do is plan in a vacuum. Have someone who is not emotionally invested in your vision help you write and review [your plan],” says Gadsden, who was also instructed to write a list of potential and core supporters that allowed the Wordshop to raise $75,000 the first year.
FROM WISH TO GOAL
Follow Gadsden’s pointers and you can carry your visionto the bank and not the grave.
Write the vision and make it plain:A vision can be grand and ambitious, but objectives and goals should be concrete, simple, and measurable.
Writing with tunnel vision can lead you off course:Identify and plan goals around obstacles that may be out of peripheral view.
Do not let your vision go stale: After you’ve written your goals, revisit them often to assess if they are pertinent to your present reality.
Do not let your vision go stale: After you’ve written your goals, revisit them often to assess if they are pertinent to your present reality.
DON’T JUST DREAM — PLAN
Lose weight. Earn a promotion. Learn a second language. Get out of debt. Few people would blame you for wanting to do any one of these things — or all of the above. The question is, are these true goals or mere wishes?
Most of us are familiar with the saying, “a goal without a plan is just a wish.” The ability to set and achieve goals — whether it’s the simple to-do list that gets you through the day or major objectives that will define your life — is the difference between success and failure, between mere busywork and truly worthwhile accomplishments.
Are you actively, even desperately, trying to achieve your goals or are you passively hoping for your dreams to come true? It’s a matter of commitment: Your goals must be so important to you that you are motivated to do whatever it takes to achieve them. The only person who can provide that commitment is you.
Putting goals down on paper is just one of the many techniques used by peak performers to transform dreams and wishes into reality. For more on the principles of goal-setting, read the following books:
Goal Setting 101: How To Set and Achieve a Goal by Gary Ryan Blair (Blair Publishing House; $7.95)
The Ten Commandments of Goal Setting: Violate Them At Your Own Risk by Gary Ryan Blair (The GoalsGuy; $7.95)
Motivation and Goal Setting: How to Set and Achieve Goals and Inspire Others by Jim Cairo (Career Press; $10.99)
There are also online resources to help you set and achieve your goals. For example, www.mygoals.com is a site dedicated to helping its members set and manage their goals in categories ranging from personal finance to family and relationships. Other online resources for goal-setters include www.topachievement.com and www.goal-setting-guide.com.
–Alfred A. Edmond Jr.