3 Steps to Discovering and Achieving What You Want

Self Help Articles | July 23, 2007

Ask people this seeminly simple question and often they will tell you what they don't want. How can you break this cycle?

Over the last few months I have been noticing more and more that this apparently simple question appears to be one that people are struggling to answer. Often people respond with a list of what they don’t want.

Getting clear on what you want is the catalyst for a more fulfilling life, where you get to choose what you do and what you don’t do. Given the significance of this, how might you start to get clarity on what you want?

Step 1: List Out The Main Areas of Your Life

Start by listing out the key areas of your life that are important to you. These will typically include:

Career/business

Money

Health

Fitness

Family

Friends

Relationships

Home

Contribution

Step 2: Identify Goals

For each of the areas, write down an outcome that you want. I encourage you to start with a big goal and then some sub-goals that will move you toward that goal.

Let’s illustrate with an example using career. You big goal might be something like the following:

To be a Director of a Top UK 100 company by the age of 35

Below this you will have some sub-goals that will move you toward that bigger goal. For example:

To complete a skills, knowledge and personal attribute assessment in the next 3 months

To put a career plan in place in the next six months

To spend 20 days per year on personal development activities each year

Step 3: Take Action

You can do all of the planning and preparation that you want but at the end of the day it is the action that you take that brings results. A simple but highly effective technique that I use and recommend to clients is to set up some form of 30, 60 or 90 day challenge where you do something each day to move you towards your goal.

We can all do more to realise our potential and getting clear on what we want and taking action is a vital first step.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Duncan Brodie is a Leadership Development Coach and Management Trainer specialising in helping accountants, professionals and emerging leaders make the transition to managerial and leadership roles.