One Radical Idea Guaranteed to Help You Achieve More Goals

Goal planning is similar to planning a road trip. You decide where you want to go, map out the trip, and head off down the road.

Following a recent article about taking time to revisit goals for the year,  I heard from a number of readers about how they’d not only gotten off track, several couldn’t even remember the goals they’d so carefully crafted coming into 2011. If you include yourself in this category take heart, because I assure you, you are not alone.

What I’d like to offer you today is one very radical idea that I can virtually guarantee will not only help to keep goals clear in your mind but, if you follow through, will result in a far greater success rate. You ready, here it is -

Take a Planning Day each month

Now you notice I said “take” a day, not plan to take, or schedule a day. If this is to work for you, you have to commit to taking a whole day for yourself. I know there are readers right this moment rolling their eyes and thinking “uh huh, sure – with my schedule?!” Hang in there with me just a little longer before dismissing this idea entirely.

When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal. ~Napoleon Hill

Goal planning is very similar to planning a road trip. You decide where you want to go, map out the trip, and head off down the road. Since the whole idea of goals is growth that means going to a place or places you’ve never been before – so you’ll want to periodically check your map to make sure you’re still on track to reach your destination. If you never check that map and just keep driving, you could go off course or hit a foggy patch where you can’t see what’s ahead . . . you could end up in a very different place from what you had in mind when you began the trip . . . worse yet, you could end up going in circles and end up right where you started, having made no progress at all.

A planning day will help keep goals very clear in your mind and give you the opportunity to celebrate accomplishments and make any necessary adjustments as you prepare for the next part of your journey.  Life being what it is, there are going to be bumps in the road and even detours along the way, but after completing this exercise you will be far better prepared to make last minute adjustments without being completely thrown off course.

There’s one more step to your planning day.

Find a way that works to keep goals clearly visible to you daily. For example, if your goals are focused on losing weight or eating healthier, you could print your goals and have the sheet laminated. Most craft stores carry small magnets that you can simply stick on the back of your goal card and then display it prominently on your refrigerator.

I spend so much time at my laptop I’ve found that keeping my goals visible on my desktop works wonders.  Using Microsoft Office sticky notes I break my goals down by category (personal, business, creative, etc.); designating each category a different color, I list all my goals for the month. Then I park my sticky notes in one corner of my desktop. I delete each goal as it is accomplished until all of the notes are gone by the end of the month.

If you decide to try this, in order to remain focused you’ll want to only list the actual goal and not the various actions you plan to take to achieve your goals – so there shouldn’t be that many items on your notes. If there are, you could be unnecessarily overwhelming yourself and may want to work on prioritizing your goals to a more manageable level.

Final thought . . . depending on your goals, you may well be able to finish your planning in a few hours and not need a whole day. I urge you to still set aside a whole day – because if you have other things planned, you’ll end up clock watching and not give your full attention to your goal planning.

Whatever system you use, take the time to work your plans and goals – your future is counting on it and you are worth it!!

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