I bet you spend more time planning your vacation than you do planning your life.
A few years ago my wife and I planned a two week vacation. I think a good vacation is to get in the car and drive in any direction and stop and see whatever comes up…hoping that it will turn out okay. But that is not my wife’s style. She is the vacation planner in our family, so I watched her put this plan together that would insure we would have a great time and not miss a single site…
- We decided where we wanted to go. England Wow!!!
- We talked a lot about why we wanted to go to England rather than anywhere else we could go. “Our first trip out of the country and they speak English.”
- She called the travel agent and learned about all the things we did not want to miss while there. “London, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Stonehenge… I’m feeling tired.”
- I know this is “over-kill” but she even made a list of the obstacles that might stop us from going. “How much is this going to cost $$$?
- She built a plan of action to overcome each of the obstacles. “You know that bonus check you are going to get?”
- We put our calendars together and decide on a date to go. “You know a good time to go would be right after you get that check.”
- She checked off her to-do list each step of the plan. I told you she is a planner.
- We committed to go and talked about the trip often. Once we let the word out to our family and friends there was no turning back we were committed.
Look at that list:
- Decide on a destination/goal
- Define why you want to go there
- Learn everything you can about how to get there
- Make a list of the obstacles that might keep you from getting there.
- Build a plan that will overcome each obstacle
- Decide on a target date
- Track and measure your plan
- Commit to your plan and tell others about your goal.
There are 8 steps that will turn your dreams into realities!
If people took these same steps to plan out their life they would join that rare person who has quit sleep-walking through life and has started doing life with intention. Goal setting is the tool that will get you off the treadmill of life and put you on a path to your destination and purpose.
Do you spend more time planning your vacation than you do your life?
Mike Duke: President, Recruiting Practice Leader
Mike is a Certified Personnel Consultant and President of Professional Search for Career Development Partners. Mike is a successful entrepreneur and people developer.
For over twenty years Mike has been bringing positive change to corporate leaders in the area of hiring, training, and developing people. He says, “You can boil any business down to three basic strategies: Products, Profits and People. Out of these, the people strategy is the most important. If you don’t hire the right people, none of the other strategies will work.”
Email: mike@cdpartnersinc.com
