Part 4 – Goal Setting

“Our goals can only be reached through the vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success”
Stephen A. Brennan

Now you have created your goal lists, prioritized those goals and values, developed a personal mission statement. It’s time to set those goals and make a plan of action for their attainment. This the most difficult part of the process but yields the biggest returns. Planning is the ultimate key to success as the above quote summarizes. It is without a doubt the way of the entrepreneur or the man or woman who takes responsibility for his life. Planning is also the best form of time management. It is estimated that for every minute you spend in planning saves you 5-10 minutes or more in actions that lead to results. That’s 500 to 1000 % return on your energy. Don’t you wish your financial portfolio would give you that kind of return! The top 3% of achievers are all persistent planners, they are forever writing and rewriting their goals. They think on paper and continually analyze their plans, updating and gathering new knowledge to improve them as they go.

Knowledge is key to your plans. Like a good business plan you are going to have do some research to gather the specific knowledge that you require. Understand that not all knowledge is the same. Napoleon Hill in the all time classic success book Think and Grow Rich commented that there are two kinds of knowledge, general or formal and specialized knowledge. Many fall into the false belief that knowledge is power. Nothing could be further from the truth unless this knowledge is acted upon with organized plans. We see many examples of people with university degrees and even doctorates that are working minimum wage jobs in an assembly line or fast food restaurant.

There are many examples on the other side of the scale of men and women that have little to no education and assumed vast fortunes having tremendous influence on society. Thomas A. Edison who became the worlds greatest inventor had only 3 months of formal schooling and Henry Ford had only a 6th grade education but with the accumulation of specialized knowledge organized into plans they were able to rise to be great men of power and wealth. As you ask and answer questions, gathered knowledge must be organized in the context of a specific purpose that we call an organized plan of action.

Benefits of Planning

• Plans keep you on track like a map or a flight plan giving you a clear path and destination.
• Plans build confidence through preparation.
• They reduce stress and anxiety from having direction and clarity.
• Planning is excellent time management.
• Plans build in a sense of security and allows you to control change.
• Plans give you a measuring tool as you progress along.
• Plans used properly allow you to be more creative and flexible.

As I have just taken some time to sell you on the value and the vital function of planning for your ultimate success I also want to stress that you be flexible, be willing to change and go a new direction if necessary. As Dwight D Eisenhower said “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” Planning is indispensable. Almost all of our mistakes can be traced back to action without thought. Plans if used properly will give you all the benefits above especially the part of being more creative.

People often misunderstand and think that plans are too restricting and rigid but you will actually get the opposite effect. Your mind will have the freedom knowing clear direction has been established and you don’t have to trouble yourself with what’s next but how best to do the tasks before you. This is one of the reasons why you get such an enormous return on energy. So take the time to research well, gather factual information from credible sources and plan out an effective strategy then launch into action, adjusting and compensating as you drive toward your goal.

A business plan is a good example of the fundamental principles of a good plan. A business plan should explain in detail exactly what the business is all about and where it is going. It should describe in detail all it knows and what it needs to know. It lays out a step-by-step strategy for reaching its target and calculates and monitors its costs and progress along the way. A good plan answers all the questions who, what, why, where,  when and how with a clear sense of vision and mission.

A plan clearly identifies, justifies and quantifies the end result and lays out a step-by-step set of actions to getting there. Your plan should be written out with clear steps so that you could give this document to your friend and they could follow it and get the end result. A good mental exercise is to imagine yourself at the end result you desire and look back and think of or imagine the steps you would need to take. It is like being on top of the mountain looking down at the path you took to get there, and in fact from that vantage point you would probably be able to see various routes to get there. So from the end, your goal, look back to see the various routes that you could take, get some counsel on the best one and start hiking.