Goals are Dreams with a Date – Don’t Let Yours Expire

How do you plan for success?

You have some goals, right?  Goals are dreams with a date.  Your success relies on your plan to achieve those goals.  Well…one of the biggest hurdles to achieving your goals is the battle of action vs. inaction.  It’s not that you’re slacking off – it’s just that you have so much on your plate, you’re busy; you don’t have time to make your goals a reality.

However, you must plan for success. Goals aren’t achieved without action. So make the time before your dreams expire!

 “Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.” – Fitzhugh Dodson

Here are 3 quick tips (and some tools) to achieve your goals! 

1) What’s your plan/strategy? It’s one thing to have a goal; it’s another to know exactly how you plan to achieve that goal. Write down your end goal. Write down the steps and actions you need to take, and by when – don’t overcomplicate. Work backward and track your progress.  You can do this with words or visuals by creating a mind map or a vision board. You now have goals and a plan that works best for you.

2) Murphy’s law – what can go wrong, will go wrong. Story of life sometimes, right? If the past couple of years has been any indication! You know the expression… best-laid plans. No matter how well you plan, life happens. Things occur that can derail achieving your goals. Don’t get discouraged. This is why you need a backup plan, a plan B (or if you’re an OCD Virgo like me a plan B and a plan C.) The military calls this contingency planning. Give some thought to possible things that might occur to which could push back or derail you from achieving your goals and then develop some ways in advance you can deal with those possible events. Naturally, there is no way to predict everything so don’t drive yourself nuts. Developing possible solutions to deal with issues can help you stay focused. Sometimes a little course correction is needed to stay on track. Flex but don’t slam on the bakes.

3) How to measure your success? To know when you have achieved success requires measuring your progress. Metrics! If you’re going to achieve your goals you have to define what the end result(s) looks like. Set milestones along the path to achieving your end goal.  And they don’t need to be massive ones. Small wins are as important as big wins. Celebrate hitting those milestones. Each milestone – or mini-goal – you achieve puts you one step closer to success.

 “Goals in writing are dreams with deadlines.” – Brian Tracy

The above steps are true for people and organizations. Taking action helps in achieving both personal and professional goals.  Success can’t happen without proper planning. And it certainly can’t happen without action. So stop just thinking about your goals and plan for how you’re going to achieve them and then execute. Before they hit their expiration date!

And some tools and templates that may help…

• YearCompass workbook. YearCompass is a free booklet that helps you reflect on the year and plan the next one. With a set of carefully selected questions and exercises. I used it myself this year and found it a great and thought-provoking tool.
• Free Goal Setting Templates and Goal Tracking Templates from Smartsheet.
• Mural is a great tool for many things. Including live facilitation. They also offer some objectives and key results templates.