There are a lot of people who have great ideas. From business to the arts to family life, you’ve seen dozens of great ideas that fail to come to fruition. Sometimes it’s a matter of poor planning, or no planning at all, and sometimes it’s a matter of omitting crucial steps. How do you produce results? Why do some people achieve their goals and others simply sit around and dream? We’ll spell it out for you.
1. Visualize the Goal Clearly
Map it out in all its particulars and have a clear understanding of its underpinnings. In other words, if you were inventing a car, it wouldn’t be enough to decide “I’d like to ride fast to distant places.” You’d have to get detailed, and before you could design how it’s built, you’d have to decide what you want.
For the car, for example, you’d have to decide, do I want room for passengers or just the driver? Open air or climate-controlled? Over land? Sea? Sky? Each answer actually leads you to a different invention: Car, motorcycle, boat, or biplane.
Whether you are starting a business or writing a thesis, the same principal applies: Visualize clearly where you intend to end up. For a business, you’d need to know who your customers are, what unique value your business brings, how you’ll get the word out, and where your profitability lies.
2. Plan Backwards
Most people plan what they’re going to do, then the next step, then the next. Somewhere around step four they realize they’re behind schedule or they’ve gone in the wrong direction entirely. Don’t make that mistake! Start with your clear image from step one and ask yourself: What has to be achieved one week before that? What has to be achieved one month before that? And then, from that visualization, go a week and a month back. And then a week and a month back again.
To complete my thesis by July 1, I need a first draft finished by June 21, which means I need all research completed by June 1, which means I need to identify all research goals by May 1, which means I need a completed outline by April 20.
Walk that process all the way back to the present day. Figure out what you need to do today, and do it.
3. Expect the Unexpected
If you’ve visualized clearly and planned backwards, and thoroughly, you’re ahead of 90% of people and will probably achieve your goal. But what stops people who’ve gotten this far?
Some people become so rigidly attached to their plans that they cannot stay loose when conditions change. Sometimes your research disproves your thesis. Sometimes a flood washes away the building you wanted to rent. Sometimes a competitor beats you to the market and your unique proposition is no longer unique.
Success depends both upon planning and upon not being overly attached to your plan.