A Goal Without a Plan is Just a Wish

Sally has 4 kids, runs a business, volunteers at the schools and at her church, is on a committee for helping kids in need, she's the family taxi driver, event planner, nurse, teacher, cook, and household manager. Sally has a goal of losing 10 pounds. Now, just how is Sally going to accomplish THAT in midst of her crazy life?

Sally is not anyone I know, but she's every mom I know. In one way or another, having a family, being a business owner, being a multi-tasking relational woman makes us busy! If Sally, or you, or I don't intentionally make things happen, then unintentionally, time will fly by without us and we'll never get around to the things we really wanted to do.

In my last blog post, we talked about taking our goals and setting them as priorities. They become mission statements for our life and every decision we make either adds to value of the priorities or takes away from them. While having goals, and good intentioned priorities is a start, you also need a plan of action. You need to have the very things you are going to do to reach your goals and show value to your priorities. And those actions need to be scheduled.

Take for example the 4 priorities I gave in the last blog post.
1. Taking time to pray and listen to God daily.
2. Intentionally scheduling quality time with each of my family members.
3. Keeping a food log and working out consistently to lose weight.
4. Increase fans on Facebook to increase sphere of influence for my business.

Underneath each priority, I need to make small, measurable action steps that can be scheduled in my calendar. For example, I can say:

1. I will wake at 6:30am each day in January to have a daily devotion for at least 15 minutes.
2. I will schedule 1 "date" this month for each member in my family so we can spend quality time together.
3. I will meal plan on Sundays and log my food on www.myfitnesspal.com I will also schedule my 5 workouts for the week on Sunday.
4. I will use a Rafflecopter giveway this month to help spread the word about the new business on Facebook.

Each one of those actions steps includes 4 very important principles.

First, each of them directly add value to my priorities and will help me reach my goals.
Second, each of them are smaller or short term so that I am not over committing or creating opportunities for failure.
Third, I can schedule each of these action plans into my calendar.
And lastly, they are measurable and I know exactly how I can keep track of whether or not I do them. There are days, times, and details used to make it quantifiable and specific. These 4 principles are key in making action plans.

Dreams are goals with deadlines. Goals are just wishes without a plan. Take each of your priorities and write out a small, measurable, action step so that you have your plan to make the dreams your reality! Live with intention and purpose!  

I’m a mama of 3 little boys and a wife to a bubble boy, a forever optimist, my biggest fan. I am also a personal trainer, group fitness instructor, and group fitness director at a club in my hometown.  Fitness was a hobby and then a career when I found out that I could have a job that is centered around encouraging others like you!  I found that fitness was an in-road to people’s lives and hearts.