You are motivated. You’ve got ideas and dreams and you are ready to begin transforming those dreams from theoretical possibilities into your reality. But where to begin?
As discussed in my previous post, 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals, you cannot begin making concrete steps forward until you’ve clearly delineated where you are headed. It is crucial to take some time to get crystal clear on your end goal and define what you are trying to achieve. Without this critical step, you are likely to work yourself in circles, your invested time and effort yielding very little progress.
If you haven’t taken a moment to identify and define your big goals, I encourage you to read my previous post and spend some time reflecting on where exactly your dreams are taking you. What is your end goal?
But what’s next? Once you’ve identified your goals, it’s time to get even MORE specific, test your timing, and ACHIEVE progress. It’s time to start taking steps forward in the pursuit of your dreams.
Your goals are not meant to remain inside your head, they are intended for action.
Regardless of what your specific goal entails, creating a detailed action plan outlining not simply what you are trying to accomplish but how you plan to get there is an incredibly helpful and necessary step in the achievement process.
Tips for Creating YOUR Customized, Goal-Oriented Action Plan:
- Visualize the End Goal
Check in with yourself one more time because maintaining a clear end goal is crucial. According to Steven Covey, one of the habits of highly successful individuals is the ability to “begin with the end in mind.” Essentially, this means visualizing your end goal and allowing your targeted outcome to shape your action steps. Think about what success will look like. What will it feel like? Then, go beyond just thinking about them. WRITE THEM DOWN. At this point, it can be a bullet list of ideas or a mind map – it doesn’t matter. But you DO need to be able to see your thinking so you can review and make changes, prioritize and refine. Once you have a list of the major actions you need to take toward your goal, sequence them. What must be done first? What CAN you do now while you get ready for future action?
At this point, you should have one (or more) “big goals” drafted, each with a list of action steps. Before you move to the next step, look at the action steps (it can even help to cover up the goal) and ask yourself:
“If I complete each of these steps, where will I be on the path to my goal?”
If your answer is anywhere other than at a completed goal or objective (think: a mini-goal on the way to achieving the big goal), then you need to refine your action steps. Once you can confidently see the work you are about to do will advance your goal, move on to the next step.
- Identify Your Success Markers – Your Achievable Milestones
Sometimes, in considering our big end goals, the time and work it will take to accomplish those goals can feel daunting and intimidating. Avoid the overwhelm by breaking large goals down into smaller chunks that can be accomplished in shorter timeframes. Look at your list of action steps and ask yourself this question:
“What will be the markers of success along the way?”
You might have a new employee or business partner, new prototype, business license, report, or any number of “products” or tangible indicators you are moving closer to your goals.
Identifying milestones ensures that small, yet important details are not falling through the cracks as we consider a larger vision. It also provides us with a necessary feeling of success and accomplishment that can motivate and encourage us to continue working towards our larger goals. Think: Momentum Builders.
- Set A Realistic Timeline
How long is it realistically going to take for you to accomplish your goals? A month? A year? 5 years? Nothing can be more discouraging than an unrealistic deadline that is impossible to meet. When your arbitrary and unrealistic deadline rolls around and your goals have not yet been accomplished, it’s easy to feel defeated.
The focus of this step is to create a timeline that is manageable and attainable, and mitigate the frustration by being honest with yourself about the timeline for your goals. It’s okay if achievement takes time. Take a lesson from Bill Gates:
“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”
Go back to your list of action steps for your goal. Start by breaking them into two big groups: 1) What you are going to do in the next twelve months, and 2) Everything else. You are only going to focus on the first 12-months. Why? Conditions change so quickly that you will just be guessing about the specific steps you will need to take in the future. You don’t know today the people, tools and resources that will come into your life.
- Celebrate Small Victories
Talk to any group of women, let alone professional women, and you will find we rarely pause long enough to acknowledge our progress before we are on to the next thing we need to do. This step is often ignored in planning for your success, but I promise it is just as important as the previous steps. It is the “pause” that lets us reflect and refresh.
For each of your milestones or accomplishments, it’s important to take a moment to let yourself “celebrate the win” and acknowledge your own hard work and progress. It’s a great time to think about what, if anything, you would change if you had to do the same steps over. These reflections and “little victories celebrations” provide a boost of self-confidence and motivation that empowers us to keep moving forward.
Take the time at the front-end of planning to decide how you are going to do this. Perhaps you’ll reward yourself with an afternoon of self-care or buy yourself a small gift. It could also be as simple as writing down your daily or weekly accomplishments and taking time for gratitude and reflection.
- Set Up Accountability
Who is your support system? Have you identified individuals who will keep you accountable in reaching your goals?
One of the most important people to remain accountable to is YOURSELF. When we break promises to ourselves, we send the message we don’t matter enough to follow through. Worse, we can begin to look for excuses or justifications for why it is OK to put our progress on hold.
This is a good time to find an accountability partner, mentor or coach to meet with regularly as you navigate your path forward. According to the Hawthorn Effect, we are more productive and less likely to abandon our goals when we know there are people watching, aware of our progress. Additionally, setting up systems for accountability provides us with people to go to for support and encouragement in moments when we may be feeling stuck or discouraged.
- Plan for Next Steps
After you meet your end goals, it is important to consider what comes next. How do you maintain or extend the success and progress you’ve worked so hard to achieve? For example, if your goal is to lose 30 pounds, once you’ve accomplished that goal, what steps are you going to take to ensure your new healthy weight is maintained? Or perhaps you’ve set an ambitious income goal for your business. Once you’ve brought in that income, what important steps will be needed to continue scaling your business?
Your goals are important, and your time is valuable. If you are motivated and ready to begin making real progress towards your dreams, take some time to clearly map out and write down your action plan. Use the tips listed above as a guideline for creating your roadmap to success. If you’d like some support or accountability as you create and pursue your achievement plan, click HERE to sign up for a call to discuss whether one on one or group coaching would be right for you!
Resources:
https://www.franklincovey.com/the-7-habits/habit-2.html
https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-to-create-an-action-plan-to-achieve-your-goals-1794129
