you intend to do about it?

Planning is a great environment for communication Add other people in the

process. This will ensure that your family and friends are aware of the values,

goals and objectives you have. And better they will personally advice you,

how you can adjust it to be even better.

Planning will help you improve your daily skills and activities - Make upgrading

part of your plan and allocate resources accordingly.

2. Specify your goals: "What kind of plan do I need?"

This of course, depends on your purpose and what you want to achieve. There is no

universal plan to satisfy all needs. When did you last ask yourself the following: "What

I want to do with my life?"

Most of us need a car to go to work, go shopping, a tour with the family, etc. If so, why

car manufacturers today do not produce only one model?

Because we have different needs and today car manufacturers orient their marketing

to different niche by selling a wide range of different products.

Just like purchasing a car, in the lives of each and everyone, there is variety of

situations. All of us have different needs in different stages of our lives. The plan we

are making should reflect to this: "What do I want to achieve now?"

3. Determine the necessary resources

The action plan is not complete if you do not recognize the resources it will need. This

always includes several categories:

People and support from external organizations

Technology

Time

Money

Training

Materials - and a lot more.

Those who fail to identify the realistic requirements, or take on redundant paths are

risking the already obtained resources for fulfilling the plan, turn out to be

insufficient.

While you think about the resources that you need, be sure to consider what you will

require in the following years. Forecast the skills and expertise that you will need in

the future, this will ensure your advantage. Having the people, skills, tips and

everything else in the right moment will save you precious time and a lot of money.

4. Adjust the plan to your strengths

There is an old Irish saying that states: "If you want to go there sir, I wouldnt start

from here." It is worth thinking about this simple formula when reviewing your

personality and forming your plan.

Your project should be based on your strengths. However there are always duties

and jobs that are not your specialty, therefore you will need to find the right

resources, people, books that will help you make this task perfect.

As plan must specify what you are trying to achieve now, as well as in the near future.

It should be very specific because it will give a clear sign on your daily tasks. When

focusing on what should be done today, this will increase your overall chances for

success.

Highlight your strengths and use them throughout the journey. Missions and

objectives are not textbook jokes. They determine the focus, and the objectives, laid

out the path that will lead you to the desired direction. In fact, your plan needs:

Hierarchy of objectives

Missions - They declare the course that gives direction and focus. Avoid doing

too many things at once.

Goals - Derive from our missions, they are the beginning of our planning

process. As we have seen, they determine what you want to achieve.

Tasks - They represent activities of a higher caliber, which must be met in

order to achieve the objectives. For example, what we must do in the next

twelve months.

Action plans Daily tasks to reach the goals. For example, what to do on

Monday morning.

Missions and strategic goals are your natural starting points to breakdown the plan in

little pieces. They need to determine how to target your efforts for a period of

months, towards the accomplishment of something bigger.

5. Explore your plan under a magnifying glass. How you will

apply it and how will you control it? Formulate action steps

Once you set the goals and plan the steps, you must find the best ways to fully

accomplish them. Throughout the process, measuring the performance will help to

make the needed adjustments.

However, there is a general agreement on how goals should be formulated. Based on

common sense your individual goals must be clean and clear. In fact, they should be

SMART.

Using SMART goals is essential for drawing up a bulletproof plan. To ensure the

success of the plan, you must aim to be:

Specific - include objectives that are specific. Say exactly (in numbers) what

you strive for.

Measurable - Your goals must be measurable. Dont use words like largest,

best, fastest, to quote your progress. They are not measurable.

Achievable - Goals must be achievable with the resources you have.

Realistic - besides achievable goals must be realistic. You cannot accomplish

something that is not possible. Fly for example.

Time focused- You must state when you will reach your goal. Do not use

statements such as "in the near future" or " instantly" on how much it will take

to carry out a specific purpose. Your objective should include a time frame. It

will establish a sense of urgency and prompt you to have better time

management.

After determining your SMART goals you should say how you will achieve them. In

fact, the goal with highest priority will determine all the single steps and tasks that

must be done.

Define action steps

Once specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound targets are set, the

question is: "How do I reach them?" The answer is through action steps. They are the

"Who", "What" and "When" of the strategic initiative realization and achieving the set

objectives.

When you approach a particular task, ask yourself: "What are all the steps I should

take to accomplish it?" Once you have all the answers for each step that you have

identified, ask yourself: "Can this step be divided into sub-steps?" Ask again and again

this question for each step and its components, eventually you will reach the point

where steps can no longer be divided.

At this point you will have identified all the necessary steps for action.

Where do I want to go?

So far we focused on theory, but let's start looking forward to a much brighter future:

where do you want to go? Determining your personal mission relates to this

definition - where are you now and where you want to go in the future. The process

of planning requires the understanding of this - what you are going to move from this

current position - to where you want to be in the future.

How I can get there?

First, determine the "big picture" of what you want to do with your life (your

dream or where you want to be in 10 years time), and identify the major

objectives that must be achieved.

Then, break them down into smaller goals that should be achieved to reach

the final destination.

Finally, once you have formed your action plan, in order to achieve it, you

need to start working on it now!

As can be seen, the action plan is a rational approach to complete the big job. It

begins with the question: "What Im trying to achieve?" - then systematically collects

resources to make all arrangements necessary for completing the job.

Final guidelines for creating your personal plan

These three tips will assist you, to create the perfect plan:

Keep it simple. Too complicated plans will confuse and frustrate. If your

project looks like diagram of a space shuttle, revise it and aim for simplicity

and clarity.

Structure your action plan in achievable steps. Too ambitious plans are usually

doomed to fail. People look at them and say - "I will never accomplish this -

not as long as I am alive." You will be beaten down from the outset. So build a

plan that is both manageable and achievable.

Make it flexible. Strategies rarely follow planned trajectories or timetables.

Competitors counterattack. Customers do not behave as expected. Bad things

happen. Therefore keep in mind that the best plan is a living document, open

for changes.