We’re already into 2021 … and not much has changed, right?
Although the arrival of a new year may kindle or even rekindle hopes of positive change, elevation, and fresh opportunities, life isn’t simply about the flip of a calendar. Resolutions can fade quickly, and with them, any chance of turning what are just “wishes” into tangible results.
What matters most is your attitude and your knowledge base. It’s never too early or too late to recommit and resolve to work towards the goals and objectives in your business and your life.
Yes, the time is always there unless life slips away. And even when confronted with seemingly insurmountable hurdles, the trained human spirit can remain undaunted and approach them with a rare sort of fiery zeal and determination. But how do you make sure that you are sticking to your goals and heading down the right path to achieve them?
The formula below will help you do just that. It’s a step by step protocol that serves in effect, as a map to help you know where you are on the path to turning your dreams into reality.
DREAMS x GOALS x LEARN x PLAN x ACTIONS
So you start with your dreams and transform them into goals, which are then simplified into detailed plans. Plans in turn are acted on in order to yield definite results.
Let’s examine these steps in detail.
- DREAMS
Everything starts with a dream or a vision—an ideal picture of what you want your business or your life to look like and be. The first step in making your dreams come true is condensing them on paper. So do some dreaming, but start to put those dreams down on paper. And then give yourself some time to accomplish them. Remember, most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year, but underestimate what they can accomplish in 10 years. And in my experience, most great wealth in business is built over a period of seven to 10 years. Your dreams should translate into:
- GOALS
Next, start to turn those dreams into specific goals. By that, I mean starting to put some timelines and deadlines on your dreams and vision, and then understanding exactly why you want what you want. I’ve realized that having one or more genuine reasons for craving a specific goal or dream goes a lot of miles in keeping you motivated when enthusiasm fades or obstacles start hindering your progress.
Maybe your “why” is centered around your family, or a deeply personal need to succeed because others have scoffed at you or your efforts in the past. Whatever the reason, zero in on it and use it to fuel your efforts and drive you towards your vision and dream. However, make sure you put a timeline and deadline on your goals and objectives, or they end up being nothing more than wishes. Start first with a 10 year timeframe, and work backwards from there, say in a 5 year, 3 year, 1 year and six month timeframe.
Also, use the SMART approach for outlining your goals. This means your goals should be: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound. Set benchmarks and be sure you can measure your progress, because only what can be measured can be managed—and changed for the better. You’ll be amazed at what will start to happen to your focus and determination when you can actually articulate what you want to accomplish, know why you want to accomplish it and give yourself time to get there.
To begin work on your goals, you’ll need to acquire knowledge. In other words:
- LEARN
“Learn before you earn.” This is an easy one to understand. You don’t know what you don’t know. You have to grow into your goals. Read books, attend seminars. Get the knowledge in order to advance to the next steps. Without new knowledge, new skills and new abilities, there is no achievement of new things.
You can now draw on your fund of knowledge and:
- PLAN
When you start to see your DREAMS and GOALS outlined this way, you can now start to PLAN on how you’re going to get to your objectives. Your plan should be like your roadmap, or a series of steps you can take to lead you closer to your goals. Remember, though, that your plans should be flexible enough to allow for evaluation, re-evaluation and correction if what you are doing isn’t working.
As is the case with most people, you may soon realize that your initial plans need some adjustment, but that’s OK. Few people actually know how they are going to get to their final destination, but they soon discover as they start moving forward.
However, even the best plans would be useless if the following is missing:
- ACTION
Here’s where the saying “rubber meets the road” rings true and nothing will happen unless you start taking action toward your own success. I know there’s a lot out there about visualization and secret ways of attracting everything you want in life, but I’ve yet to run into anyone who has been able to consistently sit on some mountaintop and zap their way to success.
So, with your dreams defined, your goals written and your plans thought out, all you have left to do is: act. Then see what works, change what doesn’t and start to see if the results you are getting are in line with what you really want.
There’s an old saying that a rocket is off course to its destination more than 99% of the time, but it is through adjustment and correction that it gets to its ultimate destination. The late, great Jim Rohn also used the example of a ship sailing off course just one degree over time without correction and running into the rocks. So take action constantly, continuously and correctively when needed, because in most cases, some action is better than no action at all.
Will every action be perfect? Not at all. But that’s not the point. Mistakes of omission are in most cases more detrimental to your success than those mistakes you actually do make.
So don’t let current events or the attitude of “this year is looking a lot like last year” set in. Today you can choose to make 2021 the best yet. Sit down with the Dream, Goal, Learn, Plan and Action formula and start to be the architect of the life you dearly desire. You might even surprise yourself in that some of those long-cherished goals and aspirations can be realized in a fraction of the time you once thought. You might also learn that some of the reasons you thought you wanted some of your goals weren’t so meaningful after all, or have evolved into something even more meaningful and significant.
Whatever you finally decide for yourself, pursue with all your effort and heart. That way, you can look back on this year come next January and be more than pleased—and surprised—by your progress.
