One of my greatest shortcomings is lack of planning. I have never been inclined to think three steps ahead, much less nine or ten. I hate even making a shopping list and playing Chess. Tetris is a stretch for me. I can only see two pieces of the puzzle at a time.
According to the experts, success is not likely without this step in the process, yet I have achieved success in a number of areas in my life. I graduated from college and earned a BA at the age of 56. Speed was never the criteria I based success on. The journey was always more important than the destination.
I built my career from the ground up in a new field that had not existed before in my organization. We wrote our own job descriptions and brought our division into being. Oddly enough, the stratetic plan came after the fact not before.
Why is that? Even though I never laid out a plan on how to get there, I was very good at setting goals in my mind and in spite of my lack of planning I meandered in that direction until I reached my goal. Not reaching that goal wasn't a possibility in my mind. Getting there eventually was a given.
I am one of those incurable optimists who don't accept "can't" as an option. My father taught me this concept from my ealiest years.
The phrase, there is always a way over, under, around or through always followed any claim of I can't in our house. The practice of writing down the steps involved to achieve something did not get equally ingrained in my personality.
I'm not sure why. My father was a journeyman machinist so I know he worked with plans. He would not have attempted to create an intricic jig or aircraft part without a plan laying out specifc dimensions and angles, so it is likely he also had a plan for other actions in his life.
He built a successful business. He probably had some plan for how he was going to do this, but I never saw any sign of it, so I grew up thinking it just happened on it's own. In my mind, if you had a dream and wanted it bad enough, it was just going to come about.
The question arises, why is success so evasive now? Why is it that after nearly two years of working this internet marketing gig I am not bringing in wheel barrows full of money? I have all the tools necessary.
Is it lack of planning or lack of a goal? I think it is the second. Money has never been big motivator in my life. So what is my goal?
I have difficulty envisioning where I want to go at this point and without a destination in mind... you can't get there from here.
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