Your Plan Using the Confidence Framework
Planning to Succeed
Once you have your purpose or mission figured out, then what? How do we move forward to our goal without getting sidetracked or giving up? Do you have a plan for getting to your goal? This crucial step can mean the difference between starting your journey or just wishing for life to be better. So what’s the first step?
I believe knowing my purpose leads to planning my goals. As I described in the Confidence Framework, first we decide our mission, then we plan how to accomplish it, then we take action. If we try to take unplanned action, we will often waste time and effort or get distracted by something we “might just need later, you never know.”
Part of the planning process is knowing exactly what you want and why you want it, so you’ll commit to only those activities that will produce the desired results. This isn’t easy. It involves a lot of sorting through things that could work, might work, or won’t work. There’s trial and error and asking experts and taking online courses or getting coaching. That can keep us informed and on task, or it can slow us down with more unproductive busy work. We have to make some good choices and then commit to them.
But let’s break this down even further. Rather than looking at my ultimate goal, I’ll focus on a smaller goal that contributes to my progress. For instance, if I want to build my visibility and credibility as a Livestream and podcast coach, it would help me to speak at events about how to expand your brand through video and podcasting. That could generate leads for my business. To secure those speaking engagements I’ll have to plan out networking and prepare the promotional materials or speaker one page that describes my presentation skills. Then I need to prepare slides, a call to action, and a lead magnet to offer at the end of the talk. Each one of these steps is another small goal that takes planning and scheduling. But they all contribute to my big goal, so they are worthy of my time and effort.
As I put together all the pieces of the plan and commit to taking action, my confidence grows. Where once I may have doubted my readiness to speak to a group in person or on camera, with planning I know that I have everything I need to take full advantage of the opportunity.
Planning increases confidence. What situation comes to mind for you that causes you to doubt yourself? How can planning help you to prepare yourself so you can feel more self-assured?
Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” I believe we sometimes neglect to plan, not because we prefer to be spontaneous, but because we are self-sabotaging. Deep down, we may feel we don’t deserve success, so we neglect the work that would prepare us for a situation.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
When we say yes to opportunity, we say yes to preparation and planning. Several times over the past few years, I scheduled an interview with an expert, coach, or entrepreneur for my YouTube show. They agreed, but when the day for the interview came closer, they found some reason to get out of it. I was left to scramble for a replacement or come up with a presentation myself. I think they became overwhelmed by the responsibility and instead of asking for help or doing the planning that would have helped them be prepared, they just gave up.
Have you ever asked a friend or family member to do something for you, they agreed, but then they didn’t come through on their promise? Instead, they give some kind of excuse about why it wasn’t possible for them. That hurts, doesn’t it? It’s so disappointing that we lose trust in that person, and the relationship gets scuffed up like a shiny new shoe scraped against a rough brick wall. Don’t do that to yourself. If you make a promise that you’ll do something, even if nobody else knows you promised it, you need to come through for yourself. If you don’t, you’ll lose trust in your abilities and self-esteem. Then it gets even more difficult to find the confidence to try something new. Each time you follow through on a commitment, your confidence and integrity grow and that follow-through takes planning.
What’s the best way to make a plan? Start with your big goal. Then break that down into smaller goals. Each one of these smaller goals is made up of steps. Write it all down, then list everything in chronological order. Next, start giving every step a deadline and schedule it on your calendar. Once everything has been scheduled, you will free your mind from worry and just take the actions one day at a time until each goal is achieved.
Indira Gandhi advised, “Have a bias towards action — let’s see something happen now. You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away.”
Have you spent as much time planning as you have wishing? What plans have you made to bring about your desired results?
“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.”
Having confidence starts with clarifying your purpose, creating a plan, taking action, and being resilient.
Start planning and preparing for the future today. Then commit to your plan because you know it fits in with your life’s purpose and will lead to fulfillment. Leave a comment below to let me know your plan for achieving your next goal.
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
