Suppose you are planning a holiday. What is the first thing you decide? Where you want to go. Only then do you find the route, then choose between road, rail and air, and then count the cost and time. No one reaches any place without first deciding on the destination.
Life works the same way. In the chapter "Aim for the Sky" in my book, I say that if we do not know where we are going, we cannot expect to reach there. Yet many people plan their holidays more carefully than their lives.
Do not wait for luck
The book begins with Sumant, who led a quiet life until he won a lottery. The media pounced on him. New friends appeared from nowhere. His aunt asked for half the money to finish her house, and he could not refuse her because she had brought him up. An old friend who had helped him get his job also needed help. The money ran out in no time. Some elite clubs then offered him memberships he had wanted for years. By then he had no money to accept.
Easy come, easy go. So we ordinary people need a plan, not a lottery ticket.
Be careful what you wish for
Here is a story I like. A young man sat on a rock and wished he could fly like a bird. He did not know it was a magic rock. He became a bird at once. For a few minutes he was thrilled. Then he got tired. When he sat on a tree to rest, a bigger bird drove him away. When it rained, he had no shelter, and he found that building a nest is not easy. He would rather not fly at all.
Another young man sat on the same rock and wished that everyone had lots of money. He went home and found his chest full. He went to buy clothes, and the shopkeeper said that nobody wanted money any more because everyone had it. Pay in grains, salt or spices, he said, because those were now scarce and valuable.
Both men got exactly what they asked for. Neither wanted it. So think before you decide what you want, because you may well get it. And let yourself be the decision-maker. You do not have to choose a goal just because society, your family or your friends have chosen it for people your age.
Make the goal specific
Take the example in the book. You want to own a house by forty. That is not enough. Where will it be, in the heart of the city or in a quiet suburb? That decides the price. The price decides the size. The size decides how you will pay, by saving first or by taking a loan and paying monthly instalments. Each path has pros and cons, and you must weigh them before you start.
The same chapter also warns against dreaming without looking at your feet. Keep your feet firmly on the ground while looking at the sky. Do your small jobs well. In my words: if you do little jobs well, the big ones will come searching for their slots in your life.
Cut a big goal into small pieces
A short-term goal is simple. Divide the work into months, then into weeks, and decide what you must do each week. A long-term goal, such as starting your own construction company in twenty years, cannot be one straight walk. First calculate how much money you will need. Then decide what you must have done by year five, year ten, and year fifteen. Then treat each stage like a short-term goal. The book says to carry your daily and weekly task list with you all the time, like the rosary of a pious man.
Also check your progress every month or every quarter. If you are lagging, reschedule. If you can, exceed the target.
Do this today: a one-day goal
I give an exercise at the end of this chapter that I like very much. Do not start with a big goal. Start with a goal for one day. For example, fix a shelf in your kitchen, take someone out for a meal, or visit a museum to take notes on a subject.
Take the museum. Plan it fully.
- Will you need a couple of hours of leave from the office?
- What time will you start?
- How will you travel, and how long will it take?
- How much time do you need at the museum to take your notes?
When you finish, check two things. Did the day go as planned? Was the result good enough? In this case, did the notes serve your purpose? If things did not work, find which part of your plan was flawed and try again another day.
When you succeed with a day, try a week, such as a weekend picnic or a small trek. Then try a quarter, then a year. For the annual goal, write the plan and divide the tasks, even if you cannot start right away.
You learn to plan the way you learn to swim. Not by reading about it, but by getting into the water, one small day at a time.
This is one chapter from my book Simply the Best.
