Planning

You’ve got your goal clear in your mind and now how do you get there? If you’ve set yourself something stretching then you might feel overwhelmed by all that you’ve got to do. Does it feel impossible? Or can you only see lots of hard work and no play? Perhaps the road ahead is foggy and you’re only able to see 10 feet in front.

First, shrug off those uncomfortable feelings. Let’s turn your difficulties to your advantage. Use your inability to see the whole process into a tool to help you focus single-mindedly on what’s in front of you – even if that’s only 10 feet ahead. If you’re aiming to buy a house that is just beyond your current affordable means focus on ways of having more money to spend that is realistic. This could be by increasing your income, or by finding better ways to save your money, e.g. by changing utilities. By concentrating on the work you can do now you keep check with reality and take sensible positive action.

Do this at each stage, and you can increase your income in measurable ways enough to afford the dream home. If you can concentrate on the here and now, the goal you’re aiming for will come that much more easily. This is because you’re focussing your resources on doing what is practical in growing from where you are to a short distance ahead.

In Reiki we talk about the 5 Meiji princples. They start with the phrase, 'Just for today'. To make a big change it's even more important to focus on the here and now. Trying to build a bridge from the now to the end goal is unrealistic. Why do you think nobody finds the leprechaun’s gold at the end of the rainbow?

Be open to ideas and insights that come along as you’re focussing on the current stage. They’ll be inspiration to take you safely over the next 10 feet. Before you know it you will be seeing what you’ve aimed for.

In my experience, you can only sensibly plan for the coming few weeks. By that I mean putting precise details together of what you want to spend your time on. For the time after that, I sketch out where I think it’s going, get dates booked in my diary but don’t get hung up on the detail. This way I remain flexible to what I need to do in the future as new opportunities come up to help me achieve my goals.

So in summary, planning isn’t about knowing exactly how you’re going to get all the way to your goal. It’s about seeing the next step and having an outline about how the rest might go. Be open to developing your game plan as you travel the next 10 feet.

Next time we’ll discuss how to get over procrastination when working towards a goal.

Article Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2007