Turn Big Visions into Concrete Goals
Goals provide important feedback, keeping you pointed in the right direction as you make steady progress.
Once you have a clear vision or mission, it’s time to begin turning it into reality.
The point of defining a goal is to create a specific, measurable target. With a set of clear and actionable targets, you will know when you are living in line with your life’s vision, and when you aren’t.
Start very small and build up.
If you don’t know where to start, clean your bedroom. By the time you’re done you will know exactly what needs doing next. Practice keeping your room clean for a couple of days, and if you can keep it clean for 3 consecutive days, you’re ready to move on to the next target. This time, pick something from your vision board and see what action you could take immediately to move in the right direction. Use the method below and see if you naturally gain clarity on how to turn a vision into reality.
Reverse engineer the future
Sometimes it’s not easy to know how to make the first move. If it’s a big vision, you might anticipate as much as 10—20 years before the vision comes into full maturity. Regardless, big or small, we can always break down a vision into a set of smaller goals and tasks. We can then provide a time context for each of these more manageable pieces, or if the pieces remain large, break them down further and repeat as necessary.
As you can see, this is a recursive process (repeatedly turning bigger goals into smaller tasks), which means it’s scalable — we can keep breaking any vision down until it is manageable at the right scale for present action. For optimum continuity between visions and goals and tasks, I place everything into time contexts, using the following structure:
!Daily
1-Now
2-Next
3-Soon
4-Later
5-Someday
6-Waiting
As you can see, I have seven time categories: what I need to do on a !Daily basis, then what I need to do 1-Now, 2-Next, and 3-Soon. There’s also the items I can leave 4-Later, or will achieve 5-Someday. Finally, some matters I’m 6-Waiting on, since they require input from someone else before I can personally take action.
It’s important to remember that our goal is to live in line with our vision. We are not trying to create an endless list of tasks to be completed, rather a set of guideposts to ensure our daily actions align with our life’s mission. We might need a change in our way of thinking — from the idea that my vision is somehow in the distant future, to behaving every day in a way that favours the conditions in which my personal desires can manifest here and now.
From Life Vision to Present Action
My biggest goals and visions start in the more ambiguous time contexts, like 5-Someday or 4-Later, and while here they can remain as relatively lofty ideas. They are goals, but not yet tasks. As my large and imaginative visions move nearer (i.e., toward the more precise time contexts) my conception of how to approach each task also becomes more precise. Items moved into the 3-Soon contexts become smaller, more manageable, and more precise. The items in my 2-Next and 1-Now contexts are clear, unambiguous tasks that serve the larger goals and visions. I also have contexts for the things I can do !Daily to keep my visions in focus, and the items I am 6-Waiting on someone else (or an external event) before I can take action. To make this system clear, let’s go through each context:
!Daily
Notes tagged with this context are things that I can do every day to reach any goal. This is the perfect place to keep 1) my vision board, 2) my avatars, and 3) a checklist to keep my system organised and improving. Other things like mantras, affirmations, or poems are OK here too, but you don’t want a crowded !Daily context, only the essentials.
5-Someday
This is where your individual visions live, but here we call them goals. Since your vision board is already in collage form and seen !Daily, here we can manage each individual part of the board as a separate goal. When putting items into this context, spend some time writing something significant — at least a couple of paragraphs. Really think through what this goal entails, why it’s important, and what it would mean to you personally to fulfil this wish. You can add any reference material, links, contact details, project summaries, photos, poems, and so on, that provide context. The better you can do this part, the easier it will be to take each individual step along the way, as the goal passes into each time context.
4-Later
This context plays well with your calendar. For example, you might create a deadline for a specific goal (e.g., See the Eiffel Tower) to be hit in exactly 12 months from today. You can put it into your calendar right now, and keep it in this context while you figure out exactly what steps you need to take to get there. This context is for stuff you haven’t yet broken into manageable chunks, but know you want to do. Think: Go Snowboarding; Climb a Mountain; or Write a Short Story. Things can be pretty vague here, so no need to worry about logistics yet.
3-Soon
This is like the halfway house between your vision board and your to-do list. Like the 4-Later context, this can be good for calendar events that will take place within a month or so from now. For example, if you need to get a passport, or a VISA before you travel, it’s good to have this on your radar well ahead of time. Keep an eye on this space so you can plan your weeks and months, and add logistical information as it becomes relevant.
2-Next
Each item in this context is a simple, actionable task that I can move into the trash or check-off when it’s completed. Nothing ambiguous lives here. Some concrete examples might be: call the travel agent; book dentist appointment; pick up timber. Any additional details that might be helpful are kept with the item too, like the phone number, street address, or item description and quantity. This section should be highly specific, and also related to your goals in a logical way. .
1-Now
This is my immediate focus for action. In a typical day, I move between 2—4 tasks into this context from my 2-Next context and then aim to empty it ASAP. When each task is done I feel accomplished, knowing that I am moving towards my visions and goals. When this context is empty, I can relax knowing that I will take action on any other item that lands here.
6-Waiting
Some tasks involve another person or group of people. When this is the case, you still need to keep track of progress, but can’t necessarily take action yourself. This context is perfect for holding onto the info you’ll need once the ball returns to your court, in which case you can refer back to your goal and place the associated tasks into their appropriate time context and take action.
Remember: be clear with what you want to achieve.
For each vision be creative, yes, but for each task, be specific. For example, you might have a vision of yourself as a fit, lean, athletic person. Therefore, you set yourself the goal of losing 5kg of body weight within 6 months. Your tasks will then consist of daily affirmations, performing certain movements, purchasing certain food, clothing, or equipment, and so on.
To keep things focussed, try to avoid filling up your time with lots of “to-do” items. The point of this system is to help you do what’s meaningful, rather than providing an endless stream of annoying jobs. If a list of things needs to be done for basic maintenance of your life, create a single to-do list (rather than a separate task for each item) and then try to knock it all out in one go. If I achieve nothing else in a day except clearing out my 1-Now context, then it was a good day according to my own definition. When I’ve completed my 1-Now tasks — and enjoyed the benefit — I then turn my attention back to my 2-Next and higher contexts for more actions to take on the goals I set for myself.
It’s certainly OK to be ambitious, but be careful to calibrate so that you don’t lose motivation by setting yourself up for failure. An impossible task (e.g., it’s unlikely you’ll lose 25kg in 2 weeks!) can hinder progress. Instead, set small goals and crush them so you can build confidence in your ability to tackle more challenging ones.
A good rule of thumb is to create SMART goals, which are
Specific: Well defined, clear, and unambiguous
Measurable: With specific criteria that measure your progress toward the accomplishment of the goal
Achievable: Attainable and not impossible to achieve
Realistic: Within reach, realistic, and relevant to your life purpose
Timely: With a clearly defined timeline, including a starting date and a target date. The purpose is to create urgency.
Tools you need
The tools and apps I use are neither fancy nor out of the ordinary (plus they’re free). All the power comes from the organisational method, not the tools. There is, however, some commitment of time in getting the system up and running. It shouldn’t take more than 2—3 hours, and you will not regret this investment.
To implement this system, I highly recommend going through the videos on this website. To follow along, you will need to download the free note-taking app called Evernote. Also helpful are a calendar and an email client. If you want an even easier system and a powerful mental model, see this website, which is an adaptation and simplification of the method described above.
Try it with your own goals
For now, start with just 1 or 2 of your highest priority visions. Go through each of the time contexts and be realistic about what could be achieved in each. Whittle it down until you have just 2—4 things you could do at this very moment that would move you closer to your goal. You might find it surprising just how much progress you can make by being this thoughtful!