Where are you going?

If you want to complete your projects and achieve your goals you have to know where you are going. To develop a successful plan for any endeavor you must begin with the end in mind. You must be able to clearly define success and see the completed work in your minds eye.

When I build a training plan for a race I begin with my target finish time. When we remodeled and expanded one of our bathrooms we began by developing a final floor plan. When we started the strategic planning for Connor's House we asked a simple question: What will be the newspaper headline in 5 years? A long time ago when I started my consulting career I set a goal date for when I wanted to get my second promotion (yes second because I wanted a big enough goal). At the beginning of every project I have ever managed I ask the client to answer two of the following three questions and I calculate the answer to the third:

1. What is the target implementation date?
   
2. What is the budget?
   
3. What are the requirements?

Once you know where you are going then you can start working backwards to build your plan. If you start your planning based on where you are today you will likely never get where you want to go (and almost certainly will not get there on time, on budget or with all the requirements met). If you start from where you want to end up and work backwards from the goal, step by step, until you figure out what your next step should be you will understand what it really takes to be successful.

So where are you going?