“But I thought setting goals was the right thing to do,” I can hear you thinking. And you’re right — my click-bait title is a bit misleading. Goals are okay, but a goal alone won’t help you much.
A goal is like the X on a treasure map. If you’re standing on the other side of the map, surrounded by trees with no compass, how quickly can you get to the X? Will you ever get there?
What you need is a plan.
A plan is like having arrows on the ground for you to follow, and you deciding you’ll follow the arrows for 2 hours, then rest for 10 minutes, and repeat until you get there. That’s a plan.
A goal without a plan is like a ship without a rudder. Click To TweetFor a cheer example, don’t just set a goal of “Get my full by Sept. 1” Instead, say “Get my full by Sept. 1 by attempting 20 fulls at every practice and open gym, and doing 5 minutes of full visualizations every night when I go to bed.”
Here are a few other examples, with the goal in red and the plan in bold green:
Get my rewind by staying after every practice with my stunt group to do 15 rewinds.
Lose 10 pounds by eliminating cookies, chips, and sugary drinks. (I love chocolate chip cookies. I’ve tried giving them up. Might be impossible.)
Get an A on my science test by studying the material from 8:15-9pm every night until the test.
That’s it! Pretty simple, huh? Of course, the tough part is following through with the plan, but that’s a topic for another post. 🙂 For now, just remember:
Don't just set a goal. Always make a plan for how you'll achieve it. Click To Tweet
Having a plan is often the difference between meeting your goal or falling short.
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