10 Exceptional Steps to Effective Planning and Goal Setting

A Brief Overview

To plan simply means to make necessary arrangements ahead of any particular goal, intention, objective, or desire.

But in order to plan effectively, there are some strategic steps that must be followed and acted upon.

A common notion has once said, “He who fails to plan, is planning to fail” – Winston Churchill.

Without much ado, some important steps that you can adopt to achieve your desired results in the journey of life will be clearly discussed in this post. Keep reading.

Ten (10) Exceptional Steps to Effective Planning and Goal Setting

Below are ten (10) exceptional steps to follow in making effective planning and setting smart goals in life:

1.  Prayer

You must regularly pray for the leading of the Holy Spirit before you do anything.

Proverb 14:12 says, "There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death (destruction)".

So, divine direction is very paramount at the inception of planning. You have to know whether it is God’s plan and purpose for your life before embarking on such a project to avoid an unexpected bad outcome.

2.  Goal Identification

Put down on paper every idea, dream, objective, desire, intention, and goal that you want to achieve.

Why this? Because even if it escapes your mind; it can never be erased from your jotter.

It will serve as a major reference even though you are about to forget the idea in the near future.

And you will also agree that writing your idea down is a normal thing that should not be forgotten or taken with levity.

That is why there is something called a “business plan”, which is a document drawn up to set out the future objectives of a business and the strategic approaches to be put in place in order to achieve the set goals.

According to Investopedia, a business plan is a document created by a company that describes the company's goals, operations, industry standing, marketing objectives, and financial projections.

3.  Goal Setting

By drawing on your scale of preference, pick among those several ideas by order of priority, the most urgent, important, and appropriate ones.

While drawing your scale of preference, check your goals if they are smart, i.e., they are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.

Use this to arrange your goals in terms of their priority or importance.

4.  Modus Operandi

Identify several techniques or methods by which you can achieve those identified goals and write all of them down for proper analysis.

5.  Choose the Best Option

After carrying out proper analysis of all the identified techniques for achieving your goals, choose the best option among those several alternatives.

6.  Action

Having made the right choice of strategy to apply or picked the best way of achieving your goals, then you must be ready to take the necessary steps required to achieve your plans and objectives.

7.  Review

Constant reviews help you to monitor your progress and to take the necessary steps in effecting corrections, changing your approaches, adjusting your plans, or re-strategizing if need be.

8.  Seek Helps

Diligently identify some individuals that can be of help to the attainment of your goals, in terms of advice, counsel, prayer, financial or moral support, etc.

Get in touch with them as soon as possible. We all need people to fulfill our destinies.

9.  Never Get Discouraged

Don’t be discouraged if you are not getting help from the people you think can actually assist you. It’s normal. This life is not balanced anyway.

It is not going to be easy as many of your PLANS won't fall into place as you have planned, but be determined, be focused and remain encouraged.

You will surely have results if you don't give up. Don’t forget, “you are not a failure until you stop trying” – Albert Einstein.

10.  Stay through to God

Without God, we can't do anything (John 15:1-10).

All you need to have your dreams fulfilled is GOD.

If you can stay with Him, He will see you through.

Conclusion

Make sure that all your goals for this year and beyond are "SMART" (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound).

It is good to always write down your ideas, but please don’t keep that great idea on a sheet of paper for too long. You need to take action, stop talking or thinking about it. It’s time to act.

You also need people. That is where your attitude matters or it’s important to display good manners in society, because you are going to need more like-minded people or mentors to help you in the process of achieving your plans.

I wish you a dream-filled day, week, month, and year ahead.