These are the biggest projects, often including life-changing goals such as career moves ("get an MBA and move into management") or life changes ("get married").
Don't worry about their order or whether your goals are good enough for anyone else to see. Just list them. I'll wait.
Really. I'll wait. Don't continue to the next paragraph until you've completed your chart. Not in your head, but on real paper.
You didn't list them did you? You figured you'd come back to this chapter some other time and fill out the table. All the exercises in this book have one thing in common: they don't work unless you do them. So now pull out a sheet of paper and start writing!
I'll wait....
Really....
Are you back? Good.
Now go back and make sure each goal is measurable. Could another person examine the situation and determine that the goal has been met? Can you use numbers or tangible results as evidence of completion? Review your list now and make sure. Again, I'll wait.
Next, for each goal, work out which are As, which are Bs, and which are Cs. As you absolutely must do, Bs are the next most important, and Cs are the good ideas or "would be nice" items that are low priority. This is similar to the priority scheme used in Chapter 4.
Go mark them now. I can't stress enough the importance of doing these exercises as you come across them.
That wasn't as easy as you thought, was it? Did you want to mark everything with an A? I know I did. Prioritization can take as long as, or longer, than writing the initial list.
Tip
You might also want to write "lifetime goals," such as where you want to be when you retire (both geographically and financially). Due to the way compound interest boosts investments, the sooner you start your financial planning, the better.
Planning Your Next Steps
To achieve these goals, you must determine the steps required to get there. You need to break down each goal into the specific tasks that you can write on your to do list. You might want to do this in a word processor so that you can cut and paste into your PDA or print the list and hole-punch it so that it fits in your PAA.
If you aren't sure of the steps, write what you can think of or write down "Research how to do this" and some ideas of where to do the research.
Don't worry about writing the steps in chronological order. Sometimes we have to work backward. You ask yourself, "How would I get there?" and write that step, and then ask yourself, "But how would I have gotten there?" and write the step necessary to do that. Eventually, you work backward through the process until you have all the steps you need.
As an example, I'll write my next steps for the goals listed in the beginning of this chapter:
At 60, I want to retire and have the financial means to live comfortably.
Make an appointment with a financial planner.
Implement the retirement plan suggested by the planner.
Research retirement communities. (How much do they cost? Do they have payment plans? What amenities should I expect?)
Research insurance for long-term care facilities or other options in case of Alzheimer's or other situations.
Within the next three years, I want to get promoted to team leader of my group.
Make an appointment with my boss to talk about career goals.
Read a book on managing people.
In the next month, I want to learn more about Linux internals.
Ask for recommendations on a sage-members mailing list.
Purchase a book.
Spend one hour a night reading the book until it's complete.
Write a nontrivial program using what I've learned.
In the next 24 hours, I want to have all my laundry washed and folded.
Buy laundry detergent.
Wash laundry in washing machine.
Move laundry to dryer.
Fold and put away laundry.
I want to date a porn star.
Hang out in places where I'm more likely to meet porn stars.
Research where such places might be.
(You'll notice some of these steps are in an odd order. As I said, sometimes we work backward.)
These steps aren't written in stone. Often we discover unexpected subgoals along the way. Dorothy wanted to meet the Wizard of Oz so he could help her get home, but as soon as she met him, she learned she had to do a hit job before the return home would be possible. Life is like that.
Schedule the Steps
Now that you know what you want to achieve and the steps that will bring you there, you can sprinkle your next steps throughout your calendar as to do items.
Due to business patterns or family responsibilities, you might have more free time during a certain time of the month or year. Pick the time that you think will most likely assure success. (If you are off by a day, don't worry. The Cycle System will move the steps to the next day.)
Look at the steps you've recorded and consider what the best order should be. Write the first one or two items from each list on the appropriate day's to do list. Let's use "Learn more about Linux internals" as an example. If today is Monday, I write the "Ask for recommendations" step on today's to do list. I should have recommendations by Wednesday, so turn to Wednesday's to do list and write, "Purchase a book based on sage-members recommendations." I'm too cheap to pay for overnight shipping from Amazon, so on the following Monday's to do list, write, "One hour of reading Linux kernel internals book." I write that same item on Tuesday's through Friday's lists, or if I'm using a PDA, I use the "repeating to do item" feature. I don't know how long it will take to read the entire book, but I can set a goal of having done the last item in that list (write a nontrivial program using what I've learned) a week later. If I don't add these items to my to do list, they will never get done.
The 24-hour goal of doing laundry was a joke; it is more of a task than a goal. However, it is a good example of how to link goals to a to do list. I put the first three steps on the place reserved for "after work to do items." I put the last item (fold and put away) on the to do list for the next day.
If you have a lot of goals, this process may seem intimidating. However, this just means that you need to spread your goals out more or downgrade some of the priorities.
It's easy with a PDA to schedule to do items far in advance. However, I find it better to not schedule any single item too far in advance; otherwise, it gets lost. Or I read the item and don't remember what it means. Instead, I schedule the next one, possibly two, steps for each goal. When the step is done, I have a better idea of how much time to allocate for the following steps.
A PAA only has a certain amount of room in it, so you generally only keep the next month of page-per-day sheets in your binder. Therefore, you can't plan your next steps too far in advance. What you can do is mark your next steps in your calendar as you would an appointment. Three months from now, you can "make an appointment" to start a particular step. For example, three months from now you might mark in your calendar, "Research long-term care facilities."
A benefit of this technique is that you don't feel so rushed, but you are still slowly moving toward reaching your various goals.