Calendar Books by Allen James - Daily Reading - "The Journey: A Calendar Book"

Calendar Books by Allen James reading for May 20th from "The Journey: A Calendar Book"....Develop a good plan and follow the course".

Personal success is the result of determination, stamina, vision, and perseverance. Having a commitment to your dreams, not just dreaming, but desiring the dream you have and wanting it to become your reality bad enough you make it your reality. How do we do this? We start by developing a plan which assures us of our dream's ability to become "real".

Some dreams are best to remain dreams, while other dreams are meant to be lived. It is up to us to determine which is which. Development of a plan takes time and clarity.

I'm a planner. I enjoy setting out the steps, sketching out a timeline, and then filling in the middle. Usually I rush into it from this point due to my impatience; not a good idea. It's always best to take our time and do it "correct".

Whether we're ready to make a big change in our life, start a new career, begin a new relationship, or we know the time is perfect to go after our life dream; quite often fear is what is preventing us from moving at all. Starting out with a plan first alleviates much of this fear.

1. We must take some time to think about what we really want, but more importantly why we want it. There are no wrong or exact reasons for having a desire, but knowing what our reasons are can help navigate the inevitable roadblocks and make decisions.

2. Have a contingency plan. In many cases, particularly if we're considering a career change or following a big dream, this is going to be a financial plan. How are we going to support ourselves until we can get our plan up and running? And if we can't commit to our goal while maintaining our current job, how are we going to make enough money to keep going while our plan is enacted?

3. Break down our plan into smaller steps. Start with big milestones and then break down the steps we'll need to meet them. Evaluating progress regularly helps keep us on track.

4. Be flexible. "The best laid plans..." as the saying goes. Things happen, realizations strike, and goals change. Just because we've made a beautiful plan doesn't mean we have to see it through, no matter what. Be honest. If things aren't working out the way we expect, it's okay to change the plan. It's our plan after all.

5. Be patient. We must trust our plan, trust it will unfold in its own time, and trust a little patience now could save much pain later (Manterfield).

So, what's the holdup? It costs nothing to make a plan. And once we break it down into small steps, we may just find launching our plan is not nearly as painful as we'd initially thought.

Keep looking up. : ) AJ