Planning for success is about mapping out all the aspects of your life.
Success is more than economic gains, titles, and degrees. Planning for success is about mapping out all the aspects of your life. Similar to a map, you need to define the following details: origin, destination, vehicle, backpack, landmarks, and route.
Origin: Who you are
A map has a starting point. Your origin is who you are right now. Most people when asked to introduce themselves would say, “Hi, I’m Jean and I am a 17-year old, senior highschool student.” It does not tell you about who Jean is; it only tells you her present preoccupation. To gain insights about yourself, you need to look closely at your beliefs, values, and principles aside from your economic, professional, cultural, and civil status. Moreover, you can also reflect on your experiences to give you insights on your good and not-so-good traits, skills, knowledge, strengths, and weaknesses. Upon introspection, Jean realized that she was highly motivated, generous, service-oriented, but impatient. Her inclination was in the biological-medical field. Furthermore, she believed that life must serve a purpose, and that wars were destructive to human dignity.
Destination: A vision of who you want to be
“Who do want to be?” this is your vision. Now it is important that you know yourself so that you would have a clearer idea of who you want to be; and the things you want to change whether they are attitudes, habits, or points of view. If you hardly know yourself, then your vision and targets for the future would also be unclear. Your destination should cover all the aspects of your being: the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. Continuing Jean?s story, after she defined her beliefs, values, and principles in life, she decided that she wanted to have a life dedicated in serving her fellowmen.
Vehicle: Your Mission
A vehicle is the means by which you can reach your destination. It can be analogized to your mission or vocation in life. To a great extent, your mission would depend on what you know about yourself. Bases on Jean?s self-assessment, she decided that she was suited to become a doctor, and that she wanted to become one. Her chosen vocation was a medical doctor. Describing her vision-mission fully: it was to live a life dedicated to serving her fellowmen as a doctor in conflict-areas.
Travel Bag: Your knowledge, skills, and attitude
Food, drinks, medicines, and other travelling necessities are contained in a bag. Applying this concept to your life map, you also bring with you certain knowledge, skills, and attitudes. These determine your competence and help you in attaining your vision. Given such, there is a need for you to assess what knowledge, skills, and attitudes you have at present and what you need to gain along the way. This two-fold assessment will give you insights on your landmarks or measures of success. Jean realized that she needed to gain professional knowledge and skills on medicine so that she could become a doctor. She knew that she was a bit impatient with people so she realized that this was something she wanted to change.
Landmarks and Route: S.M.A.R.T. objectives
Landmarks confirm if you are on the right track while the route determines the travel time. Thus, in planning out your life, you also need to have landmarks and a route. These landmarks are your measures of success. These measures must be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time bound. Thus you cannot set two major landmarks such as earning a master?s degree and a doctorate degree within a period of three years, since the minimum number of years to complete a master?s degree is two years. Going back to Jean as an example, she identified the following landmarks in her life map: completing a bachelor?s degree in biology by the age of 21; completing medicine by the age of 27; earning her specialization in infectious diseases by the age of 30; getting deployed in local public hospitals of their town by the age of 32; and serving as doctor in war-torn areas by the age of 35.
Anticipate Turns, Detours, and Potholes
The purpose of your life map is to minimize hasty and spur-of-the-moment decisions that can make you lose your way. But oftentimes our plans are modified along the way due to some inconveniences, delays, and other situations beyond our control. Like in any path, there are turns, detours, and potholes thus; we must anticipate them and adjust accordingly.
Planning for success is about mapping out all the aspects of your life!
Related posts:
- One quality you cannot do without in Network Marketing (Multi Level Marketing – MLM) personal finance success. Consider this. Having the right skills will get you far in this business. But with the wrong attitude, how long do you think your personal finance in MLM (Multi Level Marketing | Network Marketing) will stay that way? As...
- Weight Loss Surgery. The Concept of Weight Loss Surgery. Preventing the Health Risks. If you have been watching your weight go up and you are worried about the rising pounds, you may be wondering whether weight loss surgery really works. Is it possible to prevent future weight gain by putting yourself on...
- Aloe vera can help with a variety of human health problems. The benefits come from its unique consistency of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, sugars, anthraquinones, lignin, saponins, fatty acids, salicylic acid and amino acids. Aloe vera is most effective on two areas of the body – the immune system and epithelial...
- Low Carb Dieting For Weight Loss Management Programs. Low carb dieting has become fashionable in recent years especially with the publication of the Atkins diet. Losing weight is a goal for so many people and everybody is looking for the quick and easy way to lose weight....
- Artificial Diet for Infants. Diet for Infants. It should be as like the breast-milk as possible. This is obtained by a mixture of cow’s milk , water, and sugar, in the following proportions. Fresh cow’s milk , two thirds; Boiling water, or thin barley water, one...
- Weight Loss Secrets. Are You Using The Weight Loss Secret That Personal Trainers Use all the time. He continually asks his guests one simple question: "How’s it working for you?" Success in anything comes from FINDING WHAT WORKS then DOING WHAT WORKS. I am going to reveal to you the Secret Weight Loss Formula that Celebrity...
Buy Aloe Vera in USA.
Buy Aloe Vera in United Kingdom.
Buy Aloe Vera in Australia.


Article by at 2011-06-28 14:30:27
Categorized in Womens Health Articles,
Learn your bowel movements. Make note of any changes that may lead to bowel cancer such as bleeding