Why should you plan and what does it mean to make a plan? What does a plan look like?

Before you make a plan you must know the goal. Now, the goal, just like a goal in soccer, or hockey, or football, must be unambiguous. A goal should be something that an unbiased observer can verify.

Don’t confuse a dream and a goal. Dreams come to be by the achievement of many, many goals. Dreams can, no, should be inspiring. They can be astronomical in size.

Once you have the goal firmly in mind you need to find the purpose. Some times the goal you’er trying to reach isn’t yours. It may be the goal of a boss, friend, or family member. Therefore, the next thing you need to discover is your purpose for achieving the goal. Even though the goal may not be yours you must find your own, very personal reason, for achieving the goal. Why? Well, because achieving a goal often impacts or is impacted by your emotional state. When your emotional state turns sour you must be ready to combat the sour emotions with a solid purpose.

I think finding your purpose for achieving a goal is often extremely difficult and often trivialized or overlooked. It may seem obvious that a goal must be achieved because your boss said so. But why do you care about what your boss has to say? “If I don’t I’ll get fired!” you may say. Why do you care if you get fired? You’ve been complaining about working too hard and not having enough time. “I have to eat!”, you may quip. But you just told your friend a few days ago that you need to lose weight but just can’t find the time or stay away from the donuts. Getting fired will solve both problems. There are a lot of people who don’t have jobs and find ways to eat. Just because a reason seems obvious or is logical doesn’t mean it is your reason.

You must dig deep and search your soul and search diligently for the positive reasons for accomplishing the goal. The first time you do this, you may find it to be quite difficult. After going through the exercise a dozen times it will become quite natural.

So, here’s an example of some positive reason for achieving a specific goal.

“I respect my boss and I want to help them achieve something important to them. I love the theater and this job provides the money that allows me to follow my passion. My daughter is passionate about science and this job enables me to get her the supplies, books, and trips to satisfy her quest for understanding.”

By developing a long list of positive reasons you prepare yourself to fight fatigue, frustration, and setbacks. This makes a goal more than just something to do. It empowers you to possess the goal.

Once you understand the goal and have a solid list of reasons to pursue the goal the rest is relatively straightforward. The next step is to develop a plan.

What is a plan? How do I know if I have a good one? A plan is a collection of tasks and resources ordered in such a way as to achieve the goal. A good plan covers all the bases. It should have a sufficient amount of detail so someone else, our unbiased observer, can look at the plan and know what the status is by comparing the plan to reality. However, don’t get caught in the green goo of over-planning. General Paton once said, “I’d rather have a good plan today than a perfect plan tomorrow.”

Once you have a plan we start calling the goal a project and, naturally, the plan is called a project plan. Supervising the execution of the project plan is called project management. There are lots of resources that cover the mechanics of goal-setting and project management. Once you have a well described goal and you have searched your heart for reasons to pursue the goal you can skillfully apply the mechanics to the project. You will also be fully prepared to deal with the inevitable set-backs of life.

My aim for this short piece is not to reiterate the whys and hows of goal-setting. Rather, it is to provide you with the emotional fuel to live out your purpose. With a collection of goals, good techniques, and a list of heart-felt reasons you can have a life worth living.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 29th, 2008 at 3:14 pm and is filed under Life Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.