Saturday, September 4, 2010

Your Road Map To Success

Kick-Off Blog -- Your Road Map For Success

I want to welcome everyone to my kick-off Blog. In thinking about 'firsts' I thought we might as well take a look at the first step in succeeding in business which starts with laying a firm foundation. 

A foundation’s strength lies in its owner identifying goals. I call this “Your Road Map For Success”. Your goals must be clear and supported by your actions. You must attach a timeframe for completion. Think of how you plan a road trip in the car. You identify the places you are going and then you decide how to get there and when you want to arrive there. Along the way, there might be some road blocks so you have to figure out how to get around them. (of course, GPS does help….).

So how do you design your Road Map?  Where do you start? Right Here, Right Now. Here are some easy steps to identifying and realizing your goals.
  1. Make sure you have the necessary materials:  paper of some sort….a notebook, index cards, etc. and pens. (Forget the pencils and erasers….you are to spend your time writing, not trying to be perfect.) (I love using larger artists pads so that I can draw circles, connect one thought to another, etc.) 
  2. Give yourself enough time. Schedule time for this exercise. It is integral to your business plan and your life plan. Do not rush it.
  3. Go away from your normal working/living space. If possible, a park or somewhere outside is best. Make sure it is a quiet place where you will not be disturbed (ie, Starbucks is not the answer.)
  4. Decide on your focused categories (Business, Personal, Family, Financial, Health, etc.)  To start, I suggest you choose three categories at the most, and if you want to focus on just business now, that is fine. 
  5. Write down up to 3 Attainable Goals in each category. (Remember this is just a starting point. You can always go back later and add in different aspects of your life. The idea is to start to get a better understanding of a few main goals and how you can achieve them.)
  6. Now Put A Timeframe on each goal (short term/immediate, 2-3 months, 6 mos. to 1 year).
  7. Write down 3 Challenges to Achieving each Goal. (They can be as real or imaginary as you want.)
  8. Now, write down one way of overcoming each of the challenges. (Can you see where this is going?)
  9. Now take a minute to see the initial Road Map to your Goals (This is your starting point.)


Pat yourself on the back as you now have a solid start.
You know where you want to go (for now). 
You know what might get in your way; and 
You have pushed aside those challenges and replaced them with positive steps to take to reach your desired results.

Now, there will be more to laying this solid foundation. Tomorrow, you can start your Time Map Calendar (a fun jigsaw puzzle!). Your journey down the road is going to be fun and rewarding! 

Here’s to your many successes!

Randi Hutton is a business coach and professional organizer. Please visit her website at www.therzconnection.com.

1 comment:

  1. Congratulations Randi!
    Thank you for launching your blog and sharing your much needed advice. I look forward to reading more posts like "Your Road Map For Success". Best wishes, Renee

    ReplyDelete