A plan to achieve your goals.

Have you ever felt like your doing what your are supposed to do but you don't seem to be getting anywhere?

Last week I was out shopping and I bumped into an old employee of mine 'Claire. She was one of those exceptional employees, priceless to a business, Claire added value to everything she touched she was one of the best budding managers I had the pleasure to develop.

We both had a few bags and decided to have a sit down a coffee and a catch-up. It had been almost 3 years since I last saw at a Claire.

She mentioned how she seemed to be standing still in her own life goals. Work seemed to be standing still. and she was unsure which direction to go and had a few options within the company. Her life outside of work seemed to be standing still almost waiting for something to happen.

So I pulled out a little pad that I had in my coat pocket which made us both burst into laughter. (As chance would have it I had written my shopping list on a page of one of my old little work note pads, the exact kind I used to buy all my employees to keep there to-do lists in!)

We went through an old exercise that make things a little clearer. at the end of coffee, Claire had a 2 new clear lists and a plan:

1. Her work achievements.
2. Her life achievements.

Claire wasn't standing still in life at all, she was merely too close to see what steps she had taken and achieved towards her end goals. Once we plotted the start to the end it was easy for Claire to see. She had actually taken some big steps that did need taking and actually milestones were reached.

I've found that making a simple list is great for helping me to plan for success. I take a single sheet of paper at the top of the sheet write my current status ... then the end of the sheet of paper the goal or result of that I want to achieve, then I can plot all the steps in the middle a lot easier.

Ticking off all the steps along the way makes me feel a whole lot happier too.