Dream Blockers: #8 Poor Planning and How to Overcome It
Welcome to week 8 of delving into common obstacles to pursuing and achieving your big dreams and goals. This week’s focus is poor planning.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry once aptly said, "A goal without a plan is just a wish."
Without a plan your dreams remain mere aspirations. I love dreaming, visualizing, and contemplating my dreams. It’s fun and feels good. But the bridge between great dreams and achieving them is a good plan.
You don’t need to know everything or all the “hows” when you start out, but you do want to set your goal, come up with some achievable milestones, and start breaking them down into actionable steps.
There is no need to overcomplicate it. I recommend keeping it simple, especially at first. Simple can be helpful if you’re feeling a lot of resistance or fear around getting started.
The Power of Pen and Paper:
Dr. Gail Matthews, a psychology professor, uncovered a gem: people who jot down their goals are 42% more likely to transform them into reality. Why? Because writing amplifies your journey in three ways:
Clarity: The act of writing clarifies your aspirations, transforming vague desires into more tangible objectives.
Accountability: Those written words become a pact with yourself, motivating you to stay committed.
Memory Aid: Placing your goals where they're visible cultivates an ongoing reminder of your mission.
She also found that weekly accountability partners and public commitment also increased the likelihood of success. But I'll save these for another time.
For some people, lots of detail in their plan is their ally. The more specific their plan, the greater their success. For others, too many details is stifling and/or overwhelming. Or they might prefer to coddiwomple - travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination. There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way. Experiment and figure out what works best for you.
For instance, as a multi-passionate person, I’m a big planner. I like a reasonable amount of detail in my 10, 5, 3, and 1 year goals. I also like to have quarterly, monthly, and weekly objectives that keep me on track. If I’m not clear on my goals, my focus can be scattered in a million different directions.
That’s not to say I don’t coddiwomple in some areas of my life. It depends on the nature of the goal and tends to be a conscious choice when I do.
I could spend pages writing about different planning practices, but the number one issue I see when people tell me about their dreams is that they have it all in their head and haven’t taken the time to write it down and come up with a basic plan. Even coddiwamplers would benefit from this simple practice every once in a while.
Grab Your Pen and Paper Now
You don’t need fancy advanced planning techniques to get started. Here are a few questions to get you started over your next coffee date with yourself.
4 Questions to Get Started:
1) Visualize: Imagine yourself 10, 20, or 30 years from now. What experience or dream do you want to celebrate and be proud of? This becomes your beacon.
2) The 'Why' of Your Dream: Delve into the significance of your dream. Why is it so meaningful and important to you? How does it intertwine with your happiness, authenticity, and passion?
3) Reverse Engineering: Work backwards. List the milestones, skills, investments, and other essentials required to breathe life into your dream. If you don’t know, just take a wild guess.
4) Micro Goals, Macro Impact: Identify one achievable step for this week, month, and quarter that brings you closer to your dream.
Upon completing these reflections, tune into your emotions. How do you feel? If enthusiasm courses through you, harness it as momentum for action. If fear or stagnation comes up, reach out to me. I’m here to support you and help you get unstuck. Your dreams are waiting for you. Heed their call.
I’m rooting for your big dreams and goals.
🦋🦋🦋
If you missed the first 7 weeks of the series on obstacles to your big dreams and goals, you can catch up on them here:
#1 Perfectionism