Extract:
Have you ever failed to go on holiday, planned it, booked it and then just procrastinated or sabotaged yourself? No, of course you haven’t. I’m willing to bet that, barring external events, you’ve hit your goal every time.
Why? How can you plan, organise and deliver a holiday to yourself but not hit lesser goals in your life? How is this possible?
What’s Different About Your Holiday?
You manage to get your holiday because you’re off duty (it’s not an official goal) and in this relaxed state you fall naturally into using the instinctive goal getting process that you were born with. It goes something like this:
- You get the holiday urge and kick this thought around with yourself and with others.
- You begin to imagine what it will be like. You keep doing this, with yourself and maybe with others. A clear (ish) picture emerges and you know what you want and begin looking forward to having it.
- A random series of ideas, suggestions, to do’s and things to prepare all come shooting into your head. Even when you are not expecting them. You find your thoughts return to your holiday in idle moments.
- Eventually you start sorting all this stuff out, putting it in a rough order, thinking about what needs doing first, what steps depend on each other – Must renew passport first because that takes six weeks. Travel agent wants final payment a month before we go etc.
- You start doing things about it – no longer thinking but acting. You check your progress.
- You hit the deadline – there you are at the airport with luggage and passport at the right time.
You do all of this without hesitation and without the help of a seminar, self-help book or coach.
Make Every Goal Like Your Holiday
To get more of your goals, make sure you are using this natural and intuitive process you were born with.
- Know what you want and why you want it – this might take some time.
- Imagine the final result and make sure that it’s something you actually look forward to having. Kick it around in your head and with others.
- Stand by for the rush of unstructured ideas, hints, to do’s, reminders etc as your mind leaps around the problem, connecting it all up and identifying loose ends. A good response to this is to capture everything without judgment (write it down).
- Sort your thoughts out, put them in order, work out what needs doing first and what things depend on each other.
- Act. Do something. Make the first call. Write the first note. Have the first meeting etc.
- As you act, keep going back to your imagination of the final result and making sure that you are on track. Adjust as necessary.
- Hit your deadline – right place, with the right stuff ready to enjoy the result.
Relax. You are good at this stuff. If you can get yourself on holiday then you already possess the skills to get anything you want. Imagine it. Collect ideas. Sort the ideas out. Act. And it’s yours.
(for more on the thinking behind this approach you might want to take a look at the work of David Allen on Getting Things Done)
