You know that idea your have had rattling around in your head, the nagging one. It’s something that you want do but don’t really know where to start. Let me help you, all you need is 15 minutes, a pen and a piece of paper and you are away. It is amazing what a difference it can make to clarify your path forward once you have had a little brain storming session.
Sit down somewhere quiet and undistracted. I find that having a coffee date with myself and my journal is a great way to get some thoughts on paper when my head is in a bit of a jumble.
Start in the centre of the page. Write down what it is you want to do. Scary part over, it’s out there now.
Now let’s make what you want to do more specific. For example ‘Go to uni and get a degree’ is pretty airy fairy compared to ’Start studying law part time at Adelaide Uni in 2014’.
Next consider whether that goal is achievable. Make some notes by asking yourself questions like, but not limited to:
- Do I currently have the time available to me to do this?
- How could I make the time to do this?
- Is it financially within my grasp within that time period?
- How will I come up with the money to do it?
- Am I physically capable of doing this?
- How would I prepare myself for the challenge?
- What things do I need to change to make this happen?
- Will I need someone to help me achieve this?
When you are thinking about whether your goal is achievable look for solutions within the questions you ask yourself rather than setting up roadblocks. Each of these hurdles can become a smaller goal in itself and will help to form the pathway to achieving the end result. If you centre your questions around the central idea of ‘How am I going to get there?’ then you will be mapping a pathway as you go.
Think about whether your goal is realistic. This is different to whether it is achievable. Here you are checking to make sure that there isn’t a showstopper. Unfortunately what is realistically achievable for one person in not necessarily realistic for the next and these things are often outside of our control. If there is something significant that stands in your way go back and redefine the end goal to reflect something that is realistically achievable. Things may change and your redefined endpoint may become a stepping stone on the patch to your larger goal.
Make sure you add a time frame to your goal. With my initial specific statement I gave a start point but not an endpoint. Adding a ‘by when’ clause will give you more scope to visualise yourself at that goal. Add milestones to your goal path, these will come from the questions you asked yourself about the goal being achievable. Make some notes in your diary relating to smaller milestones and the to do list you have probably generated.
Finally consider how you will measure yourself. Completing that law degree would be an obvious answer to my initial example but you might like to expand on that and add how you want to use that degree.
Dare to dream, it really is amazing what you can set in motion for yourself over a quiet cuppa.
Tatum xx
