Part 1: Finding the road to somewhere
Achieving Goals by tochis, on Flickr
If you don’t know what you want out of life, chances are you aren’t going to come across it.
The first step to getting somewhere is having an idea of where that somewhere is. In other words, when you think of the future that lies ahead of you, think about what you want to happen in that future.
Most people look ahead and come up with answers like; have an interesting job, become financially independent, run my own business, live in a beautiful home by the sea, being able to travel, writing a book, being physically fit, etc., etc. Most people have several ideas about what they want in their future. Less specifically, what people want is the freedom to pick and choose what they want. They want opportunities, options and choices.
Some people when they aren’t sure what they want to do simply do nothing.
The first thing we need to do is set some goals so we don’t go wandering aimlessly through life. But we need to set useful goals that we can achieve. Saying we “want to travel the world,” is fine for us to know which direction we want to travel in first, but we need other smaller goals to get us there and we need to be flexible with our goals because life is always changing and we never know for sure what is going to happen in our future.
How do we plan for uncertainty?
We focus on putting ourselves in a position to have several opportunities available to us at any given time. Or like another old saying we make sure we’re ready to answer the door when opportunity knocks. The way we put ourselves in this optimal position is by acquiring as many credentials or assets as we possibly can. Some examples of these assets include good health, a good education, talents, skills, experiences, intelligence, motivation, persistence, your appearance, well-connected friends and family and good work habits to name few. The more assets we accumulate, the more doors will open for us.
Right now, take a moment to fill out the worksheet – Finding the Road to Somewhere – worksheet (this worksheet can also be found on the free printables page)
In the next section we will cover planning in detail.