Make A Plan

You Know What You Want, now how do you get it? The simple key to success is, make a plan.

Some people get stuck at this point because they have now dared to dream and define their purpose. They want to set goals but have no idea how to take action on them. Congratulations! You are just like everyone else. If you study anyone who has ever been successful, they did not know at the start how they were going to do something, they just knew they wanted to do it!

Making a plan is the step that seems to make or break a person in their quest to accomplish a goal or fulfill a desire. At this stage I feel people end up in one of the following four categories. The one you're in determines your level of success, if any. The great thing is YOU get to chose you're category.

When you do not make a plan, you simply will not succeed. Why then do most people not make a plan? We plan vacations, why not our lives? Too many people over complicate the concept of planning and either stress over every little detail or give up because they can't see how to do something. Does it have to be that way? No!

A plan can and should be simple, some parts of the plan may require learning new skills or investing in help to accomplish them but when you know that ahead of time you can prepare for it. When you are prepared, what ever the task was now seems smaller and just part of the process. There is no straight line to success, make a plan that's simple with room to modify it as needed. Think of a plane going from one airport to another, it takes off and while en route to it's destination several changes have to be made. The planes's instruments are used to track it's progress and any time the plane strays off course, the correction is made. Sometimes unforeseen incidents, like weather or heavy traffic cause the pilot to have to make some temporary adjustments as well and eventually the plane lands safely. If it just took off in the direction of the other airport and no adjustments were made, it would stray off course and eventually run out of gas and crash.

Your plans are like that too. Start simple, try writing down;

-Here is where I am. ________________

-Here is where I want to be. __________________

As you see, Step 1 is easy but it is the most important step of all. Now that you know where you want to go, you can learn the route to take. Where do you start? You find out who has gone there before with the most speed and accuracy and copy their plan. Like Actions = Like Results.

The great thing is that most success's have been documented in one way or another and the information to make a plan is available. Sometimes there's a price to pay for it, other times it's available at your local library. You find the map, you follow it and make corrections as you go. Remember though, along the way be open minded and most importantly.... Enjoy the Ride!

Did you read the above section? If not go back and read it. Winging it is not an option.

There are some people who feel they know what they want and if it is truly their destiny it will find them. They don't feel the need to make a plan, they are just going to carry on and enjoy life while keeping their eyes open for opportunity knocking at their door. Well I hate to break it to you but opportunity is going to come find you with as much effort as you make to find it.

These are also the same people who realize, often quite late in life, that their theory was wrong and that had they applied even a small amount of effort to make a plan in their past they could have accomplished and experienced so much more in what was after all a very short time on this planet.

I know exactly what I want, I know what I have to do to get it, my goals are internalized, writing them down would just be a waste of my valuable time duplicating it all onto paper or electronic file. Is this you? There is nothing wrong with having that confidence, it is a great asset, however there is a very important reason why you need to physically make a plan or write down goals.

The subconscious mind; it plays a much more important role in our lives then we realize. It is always working in the background, analyzing data, storing and refreshing memory, solving problems & finding solutions to questions we pose to it. What we know as our conscious mind only plays a small role in our day to day activities. The best way to invoke the subconscious is to bombard it visually with the things you want it to digest and analyze and have it working constantly to come up with solutions to achieve your goals.

You need to become clear about what it is you want. When you make a plan by writing down your goals and desires it help to sharpen your definition and makes it easier for your subconscious to find solutions. Otherwise we tend to be too general in our thoughts and can become distracted. In times of doubt or uncertainty, you can look at your plan, remind yourself of your successes to date and modify it to get past whatever obstacle you are facing. Without being able to effectively track yourself it is easy to get lost and it can drastically slow your progress. Finally, when you write something out it changes how the subconscious perceives it. It takes it from a dreaming to a doing state. Your thoughts are now becoming real and your subconscious works harder to accomplish your plans.

If there wasn't any validity to this argument then you wouldn't have so many personal development teachers out there telling you the same thing. Put the The Power of Focus to work for you. Join the countless numbers of people who realized re-inventing the wheel was pointless and got serious with their lives and plans and made huge successes of themselves.

A plan is quite simply a series of actions that need to be taken to get you from where you are now to where you want to be. The information to do whatever you want is readily available, you just have to get it and start doing it.

As you start to make a plan, do it with the knowledge that you are taking the first step in a process. Everything you want to do requires you learn a process or skill. Think of all the other skills you have learned to date. Think of the process you went through to learn it. Now what is it you want to do? Do you feel it is unreasonable, unattainable, crazy, can't tell people because they'll laugh? Although there are people in your life who will think some ideas you have are pie in the sky, don't be discouraged by them. Instead take a minute and ask yourself the following questions.

-Has anyone in the world ever had a similar idea and was successful?

-Has anyone that is criticizing or laughing at you, tried or have any experience in what you are doing?

-Do you believe that you can accomplish it?

-Are you willing to do whatever it takes to do this?

Chances are that what you are planning to do, it or something similar has already been done or tried. After all there are approximately 6.2 Billion people out there. Chances are that if someone was successful then you can find out how they achieved it. There will also be those who failed and you can examine where they went wrong.

The people around you who doubt what your are doing or think you're crazy for trying something different. They are just part of your process as well. It is very unlikely that they have any experience in what you are doing and that is a key reason why they don't understand it and the unknown always creates fear. Study anyone who has tried something new and they will all tell you the same thing. Everyone is crazy till they achieve what they're after, then they become either 'lucky' or a 'genius' and everyone wants to know how you did it, because now that you achieved it, they certainly can.

What do YOU think about what you are doing? Do YOU believe in what you are doing? This is the most important factor! How YOU think and feel about what you are doing will determine your actions towards it. Take a look at the photo below;

Do you see yourself? Do you see Earth? It's that speck of dust a little bit to the upper left of Saturn's rings. This is a photo that was taken by the Cassini Space Probe and is about 900 million miles from earth.

I posted this to drive home a point. In the grand scheme of the universe and time itself you are smaller then a speck of dust. Knowing this, what does it matter to you if someone else thinks you're crazy for trying something. Why not try to accomplish whatever you want? Why not be happy and enjoy everything you can for that very short time you are here? You could live to be a hundred years old and to us that is a long time, but to the universe is a pretty much less then a second.

Make a difference for the time you are here. Don't just sit around wasting it. If you want to just do what every one else is doing then just do that, but do not look back later and regret it. Doing something different will change things in your life, it may cause certain relationships to also change. Your fate and destiny is not tied to anyone else, if they walk away from you then that is THEIR choice.

Last but not least. Are you willing to do whatever you need to do? When you have true desire, you will, because it will not even seem like work, even though it is. The key to success in achieving your goal really is simple, at least the concept is. Figure out what you want, find out what you need to do it, make a plan and then take action to do it! Remember, some things take longer then others, enjoy every success along the way, learn from every failure and most importantly...feel good and enjoy your life!

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