How many times have you felt inspired or motivated in doing something that will change your life?
And how many of those times did you actually do something about it?
There is a big chance that you took no action other than watching was thoughts fading away, simply because you didn’t know where to start from.
In order to see your idea materializing it is necessary to have a plan, a guide and concrete instructions. If not, it will just vanish as quickly as it appeared or it will take a different route to the one envisioned.
You need to know exactly what has to be done, when it will be done and how.
Keep on reading, in order to discover the instructions that will allow you to live your life in such a way so that you finish every single day with a feeling of fulfillment, completeness, happiness and satisfaction.
The current post is the last one of a series of articles explaining how personal development can transform your life. If you have not yet read my previous articles, I would suggest that you first read what personal development is, find out what really matters in your life by discovering your vision and set the goals that will allow you to live your vision every single day.
From goal to action
If you have followed the recommendations of the previous articles, you should now have on paper -or in electronic format- a set of short term goals ready to be materialized.
I am going to use an example to illustrate the process. According to the example, you have decided to apply personal development in your life and part of your vision is to follow a healthy lifestyle by making sports part of you daily routine.
To implement that need you have defined a clear goal:
“I want until 30th September to participate to a half-marathon race so that I improve my endurance”.
That goal -which has been created using the SMART methodology.- is:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Realistic
- Time based
It is really important that your goal is well defined with all those 5 characteristics in order to be easier to be tracked, monitored and achieved.
How can this statement be transformed into action? How can you make sure that by the end of September you will be passing the finish line of a half-marathon race?
You only need two steps.
- Step one: Identify what actions you need to take.
- Step two: Identify when to take those actions.
Step One “The what”
You might have to go back to the mind-mapping technique in order to find out about all those actions you have to take to achieve that goal. For example some of the actions that you may come up with, are the following:
- Find a training plan that will allow you to be physically fit to run a half marathon
- Download a training app
- Schedule 3 running sessions per week
- Schedule 2 free weight sessions per week
- Allow one day of rest during the week
- Read about training equipment
- Buy a good pair of shoes
- Hire a trainer to give you guidance
- Find an accountability partner
- Announce to friends or relatives that you have the goal of running a half-marathon
- Setup an appointment with the doctor to verify that there is not any health risk for you to participate to the race
- Check out for upcoming half-marathon events that you want to participate
- Register to the half marathon race
Step Two – “The When”
The first step is not sufficient to implement your goal. You need to specify exactly when those actions will be done.
Now is the time to take your agenda and put down on specific days and hours all those actions that you have specified.
I prefer setting up my plan working on monthly calendars where each Sunday I might make some small adjustments to the remaining plan of the month. That keeps me focused to the short-term actions necessary to reach my goals and gives me the ability to be agile and flexible if some of my tasks change.
Using the example above, my monthly plan will look like that:
Another version of my plan can be the following:
There is no right or wrong way of keeping a calendar. The two calendars above are just an example to give you an idea. You can create your own calendar using a sheet of paper or build your own excel worksheet. Of course, there are tons of online tools to register your tasks and keep track of the progress.
I personally use Trello which I highly recommend.
Conclusion
Having gone through all four articles of that personal development series, you should now be able to:
- understand what personal development is
- how to find your vision in life
- how to define goals
- how to setup daily, weekly or monthly tasks that will put your goals in motion
Preparing this plan is just half of the story. The other half is to execute your plan and this requires strong character that will keep you motivated even during the dark days that your energy levels will be really low.
Building a strong character means cultivating certain assets like determination, focus and self discipline.
There are many methods and tools you can use to keep you mentally and psychologically fit in order to pursue your dreams.
Some of the weapons in your arsenal that will keep you on track are the following:
- Meditation
- Affirmations
- Visualization
- Exercise
- Reading
- Journaling
- Nutrition
- Sleep
- Socializing
- etc.
I will touch all those assets in the future so stay tuned.
Do not lose time, start now, make the plan of your own life and put your vision and goals in motion. Good luck!