Setting goals and planning for their achievement are important elements to successfully living the life you want. More often than not, the two are thought of separately, but it’s not uncommon for the “planning” stage to be overlooked when setting your goals, despite it being one of the most important parts of the process. The two need to merge onto the same road that leads to your future success. This article outlines why planning is an imperative step in setting goals and what tools and techniques are available to you in case you get a flat tire along the way.

1. Reaching Your Destination:
Navigating the Highways & Byways of Goal Planning
by Lissa Cupp, vice president, e-Commerce and Consumer Marketing for ACCO Brands
Whether you’re a business professional, an aspiring student or the CEO of your household, setting goals
and planning for their achievement are crucial components to your success. Oftentimes, the two are
thought of separately, but it’s not uncommon for the “planning” stage to be overlooked when setting your
goals, despite it being one of the most important parts of the process. The two need to merge onto the
same road that leads to your future success.
This is not always an easy road, of course. Just like any journey, there will be various things impeding
your path—road hazards, if you will. There will be detours that need to be taken and, quite possibly, new
passengers joining (or leaving) your trip along the way. To help avert these potentially goal-busting
hazards and changes, there are many tools in place that can help you not only plan efficiently but also
adapt to the ever-evolving environment.
This article outlines why planning is an imperative step in setting goals and what tools and techniques are
available to you in case you get a flat tire along the way. What this article does not address is time
management, which is a related but completely separate topic to this discussion. Instead, we’ll start with
determining your destination, mapping out the route to get there, taking the actual journey and addressing
issues that occur during your trip.
The Destination
The first question you need to ask yourself when developing goals is, “Where do I want to go?” This
question gets right to the core of goal development, as it points directly to your desired outcome and
starts to define the steps you’ll need to take in order to get there. This, as you can imagine and have
probably experienced, can be difficult to map out and organize in your head. It’s much easier if you take
steps to visualize your goals and the journey to reach them.
By visualize, I mean actually putting your thoughts and items of importance to your goal development on
paper. Better yet, get creative and put together what I like to call a “vision board” using either a journal or
binder. This vision board will consist of images and/or short articles or headlines, all of which define a part
of your goal.
For example, perhaps you’re trying to set a personal goal around the issue of working too much outside
of the office and not allowing yourself personal and family time. The vision board for this may include
vacation pictures, visuals of places you like or would like to visit, and other graphics illustrating the things
you like most in life.
The vision board exercise is fun and enlightening, and in the end, a very powerful tool to help you truly
visualize where your want to go.
There are many other ways that may be helpful to you personally as you develop and prepare to plan for
your goals. Again, making sure to make these visual in nature, you can:
 Use a planning calendar and determine ideal days and weeks for reaching your destination
 Make a “I want to do more of” list
 Run through the BE-DO-HAVE exercise (i.e., if you can see/feel/imagine yourself where you want
to BE, then you'll be inspired to DO the things that will allow you to HAVE all that you want)
 Define your legacy and what you want it to look like
 Envision where you think you’ll be—and where you want to be—five years from now
Mapping the Route
Now that you’ve determined your destination, it’s time to map out how you plan to reach it. The best way
to do this is to develop a framework around your goals that will identify the crucial elements which need to
be addressed in order to succeed.

2. For example, using the previous example of work/life balance, make sure to correctly identify the different
aspects of your life for which your goals are set. Aspects of your “Me Time” goals would address the
different parts or components of your life, such as family, home, work and friends. Looking at time with
your family, unique aspects of these goals could include health and fitness, learning and education,
careers, and hobbies. For your children, goal aspects may key in on reflection and spiritual time, finances
and community. As you can see, though many of your goals have similar desired outcomes (e.g., a better
work/life balance), there are numerous facets of each which need to be addressed. Be sure to pick and
choose the aspects of your lifestyle that most apply to your goals.
Once these are identified, it’s time to lay out the direction on your goal planning map. For each aspect of
your planning, you should not only match it to the proper destination or goal, but you also need to
determine the:
 Methods: How will you get there?
 Measure: How will you know you’re there?
 Obstacles: What detours will you need to take?
 Motivation: Why do you want to do this?
 Timeline: When do you want to get there?
Let’s look at one of the work/life goal planning aspects identified previously: finances. Your goals
addressing finances as they concern work/life balance may be to become debt free and/or have a
balanced checkbook.
What methods will help you reach this destination? To become debt-free, perhaps you can get all of your
debt organized by balances and interest rates, set an amount to pay down per month, or pay your store
credit cards first and then concentrate on your Visa card. For balancing your checkbook, methods may
include scrutinizing your last bank statement for extra charges and contacting the bank with discrepancies
or questions.
What will you use to measure your success in reaching your destination? For this example, your bottom-
line measurement may be reaching a “zero” balance on all of your credit cards as well as maintaining a
checkbook that is balanced with your bank statement every month.
What types of obstacles will you meet along your journey? They may include unexpected expenses or
your inability to curb your spending (not that any of us experience that!).
What is your motivation for doing this? When finances are concerned, the answer is almost always less
stress and more stability in your life.
What’s your trip timeline to reach your destination? If this goal was for 2012, you may set milestones like
paying off store credit cards by June 1, and paying $100 per month toward your overall debt, not to
mention starting the year with a balanced checkbook.
Take to the Road
The route to your destination is laid out, so it’s time to hit the road! Actually initiating your trip is often a
hurdle in itself, so remember the wise words of Mark Twain to get you going: “The secret of getting ahead
is getting started.”
As you make final preparations to embark on your journey, be sure to get yourself “road ready.” That is,
take a few easy steps to help ensure a smooth trip with minimal detours.
 “Clear the decks” of any loose ends or small items that won’t add anything to your journey.
 Make sure there is time for “good stuff” worked into your itinerary.
 Take note of the things you don’t necessarily enjoy but will need to deal with on your trip, such as
certain tasks and “toxic” people.
 Map out your “have-to’s” versus your “want-to’s” to avoid unnecessary diversions and delays.
 Similarly, have your “DON’T” list in hand!
There are several planning and organization tools available to help with these preparatory steps. Also
available to you—and critical to your success—are planners and calendars. If you don’t get your itinerary

3. and trip on the books and visualized, your goals will never be reached. Use these tools to put your
timeline in perspective and ensure reasonable due-dates are established. Basically, take a look at the
year at-a-glance.
While you have your calendar out, look at it month-by-
month and again make certain your goals and The Big Rocks of Life
timelines are achievable. For example, look at the first by Dr. Stephen R. Covey from First Things First
few months of the year and ask yourself, “What must
be true in January in order to reach my goals?” Always One day, this expert was speaking to a group of
remember to keep these goals visible. In other words, business students and, to drive home a point,
according to renowned self-improvement and used an illustration I’m sure those students will
leadership guru, Dr. Stephen R. Covey, those are your never forget. After I share it with you, you’ll never
“big rocks” (see “The Big Rocks of Life”). forget it either.
As this man stood in front of the group of high-
Detours, Milestones and More
powered over-achiever, he said, “Okay, time for a
As mentioned earlier in this article, there will be quiz.” Then he pulled out a one-gallon, wide-
detours as you continue the journey to your mouthed Mason jar and set it on a table in front of
destination of meeting your goals. What will these him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized
detours look like and where will they take you? It’s rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time,
hard to tell, as most are unanticipated and, therefore, into the jar.
out-of-sight and out-of-mind. What you do know is that
you need to keep adapting, despite the road hazards When the jar was filled to the top and no more
that are thrown at you. rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?"
Everyone in the class said, “Yes.” Then he said,
“Really?” He reached under the table and pulled
Do this by updating your itinerary to address and out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some
overcome these detours. Don’t make changes to gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of
make things easier on you, as some journeys are gravel to work themselves down into the spaces
definitely tough ones, but rather add or remove pieces between the big rocks.
that directly affect your end-goal. Use the example of
a GPS. When you come across a closed road, an Then he smiled and asked the group once more,
accident that is backing up traffic or you need to make “Is the jar full?” By this time, the class was onto
an unscheduled pit stop, the GPS “recalculates” the him. “Probably not,” one of them answered.
“Good!” he replied. And he reached under the
route in order to still get you to your destination in an
table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started
efficient and effective manner. dumping the sand in and it went into all the
spaces left between the rocks and the gravel.
Hitting mile markers along your trip are essential. Not Once more, he asked the question “Is this jar
only do they help you determine your progress, but full?”
they provide a solid measurement of what you’ve
achieved and, thus, allow you to adjust your itinerary, “No!” the class shouted. Once again he said,
if needed, for making future progress. They also act as “Good!” Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and
“toll stops” to pay your dues as you overcome detours began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the
brim. Then he looked up at the class and asked,
and hazards. Ultimately, your final mile marker will be
“What is the point of this illustration?”
affirmation that you have, indeed, arrived at your
destination. One eager beaver raised his hand and said, “The
point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you
Keep Your Eyes on the Road…or Not try really hard, you can always fit some more
Just like the advice given during actual operation of a things into it!”
motor vehicle, Keep your eyes on the road, as this is
the path to achieving your goals. However, it’s not “No,” the speaker replied, “that’s not the point.
necessary to do so the entire trip. In fact, it’s The truth this illustration teaches us is: If you don’t
put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at
encouraged to pay attention to other factors on your
all.”
trip beside the actual route. Think about fellow
passengers and their own goals, needs and wants, What are the big rocks in your life? A project that
and how all of this fits into your trip. Be sure to look for you want to accomplish? Time with your loved
rest stops, because it is certainly not recommended to ones? Your faith, your education, your finances?
proceed when you’re tired at the wheel. Bottom line: A cause? Teaching or mentoring others?
Remember that it’s not about the trip; it’s about the Remember to put these Big Rocks in first or you’ll
journey. never get them in at all.