One of the most valuable lessons to be learned, in terms of achieving goals, is to begin at the end. When working towards any goal, most people begin at the beginning (sounds logical doesn’t it?). The problem with starting at the beginning is most of us are focused on where we are right now. It is natural to begin from where our current strengths and weaknesses are, where our preferences lie or based on what our present circumstances are. Then what we normally do is put one foot forward (take action) based on those things. For many of us, the direction of that step (and the rest that will follow) is typically on the path of least resistance.

A common mistake in planning to achieve any “multi step goal” occurs when we begin planning from where we are in the present moment (from the beginning). This is the “bottom up” approach. Contrary to popular belief, the key to effective planning is to design your strategies from the “top down.” After you have established clearly defined and specific goals, develop your plans in reverse order (also known as “backwards” or “top down”). To do this we need to know the final step to reach that goal (notice I did not say “the first step”, I said, “the final step”). Once we have that answer, we need to know the step just before the final step. We repeat the process until we get down to the level we are at now.

Why should it matter if you make plans from the top down versus the bottom up? Is there really a difference between top downand bottom up? Won’t all the steps be exactly the same? NO! Why? Well there are many reasons, the main one is this: When you plan from the top down, you must take action IN ADVANCE to gain the knowledge needed to create the plan. This means you need to actually know (or be committed to learn) what the final steps are. Most people do not know what they are (which is perfectly normal), and/or don’t invest the time to find out. What typically happens is people begin from the beginning with an attempt to do things from the bottom up. Figuring out the first step to take from where they are now is usually easy to plan. And maybe the next 3 or 4 steps are also pretty easy to see how those things point in the general direction of their goals. Then they get stuck on what the rest of the steps might be and instead of really finding out, they usually begin to take action without a completed plan. They tell themselves things like this:

“I don’t know exactly what to do, but I have a general idea of the obvious stuff that I should be doing now, so I’ll do those things and then I’ll try to figure out what to do after that”.

Or

“I can’t plan that far ahead so I’ll just get started now and see where that leads me.”

Imagine if a corporation developed strategies in this way. They would waste a lot of time and money not really knowing what all the steps are and their competitors would put them out of business.

The other problem with building plans from the beginning (bottom up) is that it is very likely that the steps will take you in a direction that is off course from the outcome you want. Sure, strategies may evolve over time, but the chances of staying on course are greatly increased when you know what the final 5-10 steps need to be and plan the earlier steps around getting to the later steps.

What’s next?

We all know to search for answers to our questions. Most people spend their time finding answers to the questions in the middle circle. But how can we succeed if we don’t even know what it is that we don’t know? Finding the answers, the solutions, the guidance, and your own path to achieve what you want will be so much harder if you don’t know what the right questions are.

Since I am a guitar teacher and a music career coach, when I explain these concepts to my students, I tell them the following: “Think back to when you were a beginning guitar player and had no clue what was involved in becoming a good musician. You probably knew there would be a lot to learn, but didn’t know, at that time, how much there is to be learned. In other words, you didn’t know what you didn’t know. As time went by, you gained more experience and now understand more about music than you did before. The more one learns, the easier it becomes to see how much more there is to know.”

Imagine you are seeking solutions to an important problem or challenge in your life. You go to a huge library searching for solutions. Lets assume that somewhere in that library is a book (or set of books) that contains the answers you need. Now imagine that for some strange reason you don’t want to ask the librarian to help you locate the book(s) that have the solutions/answers you seek. How easy will it be to “get lucky” and stumble upon the right resource you need?

It seems obvious that the fastest way to acquire the knowledge is to go straight to the librarian and tell him/her exactly what you are looking for, or look it up on the library’s data base. It’s not very effective to read every book in the library to find the specific answers you are searching for. Yet, this is exactly what some people try to do in order to reach their goals. Other people look at the massive size of the information out there and become intimidated by it. These people give up on their goals because it seems to “unrealistic” or “impossible”.

Many people spend years chasing things that don’t matter and ignoring the things that do matter either because of ignorance or unwillingness to commit to finding a better way. (I can relate. I used to be exactly like this.) Those that have the greatest chances of finding the solutions to their problems or challengesare the people who seek first to discover what it is that they do not know. To have the right answers, you need to possess the right questions. Many of those answers may lie beyond what you are even aware exists right now.

To begin at the end you must:

1. Be specific about what the end actually is.

2. Build your plans from the top down (not the bottom up).

3. If you don’t know how to build from the top down, find someone who does know.
Every person, situation and goal is different. Outlining a complete hypothetical plan that is specific and detailed would be overly cumbersome in this format. The purpose of this article is to shed light onto the principal of beginning at the end, not to engross you into a plan that may not be relevant to you, your goals, and your present circumstances.

** To comment on this article or to read comments about this article, go here.

About the Author:

Tom Hess is a professional touring guitarist and recording artist. He teaches, trains, and mentors musicians from around the world. Learn more about how to build a career in the music business. Visit http://tomhess.net to get 15 free music career tips.

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Looking at the fractured world around us, master of spiritual wisdom, Eckhart Tolle, recognizes our need for a gentler, safer, more loving environment. In a simple message of hope to all faiths, he explains how this can be accomplished through a shift in consciousness that will enable us to let go of pre-conceived notions, thus offering “a way out of suffering and into peace.”

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Rub two sticks together till silver coins shoot out like sparks.

Wish upon the stars till money falls from the sky.

Pick up every rock you see to find a golden nugget.

Keep on dreaming about being rich and the money will magically
show up in your bank account.

Take your pick, I guarantee the same results on any of the
above methods.

It ain’t gonna happen. So forget about being Rich.

Q. What is rich?
A. Having enough money to do whatever you want.

That would mean you have enough money to pay all of your bills
and still have money left over. I’m not talking about bills from
some dreamed up future lifestyle. I’m talking about your current
lifestyle and your current bills. How much money do you need each
month to survive?

This is not an article on how to make a budget, and we won’t get
into how much you can save by trimming down on your excesses
(We all have em). We just need a dollar figure here. Make a
quick list of your bills, the water bill, the power bill, the
car payment, rent or mortgage payment and on and on.

Now, if you had that amount of money coming in from a new source
every month then the money you currently use to pay those bills
would be extra. You could start using that extra money to upgrade
your lifestyle.

Now you’re looking at the dollar amount you came up with. It may
be $1000.00, it may be $10,000.00 it doesn’t matter what the number
is, it is relative to your current situation.
Also, you may be dreaming of a way to replace that income.
What can you do to generate that amount of cash, consistently
every month? Before you start rubbing the sticks again, look at
the list of items. You already have it broken down into the steps
you need to take. Pick a bill, start with one of the smaller ones,
for example the water bill. Focus on finding a way to consistently
generate that amount of income every month. Take a previous water
bill and post it over your PC as an incentive. Focus your energy
on achieving that goal and when you are comfortable that whatever
endeavor you came up with is working then pick another bill
and repeat. I know you still have to figure out a way to earn
the income, but looking at the smaller number and finding a way to
replace it is much easier than finding a way to replace your annual
income in one swoop.
The small successes will start to accumulate, adding upon
each other, creating an exponential growth that will make each
step a little easier.

The process of replacing your bills one at a time, of slowly
building your wealth, may seem a little simple. It is.
It may even seem a little boring. I mean there’s no great
invention or overnight millionaire success story involved.
The major requirement is patience and the fortitude to
carry on with the plan.

You can think of it this way. At the moment you may be stranded
on an island. You know a cruise ship is coming near, but the
water is too shallow for the ship to come in close enough to
pick you up.
So, start building your raft.
I hope you do find the next big thing and become a
multi-millionaire overnight, but if you just keep hoping and
dreaming about being rich, you can try rubbing those sticks
back and forth instead of up and down.
Let me know if that makes a difference.

There are many different answers, many different definitions. Basically, it is a plan to get from where you are now to where you want to be at some point in the future. Most people immediately think of money, I’m making x dollars now, five years from now I want to be making double XX amount of dollars. While the financial portion of a life plan is a part of it, it is not the only part. As said so many times before, “money is not going to buy you happiness”. A Life Plan should take into account your family, friends, where you want to be living, really what do you want to be doing at this point in the future. That last line is the key. Ask yourself, what do I want to be doing five years from now. If you already know the answer to that question then your plan is easy. Break it down into the steps you need to get there. Then break those steps down into the finest detail, a daily detail if possible and you will reach your goal. The problem that most of us have is answering that question. I want to be rich, is not going to get you there. I want to be laying on a beach soaking up the sun. That’s a little better, if that is truly your goal. There is beach front property available in places like Belize. You could buy a house, rent out half of it, and spend your days soaking up the sun.Actually that sounds pretty good, so if you do the research and it works out, let me know. Many people don’t have a life plan because they can’t answer that question. They don’t have a clear idea of what they want to do. Well, life is going to happen whether you plan for it or not. Life will be there in the mirror every morning and five, ten, twenty years from now without some kind of plan, you could still be looking in the same mirror wondering what happened.

OK, so what do you want to be doing five years from now? It doesn’t matter how you answer. Just plug in anything close to something you enjoy or might enjoy. That answer is only a beginning, and is sure to change. As you start working toward it, you can branch off into other areas that you discover. A life plan is not a test, you can’t fail. Some goals that you set may never be reached, but they will lead to other goals.

Does that give us a new definition for a life plan? A Life Plan should be not only a plan to get from where you are to where you want to be, but a totally flexible journey of discovery. Not to just achieve a goal, but to help determine what that goal may be.

Acceptance – You are the only person in the world that is responsible for your life and your situation, and You are the only person in the world that can change it.