Imagine you’re going on vacation, traveling to a city where there will be plenty to do and see. You’re so excited, you’ve dreamt of this vacation for years. You’ve seen pictures, booked the perfect hotel, and your itinerary is complete. You board the airplane and can’t wait for vacation to start.
Several hours later you land. With butterflies of excitement, you rush out of the airport and jump into your rental car. But wait; there’s a huge problem…you don’t have a map.
Now what do you do?…..wing-it in a foreign city by riding along hoping you’ll stumble onto the correct path? Or, not wanting to waste any of your precious vacation, do you find the closest store to purchase a map?
Depending on your personality the response will vary. But one thing is for sure…..It’s much harder and stressful to find our destination in unfamiliar spaces when we don’t know where we’re going.
Are you living without a Map?
As a leader, often times we get super excited about vision. Just like a vacation, when we get a vision, we see the end destination and are so thrilled about getting there, that we jump on the journey without a map.
Before the journey starts create your M A P (my action plan)
Step 1: Define My
“My” is writing the vision/goal you want to achieve. Habakkuk 2:2 says write the vision and make it plain, but we tend to skip this. Writing down your vision/goal not only provides clarity and focus, it creates confidence.
If you’re like me you have 101 ideas that run through your head. Be sure to
- write them all down
- eliminate the good ideas
- Keep the great God ideas
If your “My” for the moment makes the cut then flush it out on paper
Step 2: Write down the required Actions
“Action is the foundational key to all success.” -Picasso.
Here’s the bottom line; without action, nothing is achieved!
After you’ve defined your My, the next step is to make a list of actions that are necessary to achieve your my. Your list should be specific and detailed. It doesn’t have to be pretty, organized or final. A straightforward braindump will due.
Seeing all the necessary actions to achieve your vision/goal may be overwhelming at first, but the best way to achieve your vision/goal is to break down a task into small action items and tackle them one at a time.
Step 3: Create a Plan
Once you’ve defined your my and developed a preliminary action list, the next step is to create a plan. In the planning phase, aim to answer more complex questions like who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Planning should include:
- organizing action items into categories
- assigning specific actions to specific people
- enlisting support
- setting benchmarks
- plotting timelines
Here’s the beauty of using this kind of M – My A – Action P – Plan…..
No matter the size of the goal, a MAP is fully customizable. I use this MAPing process to achieve personal goals like meal prep and professions goals like launching a business initiative.
So, do you have a map for that?…
Or do you get a great idea and jump in the car, turn the key, and put your foot to the pedal in wing-it mode?
Sure, enough correct turns may eventually lead to the intended destination, but what would your life look like if you took control and created a M – My A – Action P – Plan.
It’ss time to pull out the navigation, plot the course, and reach our intended destination by design.
Question: What are you currently doing to stay on track with reaching your dreams.
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