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Recently, my son Chris and I drove a large U-Haul truck from Utah to our home in Richmond, Virginia. Fortunately, we did not need to know every turn along the way. We just pulled up our trusty GPS and followed the path turn by turn. We traveled over 2000 miles one turn at a time.

That is the beauty of the Path Ahead – we make progress one turn at a time.  In our efforts to create a big picture Life Plan, we begin by Taking Inventory. We figure out through unrushed reflection where we stand right now, for good and for bad. Next, we dream about the place we want to be far down the road when we tackled Dreaming 60 in last week’s post. Now, we know Point A, and we know Point B. We still may not be able to see the path. And if your dreams are big, as they should be, then the path may be far from obvious. That’s okay. Because the path from A to B always happens one turn at a time. The only task we need to worry about is knowing what the next turn should be. The key is not determining the whole path, it is continually moving in the right direction. We may miss a few turns along the way, but if we regularly seek to make the right next turn we will draw closer and closer to our dreams.

Over the last year or so I have been pursuing one of my dreams, which is to have a book published. At first, the dream seemed daunting. When I considered the next right step in the path toward this dream, things became clearer. I began with the first step of creating a book concept. Then I developed a book outline. Next, I wrote one chapter. At this point, momentum began to take over, and the path ahead came into focus. The dream turned into a project with specific goals. I am not there yet, but I am a lot closer than when I began, just by moving down the path, one turn at a time.

As you begin to think about 2019, consider your dreams many years down the line. What are 2 or 3 things that you could do in 2019 that would move you meaningfully in the direction of your dreams? Counter-intuitively, the trick to progress is limiting the number of major goals. More than 3 causes us to dilute the essential goals that will help us make actual progress.

After one year of meticulous goal-setting, I laughed when I realized that I had 31 goals, each with its detailed set of sub-goals. Needless to say, I did not accomplish much that year because my focus was spread in 31 different directions. Focus wins the day!

The process is clear. Look honestly at where you are right now. Then look at the vision of who you want to become down the road.

What are 2 or 3 clears steps that will move you in the direction you want to go?

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