How To Accomplish Your Goals Through Strategic Action

Maybe it’s just how we perceive things or a necessary process for change, but it seems when you decide to work towards a big change in your life, life itself begins to cower and throw as many curve balls as possible to keep you off track.

It’s a constant struggle to go against life’s natural resistance to change, but if you truly want a change in your life you have to keep at it. You can say you want a change day after day and plan for your change year after year, but eventually you have to decide to act or nothing will ever change.

You have to decide what your priorities are and act accordingly. Action is the only thing that shows where your priorities lie.

If you really want to be true to yourself, look at what you say you like to do or what you say you want your life to be, and then look at what you really do or what actions you really take in your life. This is a perfect opportunity to realize that today is the day to

It all starts with action. What can you do today that will get you closer to your dream? Let’s say, for example, that my dream is to entertain the world through words and I want to do that through publishing a book. Let’s assume that I have done nothing up to today to move me closer to that dream. How can I move forward?

Your goal needs to be specific! Otherwise, you don’t know what you’re working towards. Instead of setting a goal of “write a book”, decide what kind of book you will write. Decide how long it will be. Who are your target readers? How many words will you need to write? How many pages will your book be? How many chapters? Try to make your goal as specific as possible so that you can have a frame of reference for what your next steps are to get you there.

Your goal has to be measurable. Warren Buffet said, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” If you can’t measure it, how will you know when you are successful? If I want to write a book, maybe I should set a measurable goal of writing at least 1,000 words per day. Not only is my goal now measurable, but I can also hold myself accountable. Did I write my 1,000 words per day today? No? What will my punishment be? I know now I have to write at least 2,000 words tomorrow.

Without a time frame on when you want your goal completed, you may go on forever without ever completing anything. Look at how things come together when you get specific, measurable and set a timeline: I want to write a 100,000 word book about my travel experiences and I will write 1,000 words per day until I get there. My timeline for my 1,000 word goal is every 24 hours. If I did this every day with zero interruptions I could write 100,000 words in just 100 days! Assuming I will need some days off and some days for interviews or research, let’s set my goal for finishing the book at 6 months. Now I know what I need to do every day andhave a goal to finish my first book in just 6 months!

This is the most important step! Just go DO something. Anything. Even if all you do is sit down and think of this very simple action plan, you’ve brought yourself that much closer to pursuing your goal and your dreams. Now you’re not just dreaming it; you’re doingit! Now just go put your action plan into ACTION!

Many people say they want to lose weight, but continue to stay inactive and eat poorly. Numerous people claim they truly want to quit smoking, but surround themselves with smoking buddies or continue to use vices that enable them to smoke. Too many of us have dreams we want to follow, but let day after day pass without taking even the tiniest action towards those dreams. The goal is not to be perfect during our change or transition to a new life, and slip ups do happen. The goal is, however, to continue moving forward; to keep pushing and make an attempt day after day to continue to act in a way that is conducive to reaching our goal. Gandhi is famously quoted for saying, “Action expresses priority,” and it’s very true. Look at your actions and you will see very clearly where your priorities lie. If you want that to change, you have to either change your priorities and accept the consequences of that choice, or change your actions to match your current priorities.