Five Steps to Accomplish Your Goals
Do you find yourself amazed at how quickly the months pass? Do
you find yourself in a small panic over all you know you have to
do and how little you feel you are actually accomplishing? Join
the crowd! We live in a busy world where our time, priorities
and energy are constantly challenged. The reality is that there
is simply not time for everything and we don't have enough
energy to complete everything.
What do we do? There are 5 simple steps to create greater
success by managing our time and getting things done in
business and life that are important.
1. EVALUATE. What do I really want? Where am I headed?
What am I doing now?
2. GET REAL. What is really important that will impact
and support your long term goals the best? What is not
important? What is distracting me? What is not really supporting
my long term goal?
3. PLAN. What do I need to do to accomplish my goal? What
are the KEY action steps? How will I do this? What schedule or
strategy will keep me focused?
4. FOCUS. Who do you need to be and what structures do
you need to have to accomplish this (mindset, attitude,
accountability)?
5. MONITOR/EVALUATE. Am I doing little, unimportant
things? Am I procrastinating? What is working/ what is not? How
could I streamline what I am doing?
What happens with good intentions and goals... Plans
begin as ideas in our head; we desire to have or do something.
The key to the success of the idea is a plan. You know the
saying, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." Sometime our
ideas will make it to paper in the form of a SMART goal and
sometime not. If we do write a goal people sometimes we will
create some action steps, but rarely do they take the time to
thoroughly think through what actions are actually needed at
each stage to accomplish the goal completely. Sometimes people
will start planning and get overwhelmed at how much work it will
actually take or get overwhelmed with the process and give up.
Often our goals remain our dreams because we fail to carve out
time to make them reality. A management tip is to create a plan
from start to finish. With this plan, decide if you have the
time, energy, resources and desire to bring it to completion.
Next, estimate HOW LONG each task will actually take. It is
common to underestimate how much time each step will take and
therefore it never gets done. Remember, if you are going to add
something to your schedule, you must also plan to say "No!" to
something else to make time to accomplish your goal.
Step 1: EVALUATE... To create an effective plan, begin
with a careful evaluation. Most people are constantly evaluating
their present state without much problem. We are constantly
assessing, "What do I really want right now?" We look at things
around us and talk about what we would like to be different in
our life. We talk about our goals, New Year's Resolutions,
current intentions, etc. We often state them as fact and
sincerely intend to accomplish those in our life. We see how
they would make a positive difference and desire for them to
happen. There is a small percentage of people who also evaluate
the questions, "Where am I headed?" and "What will it take for
me to get there?" Evaluation is a tool that allows you to anchor
where you are now, determine where you want to go and create
markers along the way to ensure you stay on course. Without a
longer term vision, we tend to react to current situations, "I
need to make more money, I need to lose weight, I need to get
this business off the ground, etc." This leads to wandering
through life without focus or purpose. Evaluate the present and
then also evaluate the future and what it would take to get
there.
Step 2: GET REAL... Then, get real. Does this fit in
with where you are headed with your long term goals in your
life? What is doing this going to get you? What is the cost
(consider time, money, energy, emotional, etc.) Are you willing
to pay it? If you do really want this, what is going to be
important that you do? What is distracting you from making this
happen?
Identify Key Result Items:
o Write exactly where you are headed and what this is going to
get you.
o Identify what you will have to do and write that down.
o Identify what you will have to say "no" to and commit to 3
things you will have to stop to make this happen. Identify what
this will "cost" and write down how you will "pay" for it. (This
is not just financial, it may be something intangible like -
COST: time with the family, PAYMENT: work later during week, but
home Friday for dinner and family day all Saturday.)
o Identify 5 main distractions and how you can eliminate those.
Step 3: PLAN... Next, plan what it will take to make
this happen. You already have some Key Result Items from your
Get Real Exercise. Take those and add to the list other ideas of
what you know you will need to do to accomplish your goal. What
are specific action steps you will need to take? Stop a minute
and in your mind focus on your long term goal. See it in full
and complete form. What is there? What are you doing? What do
you notice about yourself and your actions? Now, in your mind
walk backwards what did you do to get there? For example, if
part of my long term goal is to have a thriving independent
business, I may visualize myself in an office with the
flexibility to be remote. Part of what I would need to do is
establish an office, design portable systems, have a virtual
assistant, have tools and resources for office work, etc. This
becomes one Key Result Area: A functional Office. Then I walk
backwards and plan steps I would have taken to create this
functional office. Put dates on each broken-down action step and
estimate what it will take to make each step happen (time, cost,
etc.). Allocate completion targets accordingly.
Step 4: FOCUS... Now that you have your plan flushed out
and in place, who do you need to be to accomplish this? Going
back to your vision of your completed goal, what mindset and
attitude did you have throughout the project? How did you do
this? What schedule or strategy kept you focused? What systems
of accountability did you have in place? What kept you on track
and focused? One of the most common errors people make is IF
they get their plan complete, they begin work and get caught up
in the rush of life again and start reacting and forget about
their plan. When you created your plan you were looking at the
big picture. When you are working in the trenches of life, you
are limited to see what is in front of you, unless you stick to
the plan. There is nothing wrong with evaluating and refining
your plan as you go, but only when you are looking at it in
perspective of the whole picture and not the short term moment.
The story is told about the caravan crossing the Sahara desert.
The desert was barren and large. Many parties got lost crossing
the great plains as they could not see their destination over
the horizon. A team went in and put in markers for travelers to
focus on as they crossed so they would use each marker as a
point of reference until they could see the city. This allows
many parties to cross the treacherous desert in the most direct
and efficient path. This is your plan. Plan it well, establish
milestones to focus on, trust them and stay the course!
Step 5: Monitor... Step back occasionally and evaluate
what you are doing. Go back to step one. How are you doing? What
is working what is not? Are you on track or off course? Make
adjustments to get on track, re-design what is not working to
new solutions and refine the plan in area that would increase
efficiency or results toward your goal. Keep your long-term goal
in mind and check to make sure your short term goals are
supporting the long term goals. Notice your behavior.
Accomplishing big goals is hard work. Plan first and keep your
eyes on the pre-set short term goal that position you to reach
your bigger vision.
Bottom line... None of these strategies are rocket science. The
challenge is to maintain the discipline, focus and clarity to
implement these basic strategies. Evaluate your long term goal,
be realistic, plan, set structures for focus and have check
points to monitor. Invest your time in your plan and maintain
the course once it is set. If you are serious about these goals,
take action today. Insure your success by developing an
accountably system for yourself. Hire a coach as your strategic
partner to run with you. Find a buddy in a similar situation.
Whatever it is, build environments to support your vision. Take
the time to plan and design structures for success and you will
see a difference! Here's to you and your success! Have fun!