This may be a painful exercise but try it. Draw a line across a sheet of paper. Start by noting the year of your birth at the far left of the line. That’s easy. Now project the year of your death and mark that at the far right of the line. That’s a little tougher and somewhat morbid. However, it’s important if you want to set a plan for your life.
Now two more things to note: first, mark today on that line in the appropriate place as well as the year you plan to retire. OK, we’ve got the key dates. You can also mark the dates you plan to take the family to Disney World, when you’re going to send the kids to college and when you want to buy a new house.
Draw a squiggly line from birth to today. It’s gone and over - you’ll never get it back. How many years have you got left? From today to retirement what do you want to accomplish? Do you have a plan to make it happen?
Planning and Goal-Setting takes time, thought, and courage. It’s so important to develop your goals, set time lines to achieve them and break the plan down into annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily behaviors. And you’ve got to write them down and track your progress.
Goals also must be more than work related. For a balanced, enjoyable life, you must also plan family, spiritual, social, health, education, and financial goals.
It’s no good having a great work life if the rest of your world is falling apart.
