DO YOU WANT TO REACH YOUR GOALS?
MAKE A PLAN
You cannot reach Alaska just by wandering North. You need a map and a plan.”
Without a written plan years can slip past with no evident markers.
You can feel as though you have not accomplished anything when in reality, you have. You just don’t have any way of knowing if you have not kept track of your progress..
Give yourself this gift every year. Write down your Goals for the year. This is not a January first thing, this is a whenever you are ready thing.
WRITE YOUR PLAN BY HAND.
There is power in the simple act of writing down your goals, so I strongly encourage you to do it.
IF YOU CAN'T EVEN WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS, HOW WILL YOU EVER MAKE THEM REAL?
Once you have written down your goals, make a PLAN.
A PLAN is a statement of your goals with a list of steps to get there.
Your plan can be as simple as : "Take good photos of my best pot" or as complex as : "Get into my first Fine Craft Gallery".
Break down the big goal into single steps that build up to success.
Don’t defeat yourself by setting huge goals with impossible deadlines.
For instance … "getting into a Gallery" might start with that first goal of getting good images of your work.
If you finish reasonable goals early, you just make another plan.
Post this plan somewhere you will see it every day.
Have a fat marker nearby so you can cross out steps when done.
Of course the first goal is to make a plan, so that is one line you can stroke out immediately after you are done!
If you are presented with an opportunity or a task pull out your PLAN to make sure doing it will not drag you totally off track.
Very often you will be tempted to say Yes to something you cannot do or simply do not want to do. These Yesses can drag you down … not just time wise, but emotionally as well.
Saying NO is not a bad thing. Say it kindly and refer them to someone else who might just love the chance to do whatever it is.
Your plan helps you take care of you and your business first.