Part two in the New Beginnings Series
Have you ever watched a bridge or large building being built? First they dig the supports and pour the concrete. Then steel girders or other firm supports are raised as the building slowly goes in place. But before any of this, there were intricate blueprints and other planning involved so it wouldn’t topple over.
Building an infrastructure, or supportive systems, to allow you to attain your goal is such a critical step in making a new beginning. If you don’t do this part right, when you reach high for a goal, your foundations might be shaky.
Right now I’m planning some fun surprises and new infrastructure for my broader goals to help others live more resilient lives. What did that look like? An investment in key courses to shore up and enhance my understanding of some aspects of marketing and publicity. Attending a wonderful writer’s conference with substantive training available to answer specific questions. Now that I’ve done my homework and either contracted with or researched how to do it myself, it’s time to take steps to take my dreams from two to three dimensions in a new way.
It’s exciting and a bit daunting at the same time to jump in and make it happen, isn’t it? Let’s walk through some key elements together.
Outline the scope of the dream.
Break your dream into five-two-one–year segments, three months at a time put it into a planning system to work out the “what if’s”. The scope of your dream will help you imagine the grid you need to build, as if you were planning the routing in a new city, where the streets would go, the subways, the buildings, and homes, and parks. If you need resources to help with this, I highly recommend Marcia Ramsland’s planning techniques. She offers courses that help you outline your dreams and break them down in a way that makes sense and takes the intimidation down to simmer, and raises the temperature on possibilities.
Assess your strengths and weaknesses.
Acknowledge what you’ve done well and what’s needed to take you to the next level. If you don’t know the answer, attend a conference or read a book about the subject. Find an expert to follow on line and build up your repertoire about it before going forward. One of the best lessons I’ve learned is that I don’t have to be an expert on every subject. But I do need to be a great researcher to be able to pinpoint resources for where I need to go. Many people try to skip this step but it’s critical. It’s like setting out for a cross country trip without any directions. Allow yourself the freedom to map out things.
That saying, if you don’t take aim, you’ll never go anywhere remains true, doesn’t it?
So now you’ve got a firm idea of the goal and your plans in place. Now for the fun part.
Organize your plan.
Perhaps I heard a groan here. Let me help with some motivation.
Have you ever driven a car that has one tire on low? And then felt the difference once it was balanced out? Your reward for good planning and getting organized will be a sense of feeling more balanced and capable of pushing forward. You will feel lighter and have a renewed optimism. Depending on your goal, you’ll want to find resources to help shorten your path forward, with writers we look for methods to outline and build a schedule and characters.
I am not a master organizer. However, I have learned how I approach a project. Here it’s wise to learn your style – slow and steady, out like a rocket but peters out fast, or whatever way you work the best. Think back to school days, did you cut a large project into little pieces to accomplish daily or set aside whole days to complete it? Work with your natural temperament and you’ll feel much more adept at figuring out your patterns. I’m a morning person so try to be creative in those time slots, and do editing and other tasks later in the day. I also am a project person so prefer to work hard in spurts and then change the pace for a season.
I hope these thoughts have helped you get ready to dive into your dreams once more. Stay tuned for two more posts on this topic and I’ve listed a great resource below to help you on your way. I’d love to hear how it’s going, too!
Resources:
Marcia Ramsland, The Organizing Pro here.
Image courtesy of Simon Howden at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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