Are You Over-Planning? It's Time to Accomplish Your Goals.

Any well-executed project starts with a good plan.

Many people want to go back to school, start a business, or maybe even retire early. Spending time mapping out a solid plan will definitely help you reach all of those goals.

But what happens when you spend too much time planning?

Is It Possible To Overplan?

Yes! Definite Yes.

I have a friend who wants to some day own his own physical therapy clinic. He listens to podcasts about how to start a business, how to grow your own physical therapy company, and how to get clients. EVERYDAY, he visualizes his big goal and how he will make it happen.

He spends SO much of his time looking through programs, and analyzing the costs and benefits of each program. He is certain of what his passion is and has clear goals in mind.

There's just one problem……. He’s been researching “next steps” for 3 years.

He has spent more time planning out his future than he has actually acting on his plan to get there.

He doesn't have the credentials to be a licensed physical therapist. He hasn't gotten his doctorate (which you must have in order to be legit). He hasn't even started studying for his GRE (a test required to get into many of the best physical therapy doctorate programs).

But... I Want To Be SUPER Prepared To Succeed!

While planning is the first step of any successful project or goal, it can also be the part that many people fail.

It is easy to convince yourself that you’re making steps forward because you are planning towards your goal, but you also have to set time aside to actually make things happen.

Planning is nothing without execution.

Also, all the planning in the world won’t prepare you for everything you encounter once you actually get started. (Just ask any women who’s been pregnant. Birthing plan? Ha!)

Most of the time, you have to get started on the path towards your goal and just start learning as you go.

How Do You Know It’s Time To Start?

YOU’RE RESEARCHING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER

How many times do you have to google “how to get started” before you get started? If you’ve googled this a few times, it may be time to quit researching and start doing.

YOU KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT A SUBJECT YOU CAN EXPLAIN IT TO SOMEONE ELSE

Have you ever met someone who knows literally everything about real estate but they’ve never bought their first home? If you are that person, than you need to start walking the walk. Consistent action will get you so much further than endless planning.

YOU CLEARLY KNOW THE FIRST STEP

All you really need in order to start….. is the first step. If you’re writing a book, pick up a pen. If you’re going back to school for your Master’s, apply to a program. If you want to get a new job, revamp that resume! If you want to start eating healthier, make a meal plan for the week. If you want to start working out, block off some time on your calendar to take a class.

Once you know what the first step on the path is to reach your goal, you have enough information to take a tiny step. Steps will soon turn into miles.

YOU’VE MOVED YOUR END DATE MORE THAN ONCE

Next year, I’m really going to start that meal plan. Like, for real this time.

The only way to really fail is not to even start. Take a chance on yourself and start that big goal. Your dreams are in good hands….. the best hands even - yours.

xoxo

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

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This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

5 Ways Ordinary People Can Start Achieving Extraordinary Results

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

GOALS.

I’ve always had a problem with “SMART” goals. The concept just seemed too easy, too unfinished. Like… I set a goal, but what’s next? There are millions of people who set goals every year that do not finish them. I’m sure their goals are smart.

But why aren’t they finishing?

Goals are not really the end of the journey. They’re just the destination. Once you figure out your destination, you have to figure out:

• What you budget is for the trip

• When you’ll make time in your schedule to take this trip.

• Whether you’re going to get there by bus, train or plane.

• Who is going with you

• How long it will take

• And as you go, you’ll likely be checking your progress with Google Maps the entire trip (Am I right?)

To truly start accomplishing your goals, you must think about the end goal as a destination. And then begin the journey, step by step, to get from where you are now to where you want to be in your life.

My Destination

I started paying off my student loan debt three years ago. I had $42,000 of total debt from my undergraduate and graduate degrees. Finally, I got my first “real job” and couldn’t even enjoy my income because I felt crushed by my student loan debt.

Related Content: How to Guarantee Grad School is Worth your Time and Money

I felt #defeated, every time I made my minimum payment and it wasn’t even enough to cover the interest on my loan. (Facepalm).

That's when I decided that I had to start aggressively paying off my student loan debt. I set the SMART goal first, but then I also had to use every tool in the goal setting garage, not just toolbox, in order to make this big dream a #reality.

Here’s how you really build the habits to accomplish your largest goals:

Start with setting measurable goals.

This means setting your goal in way that you can measure whether or not you’ve achieved it. Make sure you have an exact number associated with your goal and a date you want to complete it by.

For example, here are two ways you can set a goal to tackle your debt:

Example #1: "I'll pay off $42K of student loan debt by December 31st of this year."

Example #2:  "Take control of my debt."

The first example outlines exactly how much you want to pay and when you want to complete it.

In the second example, you're setting a vague goal that's difficult to track. How do you know when you’ve taken control of your debt? Is it when you’ve started making the minimum payments? Is it when you’re doubling the minimum? Is it when you’ve deferred that payment again to tackle your other priorities?

If you haven’t set a CLEAR goal in the beginning, it’ll be impossible to measure your success.

Set Milestones for your goals.

Since I knew I wanted to pay off $37K in my first year, I set a monthly number that I would have to pay in order to reach that goal.

$37K/12 months = $3K per month

Once I knew how much I needed to reach my goal, it was really easy to look at my budget and plan how I could make it happen. Also, I could easily track whether I was on track to reach my goal on a monthly basis.

Use a goal tracker.

I am a VERY visual person so I like to see things on paper. When you're working towards a long term goal, (like paying off a ton of debt) it can get boring and you almost start to wonder if you're actually making any progress.

I created a chart where I could color in one square for every $1000 of debt I paid off. If you like to track electronically, there are lots of good apps where you can track your progress on your phone.

Slowly, but surely, I started to fill my chart with colorful boxes. I hung it on the wall so I could see how much progress I had made and how much I still had left.

Use an accountability partner.

I had a friend that I'd call monthly to make sure I was paying my debt off in a timely manner.

We'd have a 30 minute call once a month and talk about how much debt we'd paid off, how much we had left and what the next steps would be. This helped me build the habit and keep the habit of paying off my debt, right from the beginning.

A Note on Habits

All of these goal-crushing tools help you build the right habits so that you can take the right actions every day. Your goals are the result of taking the right actions over and over again until you reach your destination.

If you can master your habits, you can reach any goal you want.

It hasn't been a short journey, but I've made great progress toward this goal over the last two years. And by the end of this year, I’m proud to be able to say I’m student loan debt free!

What will your next SMART goal be?

 

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

---

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!