For some of us, our dreams are what keep us going every day. However, it can become frustrating when all you have are your dreams. To be happier and more successful, we need to turn some of our dreams into reality. Sounds good, but how does one make that happen? Well, if you plan it, it will happen!
Here are four easy steps for planning your success:
- Turn your dreams into goals
- Create business/job goals
- Align your personal and business/job goals
- Create your plan for success
First, start by turning your dreams into personal goals. Visualize what you want to have, feel and experience in life and then create a set of SMART goals.
SMART goals are:
– Specific – What do you want to accomplish? Why is this important to you? How are is you going to reach this goal? Who, other than you, is involved?
– Measurable – If you can’t measure it, you will never know if you’ve accomplished it. Establish criteria for determining how you are progressing towards reaching each goal you set.
– Attainable – Make sure the goals you set are within your reach. When they are, you develop the attitudes, abilities, and skills required to reach them.
– Realistic – Set goals you believe you will accomplish and can figure out how to make happen. These goals are doable!
– Timely – When do you expect the goals to become a reality – next week, next month? Set a timeframe giving you a target to work towards and create a sense of urgency.
Now you’re ready for Step 2, creating your business or job goals. If you own your own business, you need to determine:
- What you want from your business:
a. Revenue
- Image
c. Leads
- Why you started your business
- Where you see your business in five years
If you’re working for someone, your goals should be based on:
- What you want from your job:
a. Money
- Success
c. Recognition
- Why you are working
- Where you want to be in five years
These questions are just a starting point. No one knows, better than you, about your business or why you are working. Answer these questions to formulate your goals and remember to make them SMART goals.
The third step is to evaluate your personal and business/job goals and makes sure they are aligned. Make certain both sets of goals match and can be achieved. If not, you won’t accomplish either set of goals and both your business and personal life will suffer. If necessary, you need to determine how to modify your goals so that your business and personal lives complement each other. You might have to change jobs or make changes to your business in order to reach your personal goals. If your goals aren’t aligned and you don’t make any adjustments, you will be unhappy at work. This will carry over to your personal life.
Once you’ve aligned both sets of goals you are ready for the fourth and final step, creating your plan for success. This is where you make your job or business work for you. Put a plan in place to ensure that your goals become reality. You do this by developing a set of objectives to accomplish each goal. This becomes your blueprint for success.
If you plan it, it will happen. A documented plan will eliminate many headaches. You get headaches when something you diddon’t plan for occurs during the workday, causing you to spend the entire trip home reorganizing the plan you have in your head. Having a documented plan enables you to look over your goals, objectives and strategies and, using a pen or pencil, make minor changes that account for the unplanned occurrence. This is much simpler and less painful than trying to reorganize the plan that exists in your head.
Success isn’t something that will come knocking on your door. Only you can make it happen. You need to turn your dreams into SMART personal and business goals, align your goals and create your plan for success.
We all have a need to dream, but you need to do more than dream to become truly successful.
A Need to Dream
When an artist begins to paint a scene
Or like a movie theatre with an empty screen…
Is that how our lives would really seem
If we weren’t allowed to dream?
For what is life without some fantasy
Like being lost, alone on a ship at sea?
Living each day with the same routine
If we weren’t allowed to dream.
A dream so vivid as to almost be real,
You want to reach out and feel
What it is you’ve wanted year after year…
Kept from reaching because of your fear.
The fear of failure we all happen upon
When the crown of logic is what we do.
Satisfaction in merely accomplishing the mean
If we weren’t allowed to dream.
Become that artist and paint that scene.
Fill the movie theatre with a life serene.
Reach way out for that elusive beam.
It will happen when you do more than dream!
Goal Setting – Set SMART Goals And Turn Your Dreams Into Reality
If you’ve got a dream you want to turn into a reality, set some SMART goals.
Goals is a powerful vehicle to get you from where you are to where you want to be. They become your route map and help you to move towards your destination.
Achieving your dreams depends on setting goals and achieving them. A clearly defined goal that you can see in your mind’s eye helps to provide the motivation you need to do what you need to do.
To be effective your goals need to be Specific.
You need to know exactly where you’re going.
How will you know when you have reached your goal?
Identify specific markers along the way so that you can see your progress.
When you measure your progress it helps you to stay on track. Decide how you will measure your progress and how often you’ll monitor to make sure that you’re still on track.
Achievable
You can achieve most goals when you plan well and give yourself a realistic timeframe. Set yourself goals that will stretch you and take you out of your comfort zone. Don’t set the bar so high that you set yourself up for failure. Your goal needs to be motivating not intimidating.
Realistic
By realistic, I mean set a goal that you’re both willing and able to work towards. Make sure that your goal takes into account where you are now. Beware of setting goals without appreciating the obstacles or understanding how many skills you need to master on the way. Don’t let other people set unrealistic goals for you.
Time Specific
A goal is only a dream if it doesn’t have a deadline. If you don’t have a deadline, you’re unlikely to make your dream a reality. Be specific – by the end of next week, by 30th May. If you don’t set yourself a deadline, your commitment will be vague and you’re less likely to reach your goal.
