The Power of a Plan

I helped my wife rediscover the other day what I like to call the Power of a Plan. We have all heard and read tons of things about the power of goal-setting ... even from me. But most advocates of goal-setting don't mention the essential element of success of planning and those who listen to them wonder why they fail to reach their goals time and time again.

My wife was wondering this just the other day. She had committed to some pretty big goals in her Mary Kay business over the past year. My wife accomplished some amazing things, but when she did accomplish the specific major goals she had set it was often through major stress and struggle right up to the deadline or she would miss the deadline all together and have to start all over. She eventually noticed that each time she accepted a major goal commitment, there was almost always an immediate period of demotivation and inactivity.

Why was this happening? She loved what she was doing and she wanted the results these goals would bring, but for some odd reason she just had a hard time wanting to keep working whenever she had these major goals in place. She finally admitted that she felt overwhelmed right from the get-go. She would mentally convince herself, sometimes consciously and sometimes subconsciously, that it was just to far to get from where she was to where she wanted to be and that she just wouldn't make it. And if she wasn't going to succeed, why bother trying?

Since she was struggling through a slow period at the time, we sat down Sunday night and I asked her for a sales goal to reach by the end of the current quarter. I took that goal and divided it by how many weeks were left. When I showed that number to her and asked her if it was possible to reach that amount each week. She was shocked when she looked at it because it was below her working sales average and she was confident that she could easily sell that amount each week. I took a sheet of paper and asked her to write down what she would need to do this week to sell that amount and to set up the next week for success as well. After she wrote it out, I asked her what part of that she would do on Monday, then Tuesday, and so on. She now had a plan!

What was really neat about the whole process was watching her frustrations disolve away and see them be replaced with excitement and optimism. Rather than dreading the coming week and all she had to do, I could tell she was actually looking forward to the coming morning and the activities she had planned for the coming day. She was no longer staring at the huge chasm and wondering how she would be able to jump it. She was now looking at the stepping stones that lay before her and seeing that it was only a short hop to each one. It was great! Her Director in Mary Kay had outlined plans like this for her in the past, but it was the first time that we had sat down to do it as a couple and make a plan that truly fit our situation, our needs and our goals. We even went on to talk about weight-loss goals and home organization goals that had been overwhelming her and how she can accomplish them as well.

No matter what it is that you want to accomplish in life, you need to set a goal to achieve it and then back it up with an actionable plan to get you there. Whatever you are going for, how much do you need to improve each month, each week, and each day? What do you need to do to make those improvements? Write them down and take action on the very first one and you will be well ahead of 97% of those who dream of something better! Do it now!