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Planning is crucial and can not be left out of a successful and a fulfilling life. Every below mentioned aspect of it is important and has an effect on the outcome.
For a long time I have not planned for desired outcomes and I was living based on my feelings and thoughts. This bleeds from a lot of different places. So solving this and planning upfront days, months, years or even multiple years can have a huge impact on your life. So do not forget this.
There will be times when you don’t have goals. That is completely viable and should not stress you. Try to find new challenges and work on your skills, so when the big thing comes, you will be prepared.
In this article I want to guide you through my process and thought process when it comes to planning a bigger goal or I want to learn something new.
Goals
For a long time, people were captivated by the concept of goals, believing they were the ultimate solution to achieving success. Many books and articles on personal development focus on goal-setting as a central theme.
From my experience having goals are great. But you have to keep in mind that goals are giving direction and should not become a dreaming session. I always heard that written goals are the key to success. In theory they might help, but from my experience the procedure for writing them down was always a dreaming session. You don’t want that.
That being said, let’s see what points and aspects of goal setting we should focus on. There is an acronym called SMART goals. SMART goals stand for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals. It describes very well how a goal should be set and most importantly, measured.
Specifying problems in details
Everybody in their lives wants to achieve more and have more of certain things. That can be money, status, knowledge, health etc. The thing is that most of the time those things are unmeasurable and cannot be explained in a single sentence.
For example: “I want to be healthy and fit.”
The problem with this is that it cannot be measured, you don’t really know what it means to be healthy, you don’t really know when that would happen. I am aware that I am speaking in general, and it might not always be the case, but I am sure you got the point.
To overcome this vagueness, we must make our goals specific and measurable so that we can track progress effectively.
The first thing when we are setting goals is that the goal should be very specific (S). Why, you might ask? I am sure that you faced earlier situations where you were really close to solving a problem, but something was missing. Then you asked the right question and it gave you some directions where to start the research. That is the reason why we need to be specific. Our brain works better if we know the right direction and we will find the right answers.
When you have a specific goal, you will be able to set some milestones or phases or even better a specific date. From my experience having milestones or phases with approximate dates is already a very big step towards achieving them. Milestones, phases, steps are measurable (M). You can see whether you achieved them or not. There are no maybes or uncertainties, only yeses or nos.
Time will pass by no matter what. By setting a date to your goals you will have an urge to work on your stuff. And that is a good thing, having something that constantly is whipping your back is great, you won’t forget it. You also reduce the time from dreaming and you will have motivation to work.
How would I describe a goal for myself? If I wanted to be more healthy there are quite a lot of measurable things. I measure health and fitness in my weight and stamina.
Goals of my would be: “Lose 10 kilos, while running 5km under 25 min”
Long term vision
People tend to underestimate what can be achieved over a decade and overestimate what is achievable in a year. That is our nature. When we accept that, we can value our time more and remove procrastination from our lives.
When planning for the future, it’s important to have a clear vision for where you see yourself in 10-20 years. The result of your vision should be the direction and motivation in the long run. Besides motivation it is handy to know your vision and the things that you value, it can help you to decide between the things you do every day.
A goal or a milestone in your life should be achievable (A) and realistic. That is the biggest difference between a dream and a goal/milestone. If you can believe what you imagined that would help a lot in achieving it.
Why am I saying vision is important? If you want to reach you next goal or milestone it is required to be a relevant (R) one. For the most cases you can see upfront the next steps, and if you overstep a critical goal in the meantime that would make the next one irrelevant, because you are not doing it step by step, thus messing up the whole process. For example, you want to get a degree and you still have some important classes to go, but you ignore it and you are working on your thesis. Makes no sense, you should focus on the next important step towards your goal. As Brian Tracy said once, eat your frog.
A critical thing that you have to keep in mind is to know your weaknesses and strengths. I always hear that you should always focus on your strengths. I do not agree with that, in my scenario the next chapter in my life always came by working on my weaknesses. Your strengths should be in focus, but you cannot leave your weaknesses under the table. You should work on your weaknesses as well.
Estimations
A milestone or a goal has to be time based (T). In the business world it is common to address some tasks with estimations. This is being done for a really simple reason. Time passes by anyways, but if you connect time to a task that changes the perspective of that task.
Giving estimation is hard. It requires some existing experience or some deeper knowledge on that topic. But giving an estimation is key.
Deadlines
As estimating things creates the value for your spent time, deadlines are creating the urge and the motivation to achieve them. Deadlines would encourage and give you the mental strength to value the goal even more.
A good example is when you want to learn a new language and you don’t have the motivation to take action, it is a good practice to find a language exam to the desired level. Imagine the scenario when you already paid for the exam and you have only months to learn a language. Would it not be motivating? I think so.
The same goes for starting businesses. Everybody thinks that you have to have a legal business already open to start the operation. It is not necessary, but if you have to pay every month the taxes without income, that would be motivating as hell.
Having estimations and deadlines would create the urge that you are looking for and you won’t hesitate or procrastinate. Don’t be stupid, but create something that urges you, it might be money, time, status or anything that might make you take action.
Project based learning
Since you started reading this I am sure you noticed that I highly emphasize the importance of having goals and directions in your life. For a long time I assumed that I am not motivated enough and always procrastinate. This might not always be true, rather by mistake I did not notice what type of goal was in the discussion.
There are two key topics that are responsible for achieving something or not. Deep work and daily routines.
Daily routines as its name suggests are daily actions we do often. It might be going to the gym, reading, having fun etc. Deep work on the other hand is more like a focused timeframe when everything is dedicated to one thing.
Deep Work refers to focused, uninterrupted periods of time where you dedicate your full attention to a single task, while daily routines are regular, often repetitive actions that contribute to long-term progress.
Both have their own scenarios but there are times when by mistake you do something that is a routine and not a deep work. Learning programming is highly energy and focus consuming. If you do it daily for 1 hour without full focus and energy that is just wasted time. I think we can agree. On the other side of the coin you might want to lose weight, one good meal or one intensive training would change nothing, but on a daily basis it would make the difference.
Your goals and vision has to influence how you do your daily actions. If your goal is to learn how to code or to learn a new language you have to be focused on those things. Ideally on one thing at the time. Learning a language while learning how to code makes totally no sense and it is not realistic and unrealistic. If we go with the programming example, you might have to dedicate 3-6 months to get a grip on it, that is reality.
Timeframe
Timeframe has a strong connection with deep work. Having a fixed period for deadlines is a good practice. Depending on the complexity of the goal or milestone is it good to divide it to months. Having a month or multiple months of capacity to work on milestones that would bring huge value to you is good. 30/60/90 days works the best. 90 days with full focus on learning something new for example programming is the way it should work. Daily 4-8 hours would bring the result that you want.
As your timeframe grows the more tracking points would be needed to keep you on track. The shorter the period the more focus and time would be required with fewer tracking points. On tracking points later.
Do less
I have mentioned that to achieve bigger milestones and goals in your life requires time and more importantly energy. Everybody has limited energy in their life and knowing what you spend that valuable resource is important. Mixing multiple important goals and milestones makes you have a monkey mind. You would not be able to focus, thus now desired results.
There is a matrix that might give you a direction of what to eliminate in your life and what to not. It is called the Eisenhower Matrix. It describes what to focus on, what to avoid, what has an impact on your life and what not. Is it considered as a good practice to follow these principles that the matrix shows.
With knowing this you can identify the 20% of your action that really makes the difference and reduce or even better eliminate the other 80%, and helps you organize the daily actions that are required for achieving the milestone. It might sound a bit harsh, but in reality all of us have only one life at once. It is good advice to maximize your talent and opportunities. Time will pass by so fast if you are not doing the things that matter.
People are mentioning in general that you should focus on the actions that you want to do. I agree with it, but also you have to keep it in mind that you want to reduce the number of actions that require your time and energy. Do less not important actions and do more important work.
Your life decisions also have a great impact on your actions that you have to do. For example If you buy a big house with a big garden, you will create extra work, because you might have to cut grass, keep the garden in order. I am not saying it is bad, but you have to know these hidden costs and actions when you make a decision in your life.
Maker’s Schedule vs. Manager’s Schedule also explains a very important thing about the two types of people and how much energy and time is required for achieving something. The same applies for learning and achieving bigger goals, we become makers. Read it.
Tracking daily actions
When it comes to executing on the desired milestone it is important to track your daily actions and review them often. Why? It is a valuable information what you did in certain situations and how you acted. You might face better days when you have more focus, more energy, it is good to know what you are, what you drank to know how to act next time.
Also it is important how you executed the day’s prescribed actions. Was it effective, can you take it as a win for that day?
What to track?
Tracking is not an easy job to do. It can be really challenging to identify what to track, which are the good metrics to follow.
When it comes to the daily actions I like to track my inputs.
- Nutrition (What did I eat?)
- Exercise (Did I exercise today?)
- Sleep (How well did I sleep?)
- Work (How much time did I spend working?)
It is good to track the most important inputs in your life that can affect your energy, time. Based on these inputs you can nearly always replicate good and bad performances. That’s the reason why professional athletes have their routines when they have to perform. Some of them are eating only pasta, some of them consume more salt or caffeine. Knowing these things are important to always perform on your possible best level.
On the other hand it is a good practice to track your work. How much did you work, how much energy did you have on a scale of 10? Were you able to focus, how long?
Track those things that you think influence your work or performance.
Day starting and ending
From my experience the best time to evaluate your inputs for the last day is at the start of the next day. At that time you know basically everything that happened and had an influence on your performance. On the other hand the end of the day is the best to check on your performance.
Control points – What indicates if you are off track?
When you already started the execution of the plan and the milestone it is important to know when you are still on track or you are already off track and started to waste valuable resources.
This is hard especially when you don’t have the knowledge yet. You basically cannot identify what means what. Even in that scenario you have to force yourself to check on your progress. To check whether you are closer to your expected results or not. By not doing this you are wasting your time, money and energy. I made this mistake so I know what I am talking about.
When starting out with a new milestone or goal it is required to have more control points. Even daily. As long as you are in the process you can reduce the number of tracking points. I encourage you to implement this in your workflow, because it will take you to the next chapters in your life.
You might have been working on a task that ended up being a total mess. I certainly have. That can happen in such scenarios when you don’t emphasize the importance of control points.
Feedback circles
When it comes to acting on a control point what should you consider?
There are scenarios when you cannot test your progress by yourself.
How can it be tested?
When you are working toward a milestone or a goal you have to identify how something can be tested to know if you have made progress or not.
Based on your earlier experience you can identify how it can be tested. In that case when you do not have any experience you should do two things. Find someone who already did what you want to do, send him an email and ask for three test scenarios. Everyone would help. When you get the information you should transform it to your usage.
Finding mentors or someone who can help is important and pay for their help. Do not allow yourself to be scammed, but there I am sure you got free advice that went bad. When you ask for help, be ready to pay and look at it as an investment where you trade money to time.
What does progress mean? (KPI)
If you are facing a milestone or a goal it is good to know what progress means. These key performance indicators (KPI) can tell you what to look for when you are about to evaluate your progress on a daily basis. Did you learn 10 words today? If you’re working on losing weight, a KPI could be the number of calories consumed each day, or the number of hours spent exercising. Should be practical and easily measurable.
Essential resources
Before starting the execution plan and identify essential resources. You might have to buy some books, some courses, or find someone to help. A good start is always to ask Google and some AI for identifying your needs. A good query would be something like: “best books on …”, “best resources on …”, “who can help in …”
This is an important step to maximize the output and result of your work. Instead of gathering every resource on the topic, focus on a few high-quality resources that align with your learning style and needs.
By doing this you would be ready to start the work and would have a fun time.
AI
In today’s world learning anything has become easy as hell. Having a tool that can give you directions when you don’t know where to look for something is extremely helpful. For every above mentioned topic a query would help you a lot. By asking for good practices, how should be something learned, how should be KPI be identified, what are realistic estimates could help you and reduce your execution time by factors.
I use it a lot and you should too, but remember to use it as a tool and do not allow yourself to depend on it. AI is great for providing insights and saving time, but it can’t replace personal effort, experience, or judgment. Use AI to supplement your learning and decision-making, but make sure you remain engaged and actively involved in the process.
When working toward a large goal, one of the most time-consuming parts can be finding reliable resources, whether it’s books, articles, or expert advice. AI tools like ChatGPT can assist you in gathering relevant information quickly and efficiently. Rather than spending hours scouring the web, you can ask AI to summarize articles, provide recommendations, or clarify complex concepts.
AI can help you create realistic KPIs and milestones by analyzing data and suggesting metrics that are most relevant to your goal. For example, if you’re working on a fitness goal, AI can track your physical activity and suggest specific targets based on your progress. This can help ensure that the KPIs you’re setting are measurable and grounded in real data.
How to Use AI for Learning and Researching
When you’re starting to learn something new, AI can help you quickly gather the most relevant and up-to-date information. The key is to ask clear, focused questions to get the best results.
Prompts:
- “What are the top books/articles on [topic]?”
- Example: “What are the top books on personal productivity?”
- “Summarize the key points of [topic].”
- Example: “Summarize the key points of quantum mechanics in simple terms.”
- “Provide a list of the best online courses/resources for learning [skill/subject].”
- Example: “What are the best online courses for learning Python programming?”
- “Can you provide a breakdown of the history and key concepts of [topic]?”
- Example: “Can you provide a breakdown of the history and key concepts of artificial intelligence?”
- “What are the latest trends or discoveries in [field]?”
- Example: “What are the latest trends in renewable energy technology?”
By using these prompts, AI can help you quickly access key articles, research papers, and resources, saving you time on sifting through search results. It can also help you understand the basics of a topic before diving deeper into specialized content.
As you dive deeper into your learning, you’ll often encounter complex concepts that need further explanation. AI can break down difficult topics into simpler language or provide further clarification.
Prompts:
- “Explain [concept] in simpler terms.”
- Example: “Explain blockchain technology in simpler terms.”
- “What are the most common misconceptions about [topic]?”
- Example: “What are the most common misconceptions about climate change?”
- “Can you compare and contrast [concept 1] and [concept 2]?”
- Example: “Can you compare and contrast machine learning and deep learning?”
- “Provide a step-by-step explanation of how [process] works.”
- Example: “Provide a step-by-step explanation of how the scientific method works.”
- “Give examples of real-world applications of [concept].”
- Example: “Give examples of real-world applications of artificial intelligence.”
These prompts encourage AI to simplify or break down difficult ideas. Whether you’re trying to understand a technical subject or grasp the nuances of a concept, AI can provide more accessible language, examples, and analogies to clarify your understanding.
AI can also assist in organizing your learning process and ensuring that you’re progressing at an appropriate pace. Use AI tools to help create a structured learning plan or set realistic goals.
Prompts:
- “Help me create a 4-week plan to learn [topic or skill].”
- Example: “Help me create a 4-week plan to learn data analysis with Python.”
- “What milestones should I aim for when learning [skill]?”
- Example: “What milestones should I aim for when learning photography?”
- “Can you suggest a study schedule for [course/subject]?”
- Example: “Can you suggest a study schedule for the SAT exam?”
- “Based on my current knowledge, what should I focus on next in my learning of [subject]?”
- Example: “Based on my current knowledge of economics, what should I focus on next?”
- “What’s the most efficient way to study for [exam/test]?”
- Example: “What’s the most efficient way to study for the GRE exam?”
By using these prompts, AI can provide guidance on how to structure your learning, recommend pacing, and highlight the most important milestones for achieving mastery. It can also help break down complex subjects into smaller, more manageable chunks.
AI can generate practice questions, quizzes, and tests to help reinforce what you’ve learned. You can also use AI to simulate different scenarios and practice applying concepts in real-world situations.
Prompts:
- “Generate 5 practice questions based on [topic].”
- Example: “Generate 5 practice questions based on the basics of calculus.”
- “Test me on [topic] with multiple-choice questions.”
- Example: “Test me on the basics of machine learning with multiple-choice questions.”
- “Can you provide me with a summary of the main points to remember about [concept]?”
- Example: “Can you provide me with a summary of the main points to remember about the causes of World War I?”
- “Give me a real-world problem related to [topic] to solve.”
- Example: “Give me a real-world problem related to data visualization to solve.”
- “Generate a quiz with true/false and multiple-choice questions on [topic].”
- Example: “Generate a quiz with true/false and multiple-choice questions on global warming.”
These prompts allow you to actively engage with the material. By testing yourself or using AI to simulate real-world scenarios, you can identify knowledge gaps, improve retention, and apply your learning in different contexts.
Documenting the process
While working on a challenge keep in mind that somebody is certainly working on the same thing. By documenting how you learned something or how you solved something would be very valuable information that can make you money or just help others.
The best way is to make videos or articles on certain parts of the whole process. It would be amazing.
Do not forget to work
It is nice to have plans and goals. But even without them you can achieve great things by only just working. But if you want to reduce the required resources you should do the above mentioned topics.
In conclusion, planning is not only about setting goals, but also about executing on them consistently. The best plan in the world means nothing if you don’t take action.
Take the first step today. Pick one goal, apply the SMART criteria, and begin your journey towards success.