Plenty of Ideas, Not Enough Action

Jackie from Spanish Fork, UT asks...
I have a lot of goals and ideas of things i want to do--places to go, skills to acquire, etc--but I have a really hard time taking the steps to accomplish the goals.  How can I kickstart myself into action?

Let's say that creating your ideal life can be divided up into the following four steps:

1. Decide what you want.
2. Outline steps to get what you want.
3. Take the previously outlined steps.
4. Enjoy having what you wanted.

Since you already have a lot of goals, the first step isn't any problem for you. That's really good! You know what you want to accomplish! So, let's focus on getting you to steps 2 and 3 now.

First of all, you need a clear picture of what you want. You have a lot of ideas, but can you work on them at the same time? Are any more important to you than others? Do any conflict with each other? If one of your goals is to win the 70th Semi-annual Poughkeepsie Pie Eating Competition, and the other is to maintain a healthy weight, you may have to end up choosing one of the two, or at least do one first and then work on the other.

Now that your goals and ideas are spelled out and can all get along, you're ready to develop your plan of action in step 2. Your steps may look very different from another person's steps. Some people love planning every little detail and breaking their goals down to a billion mini-goals. Other people get lost in the details and prefer only a few smaller goals just to give them some momentum. Whatever your style, decide what has to happen in order for you to have what you want.

Step 3 gets to the heart of your question, but make sure you've done step 2 first. It's very hard to take steps towards your dream if you don't even know what direction to go in. The two greatest tools to help kickstart you into action are DEADLINES and ACCOUNTABILITY.

Deadlines
"Some day" needs to be stricken from your vocabulary. If you were to start working on your dream today, what would be your first step? Answer that question, and then do it. Set a deadline for your main goals and also for any mini goals you set in your plan of action.

Accountability
I've let myself down so many times in the past that it doesn't even phase me anymore. If you're anything like me, you need other people to know about your goals so they can encourage you and hold you accountable. Learn to welcome any reminders or advice they give you. Since you asked for their help, don't resent them for doing exactly what you asked of them.

Do whatever you can to keep the vision of what you want alive and strong. Think about it every day and work towards it every day. A great resource for you would be David Allen's book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. It's written more for the business world, but I've found his advice applies to any situation and helps turn what you want into what you have.