The simple action of writing the every day grocery demonstrates how we truly value our lives and inspire future success. Each week, many of us spend 10 to 30 minutes or more writing down the weekly future grocery purchases, clipping coupons and checking advertisements. We take this action because we believe that we will have future success through the savings of money, time and energy. Unfortunately, sometimes, we forget to bring the list and end up with additional purchases, spending more money than originally anticipated and probably having to return to buy the missed items. All of these actions have wasted money, time and energy and more importantly have contributed to increased stress levels as well as negative feelings about ourselves. Just think about the last time you forget your list and how did you feel about yourself? Were those thoughts fleeting or did they stay with you a while?

Mostly everyone agrees that a written grocery list has significant value. If you agree that a grocery list has significant value, do you have a written plan to inspire your success for the rest of your life? If you have answered no to this question and you believe in the simple weekly action of committing your grocery list to writing, then what you are really saying is that the time to write a grocery list has more value than the time necessary to plan for your successful future and more importantly that you are leaving future inspiration and success to chance and happenstance.

Part of the reason for this apparent disconnect is that individuals have been taught how to write a list and even to prioritize that same list, but very few have been taught or trained how to construct an Action Plan for future success. Since consistent goal setting and goal achievement is a skill, this skill is not taught and not developed because a presumption exists that individuals have learned this critical personal and professional skill. (I call this Learning Through Osmosis.) Individuals may hear about the need to set goals, but when the time comes to implement a goal achievement plan, their good intentions quickly crumble. Think about all the New Year