Planning allows you to break your goals up into manageable steps so that you can see your progress towards your goal. Having a good list of steps to get from where you are now through to where you want to be, allows you to mark off each little success and keeps you motivated. Having a plan is the basis of all personal and business effectiveness programs.

Make sure your plan is as detailed as possible, because it will steer your efforts in the right direction. Do not be afraid to change your plan if you obtain new information that changes your course.

There are so many different ways to plan, and everyone has their preferred method. I have noticed, however, that
plans where a large goal has been reduced into smaller sub-goals tend to be the most effective for generating success.

When setting sub-goals, it is often easier to work backwards from the achievement of the large goal. You can ask yourself the question ‘What would I need to do immediately before that happens?’ for each sub-goal. For example, if you have a goal to settle on a property in two months time, you might work backwards and determine that you need a conveyancer to transfer the money and the title, you need to secure finance for the property, you need to resolve any subject-to clauses in the contract, you need to have a contract accepted by both parties, and you need to find the right house for the right price. Once you know what all the steps are, you can work on resolving any potential obstacles such as finance approval earlier.

How to get the right plan

1. Ask people who have done it already. They will not only know what to do, but also all the tips for doing it better, faster, and without all the pitfalls that they might have experienced (or narrowly avoided) doing it the first time around.
2. Purchase a book, manual, software etc. that outlines the steps you need to take.
3. Work backwards from the achievement of the goal. Visualise yourself having achieved the goal, and ask ‘What
   did I do immediately before that? And immediately before that?’ Continue this way until you arrive in the present.

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