Hi everyone

How is your goal setting going? We are going to be taking a bit more action with this post so if you have not already, please go back and have a read of part 2 of this series: www.findmattjones.com/5-steps-to-realising-your-goal-part-2/

How did you go finding your why? Was it easy tapping into your inner purpose or did you really struggle? Either way, take a moment to congratulate yourself for coming this far. Its not an easy task tapping into your inner self if you are not used to it and it may take a while to really find the burning desire behind your goals.

I will tell you a quick story about a very successful friend of mine. He spent many years building his business up and eventually had a break down; he reached a snap point in his life and began to question what his success was really for. He discovered he did not have a why behind it all and suddenly everything became meaningless. He ended up taking 12 months to step out of his business and life in general.

Over that time, he asked himself a question when he woke up and before he went to sleep. He asked this question every day for 9 months – he didn’t just ask the question, he pleaded for the answer! He basically cut himself off from the world to find the answer – the REAL answer to this question: “What is my purpose?”

Pretty simple question right? It doesn’t come easy though so don’t beat yourself up if it doesn’t come to you straight away. In fact, even if you did discover your why it may turn out to be something else down the track but its the fact that you made a decision to choose a path now that will lead you to the path you really need to be on.

Ok, enough chit chat here is Part 3: Navigate Your Course

Like anything, you need a plan of attack. Now, i am not talking about a full blueprint of the next 20 years i am just talking about what you need to do right now to get you navigating on the right path.

I am a big believer in having a system so here is what i want you to do: Prepare 10 pieces of paper – i am talking actual paper, not your computer screen. On the top of the first piece of paper write your 12 month goal and write the date 12 months from now. Then go ahead and write your goal on that sheet of paper – If you want some more tips on writing goals you can check out this previous post: www.findmattjones.com/s-m-a-r-t-goals/

Now you have the end result set in stone you can work backwards. The rest is a bit like filling a glass with rocks, pebbles sand and water… you have to start with the big rocks, followed by the pebbles, filling in the gaps with sand and finally the water. This is what you need on the other 9 sheets of paper:

9th sheet: Write the date 9 months from now and the bigger tasks that need to be completed before your 12 month goal is complete

8th sheet: Write the date 6 months from now and the bigger tasks that need to be completed before your 9 month goal is complete

7th sheet: Write the date 3 months from now and the bigger tasks that need to be completed before your 6 month goal is complete

6th sheet: Write the date 60 days from now and the tasks that need to be completed before your 3 month goal is complete

5th sheet: Write the date 30 days from now and the tasks that need to be completed before your 60 day goal is complete

4th sheet: Write the date 21 days from now and the tasks that need to be completed to achieve your 30 day goal

3rd sheet: Write the date 14 days from now and the tasks that need to be completed to achieve your 21 day goal

2nd sheet: Write the date 7 days from now and the tasks that need to be completed to achieve your 14 day goal

1st sheet: Write down what you have to do in the next 7 days to achieve your 7 day goal

It might seem a little repetitive but i have used this system for a number of years and i can tell you its the single most powerful task i do every week – apart from looking at my dreamboard

By setting the goal first and working backwards you are breaking the goal up into chunks, making it a lot more manageable and ensuring you are less likely to procrastinate. If you want to take it to the next level, team up with an accountability buddy to help you stay on track and committed to achieving that goal.

To get you started i have created a template of the 10 sheets to record your goal. Just click on this link to download them

Good luck and stay tuned for Part 4!

Cheers,

Matt