10. |
Establish Milestones and Actions |
Now that you’ve written your compelling life vision and selected some goals you’d like to achieve in the next year, it’s time to establish milestones and develop an action plan for accomplishing them.
Read back over your list of goals and, for each, write one or two milestones you can use to measure your progress. For example, if your vision includes rising to the top of your company and your goal is to become a manager within the next one to two years, your ninety-day milestone may be to have completed your next-level certification. This becomes a kind of mini-goal you will reach on your way to your main objective.
If in your vision you’re the top salesperson in your company and one of your goals is to be number one in your district by the end of next year, your ninety-day milestone measurement might be to become number one in your region.
Once you have listed your ninety-day milestones for your goals, it’s time to add actions you can take in the next thirty days to move you toward your desires. For, as the Bible has it, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17).
Write a few steps you can take in the next month to move you closer to reaching your goals. For now, simply list whatever you can think of that you can do. From this list you will determine the weekly and daily actions and activities that are necessary to move you in the direction of your ideal life vision.
Include at least one thing you can do immediately to get you going. It is vital, when setting goals, to take an immediate action. This gives your subconscious mind a clear message that you are serious about this endeavor. Too many people make New Year’s resolutions or set weak goals and then do nothing after that. Obviously, they rarely accomplish what they set out to do. More often than not, these well-intentioned resolutions fall by the wayside by the time the champagne goes flat.
By attaching one or two small actions to your goals, you are establishing your intention to achieve them. As you will read in chapter 55, intention is a very powerful tool.
Don’t be concerned if you’re not sure exactly what you’ll need to do to reach your goals. Most likely you won’t know — if you did, you already would have achieved them. At this stage you just need to know what you want and why, and to start moving in the direction of your dreams. Simply keep your eye on your desire, seeing it as already fulfilled, and trust in God, Creator, Spirit, or whatever name you give to your Higher Power.
Reaching your goal will probably require some specialized knowledge, but it does not all need to come from you. Whatever you need to accomplish your goal is already here. You will attract the people with the skills and experience you require to achieve your outcome as you move toward your desire.
People who use some kind of formal goal setting know that once we start moving toward what we want, unexpected events occur and people show up in our lives and facilitate the successful achievement of our goals.
Before you complete the process of listing your actions, be sure to read the following chapter, about the difference between action and “inspired action.” That chapter alone can help you increase your results by leaps and bounds.