Do you have a plan?

If your project has more than three major milestones with associated sub-tasks spread out over more than a week, you would likely save time by creating an plan of action first.

The biggest factor in achieving an objective is not Goal setting. While it is important to have clear, measurable and realistic goals there is one other factor that is even more important -- identify the results you want to achieve! Wait a minute you say, goals and results sound the same. Actually, they are similar but different in the type of focus that is created.

Try this exercise:

• What is the result or goal I want?
  
  


• Why is this important to me? Why do I really want this?
  
  


• What will it mean once I've achieved it?
  
  


• Who can I share this goal with immediately and get positive support and realistic feedback? Who/what can assist me in achieving my goal?
  
  


• What am I prepared to learn and change to ensure the successful completion of my goal/result?
  
  


• What are the major milestones that I will need to complete on the way to achieving the goal/result?
  
  


• Plan Milestones & Tasks: Write the first major milestone (A) that needs to be completed then identify all tasks (B) associated with the milestone. Repeat process with the next major milestone until all major milestones & tasks are identified. Write in start date on the first task and end date (C) on the completion of the project. Then write in each milestone & task completion date. Link each specific task in the appropriate due date to your calendar. For each task identify who, what, when , where, why and how much will be required in terms of resources (money, people, equipment, etc.) Track and journal results DAILY.
  
  


• Visualize: prior to undertaking any task, take 1 or 2 minutes to get associated with why this task is important to the overall result I am to accomplish.
  
  


• Journal Results: tracking your project is essential. Keep track of my progress daily. Track all results including delays, distractions etc. This will let me know if I am moving closer towards your overall result, goal or purpose.
  
  


• Learn, change your approach: if I am not getting what I want, learn from the feedback. Find a mentor to guide you through to completion. Continue to change your approach until you get your desired result.
  

Celebrate, review and summarize: reward myself upon completion of my goals and/or result. Review my notes, change my plan and create a system. One of the most important factors in on-going business success is to learn from what actions I take and create new systems and strategies. This can be invaluable in maintaining and building momentum because I can save myself time and money the next time around by simply following the formula!