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Planning is absolutely critical to your success, both online and in life in general.

It’s amazing how many of us stumble through life without any real plans in place, yet at work we plan all the time. In business we set budgets, write mission statements and develop strategic goals all the time … hours are spent in corporate life analysing variances and looking for ways to improve performance, yet as soon as we step out of the office door and back into our personal lives, all that stops! All we plan outside of work is what we’re going to have for dinner and watch on the TV!

It’s incredible, we all want more from life and yet we don’t do anything to get it. At work if we want our profits to increase we put plans in place to to do it, we improve efficiencies or increase our sales and marketing efforts. When was the last time you set yourself some plans and goals?

It’s a fact in life, the further out you plan your life into the future, the more successful you’ll be in life and the more wealth you’ll aquire. Those in really low paid jobs never plan beyond their next pay cheque. Those who are mega rich are always planning their lives and activities, they maximise their effectiveness … they don’t waste time watching programmes on tv that they have no real interest in, they read books to acquire knowledge, they put their ideas into action, they spend time exercising their minds and bodies, they deliberately spend time networking with people who’ll potentially help them achieve their plans …

Having written plans and goals is an incredible way to quickly and simply achieve more in life.

Let me show you the proof:

Back in 2003 my weight had crept up to well over 14 stone. Now my ideal weight should be around 12 stone, no more than 12st7Ibs, so I was well overweight and in terrible condition.

I’d attempted a few diets and been out running a few times, but these initiatives never lasted more than a few days before I found reasons to give up!

Then one morning in November 2003 the mail arrived. One of the envelopes contained some shocking information, I’d been accepted for the April 2004 London Marathon! I’d literally forgotten that I’d applied to enter it, I was shocked … I had 5 months to prepare myself to run 26.2 miles.

That morning I fired up my dust covered treadmill and set it revolving at a very gentile pace. After half a mile I had to get off, I was in a terrible state! My wife laughed and told me there was no way I’d ever run a marathon … and that was just the challenge I needed.

I spent the rest of the morning putting a weekly running plan together on an Excel Spreadsheet. 5 months later I completed the 2004 London Marathon in just over four and a half hours raising $3,000 for Children with Leukaemia!

The challenge to complete the race was my goal, and the written plan I put in place led me to achieving the goal. Over those 5 months I lost two and a half stone in weight, I would never have achieved that without a Goal and a detailed Written Plan.

If I hadn’t had the goal of completing the race or the written training plan there is no way I would’ve lost that weight, if anything I’d have put more weight on.

Crucial to my success were:

- the goal and the date for achievement were clearly defined
- my written plan, breaking the 26 mile challenge into smaller achievable blocks of training gave me the belief that I could achieve it

Goals, and Plans put down on paper give clarity and direction to goal achievement. All you need then are determination, focus and ACTION.

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