8 Most Important Steps in Your Roadmap to Achieve Your Dreams
Out of all the species in the World humans are the only ones who have the unique capacity to imagine beyond the present — let`s use it wisely. An architect creates a building at first in his or her head and then sketches it to the paper. Unpredictable changes in the project are made on the way when the builders are already building the constructions. There are always smaller or bigger mistakes in the project and it will not be perfect, but it is good enough to get needed results.
In the same way, we achieve our dreams. We have to create the vision of the result and plan in our head, sketch it on paper and then take action. The goal for this blog article is to help you prepare your sketch or roadmap with 8 most important steps so you could start taking actions and achieve your goals.
To make it even more efficient you can find a free printable “AddGoals roadmap to your dream” PDF template HERE.
Here are the steps:
1. Dream Big
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Let your imagination fly without any limits. Imagine who you want to be or what kind of future you want to have now, in five years and in ten years. Think about all the different areas in your life (e.g. health/fitness/energy, emotional state/life purpose, social relations/love, work/career, finance/wealth, personal growth/studies, contribution, spirituality, recreation/fun).
It is important to think what YOU want; not society, parents, friends, girlfriend, dog or others. Also don’t be afraid to go deeper and see what is behind your dream by asking yourself “Why do I want this?”. Sometimes our dream is only a middle-step.
For example one might say “I want to finish my master thesis” because “I want to get a good job” because “I want to have a good salary” because “I want to travel to warm places” because “I love sun, warm weather, beaches and surfing”. You should focus more on that last REAL dream that makes you really happy and brings joy to your life because that is what will keep you going.
„The right direction in life is determined by choice, not change. If you are going to pedal like crazy, make sure you are going in the right direction“ — Tom Ziglar
2. Understand Why You Want This
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Why MUST you reach your dream? What awesome pleasure will you experience once you achieve it? Or what kind of unbearable pain will it cause if you don`t make it?
Often the pain can be even more effective than pleasure and you can make it even more powerful by exaggerating. Someone else, for example a child, can be much bigger “why” than you yourself. These points are like the fuel that you need for going on when you run low of motivation.
“If you really want to do something, you`ll find a way; If you don`t, you`ll find an excuse.” — Jim Rohn
3. Create Master Goal
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In order to have a clear direction where to go, you need to turn your dream into a SMART goal.
Specific: State exactly what you want to accomplish. Keep it clear and simple.
Measurable: How will you track the progress, measure the outcome and know when it is achieved?
If possible, then numbers are always good indicators and easy to measure.
Achievable: Everything you believe is possible.
Relevant: Is the goal worthwhile and is it aligned with your needs, motivators, core values, other goals and what you like generally?
Timely: Even if you are not very sure still set a deadline or time limit for your goal.
And don’t forget to write your master goals in present tense and in positive manner.
For example: “In 2020.01.01 my monthly passive income is 5,000€.”
“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible” — Tony Robbins
4. Evaluate Present Situation
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Compare your current situation with your master goal. What is your starting point? It is important to evaluate it as it REALLY is — not better and certainly not worse. If you see it worse than it really is, then you make it mentally more difficult for yourself to start. Write out different metrics that you can compare with your master goal. For example based on the previous example you can think what is your current passive income, how much you earn and spend.
“Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement.
If you can`t measure something, you can`t understand it.
If you can`t understand it, you can`t control it.
If you can`t control it, you can`t improve it.” — H. James Harrington
5. Set Milestones
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Good job! Now you have a clear understanding of your starting position and end destination. Next step is to set time-bounded subgoals and milestones
. Here you should think of some specific actions that you need to take in order to be able reach to your master goal.
For example “Take a course — how to invest in stocks or real investment”. Or just divide the path to shorter distances like “Earn 250€ passive income”, “Earn 500€ passive income”, and so on….
Milestones are very important and useful because:
• It is much easier to accomplish smaller subgoals than one big master goal.
• This helps you check from time to time if you are going to right direction and do some corrections on the way if needed.
• This helps you check if you are still in schedule time wise — ruthless deadlines don`t let you get passive and keep you constantly moving.
• It is hard to go for years towards something without any accomplishments and success. You need to celebrate your small victories and reward yourself to boost your motivation.
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
6. Establish Habits
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There is no magical action that will take you quickly to your destination. This is where habits come into the picture because they are effective in the long run. A habit is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur unconsciously. Don`t take more than 2–3 small habits at once. Every habit has to have a trigger/reminder (e.g. wake up in the morning), action/routine (e.g. run 20–30 min) and celebration/reward (e.g. a small victory dance).
Experiments show that you need to practice a routine daily for two months before it becomes a habit. Make sure to book time in your calendar for your habits. There will be some traps and obstacles on the way — try to predict and avoid them beforehand.
“Motivation is what gets you started, habit is what keeps you going.” — Jim Rohn
7. Find Resources
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Now you are ready to go, but in order to become even more effective you should think what you already have and what you need that can help you on the way.
• People — team, supporting friends, mentor, coach, accountability partner etc.
• Knowledge — books, courses, proven models etc.
• Skills — practice something
• Tools — vision board, platform to manage goals, mobile apps, calendars, systems, equipment, reminders,
bets or challenges with friends.
“Man is a tool-using animal. Without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all.” — Thomas Carlyle
8. Create Commitment
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Commitment is needed in order to achieve a goal. Create a real contract. Write down today`s date, your promise (e.g. keep going through everything until you will make it) and add your signature. To make the commitment even stronger and show your dedication, share your goal
with other people.
This way you show everybody (also to yourself) that you are serious and certain about achieving your goal.
There may be people who can help you, but if they don`t know about your goal then they can’t offer their help. By telling as many people as possible about your goal you will create social pressure that won’t let you quite so easily. Nobody wants to be a failure in the eyes of friends.
With commitment write down the date when you will take the first actual steps towards your goal. The best day to do it is today. You will never get your plan perfect. Going through these steps is good enough to start your journey.
“You never fail until you stop trying.” — Albert Einstein
Choose a dream that makes you feel alive, but even more important is to choose the path that you will enjoy, because happiness is not a destination, it is a way of life.
Originally published at addgoals.com.
