Before I even started memorizing events, my parents signed me up for swimming lessons. Then basketball, then tennis and as time progressed I experienced more and more of "goal setting" and "goal hitting". Though training was part of my life since youth, I didn't start training competitively until I was 14 years old. I competed at Track. It was from this age, that I really started to experience setting goals and hitting them. Lots of times, especially at the end of my "competetive career" (I stopped competing at 19 years old so... Not much of a career) I stated missing goals too.
There were couple of things I figured out along the way. An important one is - planning is key. Planning saves you tons of time and levels up your efficiency and focus by a lot. Planning becomes essential when you've progressed so much at what you do... That suddenly "just doing it" doesn't make you better unless you learn, innovate and plan for the long term and play the long game.
Your goal's deadline will always come
An important thing to understand is, time moves on no matter what. Life will be hard the day you set your goal, the day your deadline comes and the whole period between them. The thing is, when that deadline of yours will come, and it will, you won't even remember the physical feeling of being burdened and tired all the time.
The speed in which people forget how hard it was for them and adapt for the better new can be used to our adventage, because it means that if life is hard now, we won't really remember it in, let's say 3 months time. Couple of months is nothing compared to a lifetime. The road from A to B will be hard but you won't really remember it in the long term. That should be understood from day 1. It'll be hard regardlessly... and pretty equally, with or without you getting to your goal.
A bad plan is better than no plan
Even coming up with a bad plan is a good idea. The advantage of planning is the fact that a long period is planned within a short time. Planning fast keeps your mind focused on your goal and will result in a plan that mainly benefits it (and not you). Moreover, every plan, even a bad one - will force you to do more than you would do without it. That way, you won't waste time thinking about what to do but only spend it doing what you need to do. Sometimes making half-baked ideas is way better than thinking all day but what you can or can't do.
Quick start vs Good planning
The more time you'll spend gathering information about your goals, the more it will benefit you. Knowledge is power. On the other hand, if you'll plan for too long, your plans will become irrelevant as you won't have any practical knowledge and experience. Also, planning tends to be more boring than doing.
The winning strategy should be: Plan short and fast. Your plan will take different shapes over time regardlessly. Then, get to doing. Keep a list of mistakes and lessons along the way and fill it every consistant amount of time.
If you want to plan super fast, I created a small tool to create fast calendars with AI. It could be beneficial for you. It could give you ideas and it can be a good starting point for you if you have no idea where to start.
Regardlessly, I wish you the best of luck. Keep thinking, innovating, planning and tracking your progress.
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Ilan Yashuk, October 10th, 2024