PLAN TO GET AHEAD…

What does it take to achieve great things? I truly believe that it takes (1) having a vision of a future filled with success on your terms, and (2) the structure and planning to get you there.

I often have a love/hate relationship with structure. I love what I get accomplished when I have it in place, but I hate how confined it can make me feel.

BY STAYING AHEAD…

I finally learned to accept that ”structure is my friend”! I need it to move forward in a way that keeps me focused on the most important things. I do need to have the “right structure” – and for me, that means a focused one.

I am one that needs to plan using goals. I need them to be a bit of a stretch – they can’t be too easy or they don’t hold my interest. What makes the difference for me is how I approach these goals so they don’t become too overwhelming for me. When you break things down by quarter, you are allocating key actions to a timetable that feels more manageable for you. I start from the last quarter of the year and keep progressively moving backward to plan into the first quarter. In that way, I know I have a system in place to reasonably accomplish what I said I would do.

That’s where the “staying ahead” comes in. I often visualize myself celebrating the achievement of a particular goal at the end of a year. That makes the goal feel very real for me. Then, I break each goal down by quarter to develop the actions I need to take.

When we craft “stretch” goals, this is the way we can actually get them done!

Quarter by Quarter!