Planning Your Route

A long way to go but I know where I'm going!

We all know that mixture of feelings we get when we reach a destination.

If the journey was extra tough or very long there is a sense of achievement when we finally make it to the end, but the feeling is often muted with a question of 'what next?'

Knowing that and knowing anywhere we aim for is unlikely to be our final destination, we could easily drift along with no plan at all. Except we often wouldn't get out of the door, let alone travel any distance, if we had no idea where we were going.

So, to motivate us to do anything, we need to have an end in mind. That can be literally a point on a map, or it can be a familiar route or known distance done in a certain time. A measurable goal like that is certainly easier to record and set against past and future achievements.

So now we have a goal and a way of measuring whether we achieve it.

Our bigger goal might be to get fit enough to take on a bigger challenge in the future, and that's measurable, too. If we have a date for that big challenge, we also have a time scale.

So now we have a big goal, a specific time to achieve it by and a smaller goal that's a step along the way.

And we have a route map (literally) to get us to that first goal, too.

Is this starting to sound familiar?

Our big goal is now specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timed. It's SMART. And smart goals get results.

Goal-setting. It seems to be a lot easier to set and attain a goal for a physical challenge than it is for a life achievement, but the principle's exactly the same.

Roy