Following Through on Your Plans

Plans are a necessary step on the road to achieving a goal. I often find I am in the habit of frequently changing my plans, or altogether abandoning them!

I believe it is fine to adjust your plans if new information becomes available that is relevant. For example, you may have a plan to save X amount of dollars per week, or fortnight - whatever the case may be. However, certain times of the year such as Christmas may mean that you wish to buy loved ones presents, and consequently it may be appropriate that not as much money goes towards savings.

I have abandoned goals before, both for good and not so great reasons. One of my more legitimate reasons was when I changed my mind about delivery pamphlets for money because I found out that having your own transportation, which I did not, was necessary.

However, here are some of my musings regarding things to keep in mind if you wish to successfully see a plan to the end.

1. Don't wait 'until you feel like it'. Many goals require hard work. Apart from valid reasons such as illness or fatigue, in which case we should listen to our bodies, working even when inherent motivation is not present may set you apart from your competitors, and give you an edge.

2. Keep focussed. Options Z and Y might occur to you on your path to achieving X. These tangents may be worthwhile to follow, but if these are merely distractions, try to keep in mind that you will achieve your goal more efficiently if you stay single-minded.

3. Unless your plans affect someone else you only need your own approval. I often wonder how many great ideas were nipped in the bud because people were worried about what others think. If you think it is a good idea, and you're not harming anyone, your own approbation is all you need.

4. Work with what information you have. When I have had university assignments it has often felt more comfortable until I had all the articles before I started writing down thoughts about what I had read. However, it turned out to be more efficient when I started with say, two articles, when the required ten were not available. This is because what I had started with gave me a headstart when more information just wasn't there. Also what I had done so far gave me a good feeling and helped with staying motivated for the rest of the assignment.

5. If you don't have experience, you soon will have. Don't let having not done something before necessarily stop you. When I started doing an exercise class called zumba, I was all hands and feet. However, I was glad I persisted with the awful feeling that I was the only one in the class who didn't know anything. I not only learned, but met new people.

Unless there are obvious and intuitive reasons you should deviate or refrain from a course of action, put in the hard yards, and you will eventually enjoy seeing your goals reach fruition.


#_plans
#_goals
#_motivation
#_effort
#_persistence
#_rewards
#_reinforcement
#_work

%selfavenue