Achieving Your Goals: The Nitty Gritty

A couple days ago I wrote a post on breaking down your goals using my 2011 goals as an example.  Today I am going to take you a little further in the process, where you will actually get more granular into the tasks it will take to reach those goals.

The Nitty Gritty

As a reference once again, here is how they are broken down so far:

1. Max out my retirement accounts
   I.    Increase my 401K deduction
2. Spend three weeks on vacation in Australia
   I.     Research hotels
   II.   Research flights and using miles
   III. Plan to take time off from work
   IV.  Contact friends in Australia for planning
3. Get my body fat to 12%
   I.      Create an eating plan to lose weight
   II.    Plan a workout regimen to lose weight and build muscle
4. Become conversationally fluent in Spanish
   I.      Research the best ways to learn Spanish
5. Learn to play piano
   I.      Research ways to learn piano
6. Finish 50 Best Pictures
   I.      Choose the next pictures I want to watch
7. Have 5000 subscribers to Find Your Peak
   I.       Research ways to increase subscribers
8. Break 90 in golf
   I.      Create a plan for getting better at golf
9. Travel to South America
   I.      Ensure I have a trip planned sometime during the year
10. Double my income and net worth from 2011
    I.      Research other streams of income
    II.    Save and invest more money

Now we are going to take each goal and break it down to action steps that I can take each day to move me closer to my goal.  Some of these will not have daily action steps, some might only have one other step, but at the end, they will be bite sized actionable chunks.

1. Max out my retirement accounts
   This goal really only has one step, increasing my 401k contribution to meet the goal.  All there is to do is send in a form.
2. Spend three weeks on vacation in Australia
   While this goal does not have any daily activities, there are several specific steps to reaching this goal.  There are many more, but I have listed some of the critical ones below:
   1. Plan the daily itinerary
   2. Book plane tickets
   3. Book hotels
   4. Plan out the budget
   5. Determine how much must be saved each month
   6. Coordinate with friends in Australia
   7. Check weather forecasts
   8. Pack
   9. Get appropriate visas
   10. Request vacation time
3. Get my body fat to 12%
   This is an example of a goal with specific daily actionable steps.
   1. Workout for a minimum of 30 minutes 6 days a week
   2. Limit caloric intake to facilitate the appropriate weight loss each day
   3. Drink a minimum of 120 ounces of water each day
4. Become conversationally fluent in Spanish
   
   1. Listen to one learn Spanish podcast each day
   2. Spend 30 minutes each day working through the Rosetta Stone Spanish course
5. Learn to play piano
   
   1. Spend 30 minutes each day practicing on the piano
   2. Work through one Piano for All lesson each week
6. Finish 50 Best Pictures
   This does not have a daily action step, but I have listed my action steps below
   1. Decide on which movie I will watch next
   2. Watch one Best Picture winner each month
7. Have 5000 subscribers to Find Your Peak
   This one, just like the trip, has many action steps, but some of the critical ones are listed:
   1. Comment on at least 10 blogs each day
   2. Write a minimum of three posts each week
   3. Write a minimum of two guest posts each month
   4. Create a lead magnet and landing page
   5. Post at least two post to Twitter each day of previous articles
8. Break 90 in golf
   
   1. Spend at least two hours each week on the driving range
   2. Play at least one round of golf each week
   3. Take at least one lesson each month
9. Travel to South America
   Really the only step on this one is to make sure I get assigned to the right client.
10. Double my income and net worth from 2011
    This one has too many actions to count!  As I mentioned in a previous post, this is a stretch goal that will not only depend on me achieving other goals, but also on some things happening that I do not have any direct control over.  But how nice will it be if those things happen!

As you can see above, I now have actionable steps to take each day, week, and month.  Along with the scheduled tasks, I also have items that I can work on each time I find myself with nothing to do.

This is important because most people waste a lot of time throughout the day doing things that they don’t really need to do.  Things such as checking Facebook, checking email all the time, chatting with friends, spending way too much time talking on the phone, watching television, etc.  By creating a list such as this, it prioritizes my actions so I stay productive.

You should continually ask yourself, “Does the thing I am about to do move me towards my goal or away from it?”  More times than not, you will find that your answer is going to be the latter which wil give you an opportunity to correct your course and get back on track.

I know some of you out there have some other great techniques for reaching your goals.  Please share them in the comments, I always love learning great ways to help me Find My Peak!