Where do you go from Here?

in order to get to ‘there’? – If ‘there’ is the realisation of your passions how do you get there?

Once you know what your passion is you can then identify a set of goals that will allow you to realise that passion, and then work towards those goals.

Usually achieving goals is described as some sort of ‘going uphill’ process, climbing the mountain etc.

But have you noticed sometimes it’s harder to go downhill than up. Walking down steps requires more concentration than going up. Landing an aircraft requires more skill than taking off.

So now you’re where you are, on top of the hills looking down towards the ‘promised land’ or realisation of your passions far in the distance on the plain below.

Between you and there you can see several villages and towns on the way. These are your goals and sometimes you have to go through one goal (or more) before you get to another needed to realise your passion.

Now think timescale. When do you want to realise your passion? This year, Next year, 5 years, 10 years, 25 years? Obviously it depends on the scale of your passion and where you are now.

Set targets to get to each of your goals in a particular year or month but at this stage don’t worry whether they are realistic or not.

Figure out what you need to do to achieve each goal. What’s the big picture for each goal? What has to be done? But don’t get bogged down in the detail of how you are going to do it – yet.

Now you have a high level plan (or a set of plans) to achieve each goal and you may want to adjust your timescale targets.

Now it’s time for the detail, and yes, you do have to consider the detail of how you are going to carry out your plans because if you just try and ‘wing it’ it isn’t going to work.
Break down each plan into the sets of activities or actions you have to take in order to make it happen. A mentor of mine one said that “a plan is useless until it deteriorates into action”. What are the actual action steps you have to take to move down the hill?

When you know that you can start – one step or action at a time.

Now, I’ve left something out of this scenario and its about ‘goals’.

Many people confuse goals with rewards.

Look at the goals you’ve set and see whether achieving those goals actually creates an element or realising your passion or they are simply rewards that you want to give yourself.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with giving yourself rewards, like ‘big’ holidays or material possessions. But you might want to reclassify some of the goals you’ve set as ‘rewards’ and maybe attach them to a different goal or target so that you can ‘get’ them when you achieve those milestones.

And you can also give yourself smaller rewards when you complete parts of a plan or activities within them.

And another thing. Because you probably have multiple goals there will be many different roads you can take towards your ‘promised land’. Sometimes there are actions that you can take alongside one another and at other times you’ll find you have to take actions in a particular order.

A final check.

Are all your goals, targets, plans, actions – and rewards attainable in the timescale you set? If not simply adjust things until they meet your needs.
Now start taking those actions and it’s downhill all the way!
I’m working on my plans and starting to take action.
Are you?