We often hear the old saying that Failing to Plan is planning to Fail. Planning is indeed critical if we are to achieve what we truly want in our lives. For me there are a number of stages to creating a Plan:

The Vision

What I quite often refer to as the “Mountain Top View.” Imagine that you are stood on top of a mountain and as you look around you everything you want in your life, in say five years time, is in place. Five years is probably as far as you should go and more often people feel more comfortable thinking about three years in the future. So as you look around you what do you see? Now don’t go putting barriers in the way because remember you have achieved what you wanted to achieve, you have climbed the mountain! Everything from where you are stood now is what you wanted to be able to see.

Now for me in five years time we will have stopped working in someone else’s box/business. We will instead be working in our own business, which will be based online, but have lots of real contact with people. We will be earning sufficient to maintain our lifestyle living in a wing of a large old Country House (of which there is a picture sat beside my computer monitor.) We will also be earning sufficient to keep us in the style we want to live long into the future when we move to live in Italy.

When I have worked with others in the past and when you are doing this part for yourself you should be able to say what colour Front Door your house or apartment will have etc in other words really paint the picture that you can see from the top of the mountain.

Boulder Avoidance.

This is where you look back down the mountain and try to spot the boulders you have overcome on your way to the top of the mountain. What were they? Were there some big boulders and some little ones? Make sure that you have a clear view of the things that tried to stop you getting to the top of the mountain so that when you sit down and work out your objectives over the medium and short term you know what you have got to overcome.

Now to give you an example probably the biggest boulder in our way at the moment is generating the income from our online activities and knowing which of the activities will generate what we need and which will not contribute to what we want to achieve. So here we are starting to think about where we need to focus our activities and are asking questions. Are there online activities which are taking up a large percentage of our time but contributing little to what we want to achieve?

It may be that there are some that you want to continue to take up a large amount of time without them contributing. However, you need to consciously be aware of that rather than bemoaning the fact that you are not achieving what you say you want to. If you are serious about running an online business and want to move full time online your mindset needs to change from “hobby” to “business”.

Now I will turn to the specifics of creating your Plan. The two elements I have mentioned so far are the parts which people normally miss out. However, they are critical if the detailed part of your planning is to have a context and an aim.

Detailed Planning

In terms of the detail of the Plan you create it needs to have a focus on the Vision and be constructed in the Long Term (9 months plus), Medium Term (1 to 3 months) and the Short Term ( the next month).
You need to have a very clear focus on what you want to achieve in those time frames. In order to do that I work with SMART Objectives:

Specific - what exactly do I want to achieve?

Measurable - what numbers or other measurable element do I want?

Achievable - is what I am proposing achievable? Relevant - is what I am proposing to do relevant to enabling me to achieve my Vision?

Time bound - so I will achieve by xx/xx/06

SMART has always worked for me and if you combine it with PDR (Plan, Do and then Review) it’s a surefire way of focusing you on what you need to achieve.

I will finish by simply saying that you should always keep asking yourself “have I done today what I planned to do and has it contributed to achieving my Vision?”

Paul Duxbury is a successful online entrepreneur with many successful websites. Some of the latest to launch include http://www.fulfilling-your-dreams.com and http://www.sort-your-finances.com

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I love watermelon but don’t care for the seeds. How often have you said something similar about different aspects of your life? Are you letting the small seeds of irritation keep you from enjoying the fruit of your dreams and goals?

For example, you might have said or thought something like this, “I love John’s great business ideas but don’t care for his delays in returning my telephone calls.” Will you let John’s habit of procrastination keep you from a juicy thought that may further propel you toward the fulfillment of your dreams and goals? What if you learned to spit out the seeds and focus on the fruit of that relationship?

Or, perhaps your thoughts might have been put this way, “I like the results from exercise but I don’t care for the time commitment.” Will you let your internal voice put more weight on the seed of your time rather than the fruit of your labor?

In your thoughts and speech today, listen for “but” phrase that often identifies the seeds of irritation that stop you from enjoying the fulfillment of your dreams and goals. Instead of focusing on those small irritations, spit out the seeds. Then, concentrate on the benefits of the relationship or action.

Come on now, eject those seeds of irritation with a forceful PATOOEY and enjoy the juice of success dribbling down your chin.

http://www.achievefocus.com/blog/ A bit of background…I love helping people achieve focus to accomplish more in life. My passion is developing leaders of leaders. Through enhanced productivity, I’ll show you how to turn your goals into gold. Using a unique process, you’ll enjoy the kind of balanced life that others only dream.

Careful…you keep me talking and you’ll end up wanting what I have!

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You have a choice it would seem - you can float along on the river of the life, don’t worry about where it takes you and maybe disappear over a waterfall or go with the flow but steer your way towards your objective.

If you want a chance at achieving something you have to set goals. If you want to achieve your goals then there are a number of simple rules to follow.

Write them down! Only 5 % of the population writes down their goals! Take a wild guess whether they achieve them or not? If you don’t set goals then at the end of next year you will find your no further forward than you are now at the end of 2004! Writing down your goals involves imagining or visualizing them. Don’t write them on scraps of A4 paper and then throw them in the bin! Get a little notebook you can carry in your pocket and refer to on a regular basis. This sounds crazy but you need a kick up the **** on a regular basis and referring to your goals will do just that!

Make your goals detailed and specific, I want to live somewhere warm and nice is a bit vague even for the subconscious mind! Who, what where, why, when! If nothing else it’s pleasant and relaxing to visualize being in a situation where your dreams have come true.
Having problems actually coming up with a goal? Imagine if money was no object and you could spend your time just enjoying yourself? What would you do tomorrow, next week? Next month? Where? Who with? How long for? Etc

Write your Goals in the present tense, for example “I do not smoke and I feel great”. Sounds like mumbo jumbo but if you keep telling your brain that you are a certain way it finds a way to ensure that your reality actually matches your view of reality!

Re write your goalsset a time each day to read them, a time each week to revue them and re write re word them. No this is not a progress report to your self. If you haven’t achieved your goal do not spiral into depression wondering why it’s not happening. The very fact that you have written and re written your goals ensures your mind is focused and moving towards success.

Now stop thinking about doing something, get a small note book and write down what you want to achieve..let your imagination go wild..just write it down!

Robert Lee is the webmaster and owner of http://www.2minutes2.com where he writes and offers information and advice on the everyday use of Hypnosis, NLP and Speed Learning.

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