Image of Finish Line Goal

Goals may start in your mind but they’re driven by action and spirit.

If you don’t truly commit to an idea, a goal, or a purpose then you won’t see it materialize. What you need to do is persistently drive after your goals to conquer what you intend to accomplish.

When our BTAC founder, James, set out for a world record he had to plan ahead. When he officially launched Bounce To A Cure in 2010 he had to have goals to help frame up the how’s, when’s, and why’s of the project.

So how do you go about achieving your goals? What exactly do you need to stay on track? Here are 3 steps to mapping your goal from inception through completion…

1. Plan Ahead

“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” ~Alan Lakein

If you aren’t familiar with Alan Lakein, he authored How To Get Control of Your Time and Your Life; an incredible book that helps explain how to put first things first by smart planning. Lakein advised that you set “ABC” priorities for your goal by asking yourself the Lakein Question, “what is the best use of my time right now?”

For example, when James decided to pursue the world record for most consecutive pogo bounces he had to plan ahead and prioritize. His A-Priority items were:

selecting and purchasing the appropriate pogo stick
committing blocks of time daily to train for the Guinness record event
adjusting his sleep and dietary routines to support this feat of endurance

His B-Priorities would be items that should get done but could wait until after the main task. Examples include:

washing his car
going shopping
attending countless friendly gatherings and parties that were going on at the time

Finally, the C-Priority items are time-consuming and don’t warrant vast amounts of time:

forwarding emails of lolcats
surfing around on awesome Facebook or Twitter profiles and
writing that letter to grandma

It’s immensely helpful to write your plan on paper. Know what you want to accomplish, write down the variables you need to include or avoid, and track your progress by checking your list.

Once you have a plan framed up and know (at least roughly) where you want to go, you’ll need to get the ball rolling.

2. Take Action

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.” ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If you don’t commit to doing the project, then you’ll quickly find out Goethe was right. Willing to see the project completed doesn’t git ‘er done. Doing must follow planning.

Be ready to motivate yourself or ask a friend to check in on you to make sure you’re staying on task. Nowadays with our endless digital distractions, you may need to be creative about how you stay focused.

No matter how you feel throughout your goal achievement process, commit to taking even a minor productive step each day (or hour) toward attaining it.

3. Have Faith

“Faith is building on what you know is here so you can reach what you know is there.” ~Cullen Hightower

Having faith is the trickiest of the goal-achieving process. Now, we won’t get all spiritual or new-agey (is that a real term?) on you but we will say it’s an “inner game” sort of thing.

How can you keep the faith? Believe that the planning and decisions you made were the right ones and, because of that, you see yourself achieving your goals.

What if you think you’ll get distracted? What if the big game is TV or you start getting an itchy Tweeting finger?

Resist!

Disregard any forces that work against you when you’re pursuing your goal. Remember that once you get the task done; it’s done. You can go about “business as usual” after because you’ve earned it. Ahh…the sweet delight of a job well done.

Besides, why spend all the time planning and getting pumped up and started toward a goal only to let a few silly distractions destroy all your hard work?

Final Thoughts

Take control of your time and your life. If you plan your steps to achieving goals just remember that it doesn’t end there. By following up with action and having faith that you’re going to accomplish your goal you’ll greatly increase your chance for success.

You can see it in action with us at BTAC; we have faith that you’ll continue to support and help us touch lives 😉

Have you set any goals today?