Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground. — Theodore Roosevelt

Lacking time, money, or something.

We know what our goals are, we know what needs to be done to achieve them, but for some reason we still find it necessary to spend time doing things that do not directly move us in the direction we wish to go.

The most common reason I’ve seen is fear of having to deal with what comes next, because that’s most often a Scary Unknown. Which is silly, really, because you WANT to deal with whatever comes next, since that’s going to move to you towards your goal.

I don’t have any magic tips for dealing with this strange, self destructive behaviour other than to recognise it for what it is, then stop it. Just find a way of doing what needs to be done, then do it. And if you don’t know how…

Get a mentor.

Other people can help you. More over they actually really want to help you because being asked for help is a form of tremendous flattery. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. See also the foot in the door technique. You can get some of your best advocates by asking favours.

Attitude.

Whether you think you can, or you can’t, you’re right — Henry Ford.

Enough said.

Poorly defined goals.

If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else. — Yogi Berra

It’s been said before, but it’s worth repeating: make your goals SMART.

• S – specific, significant
• M – measurable, meaningful, motivational
• A – achievable, action-oriented
• R – realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding (for you), results-oriented
• T – time-based, timely, tangible, trackable

Information overload.

You’ve been reviewing so much information you’re now swamped and not entirely sure what to do next. You’re in for a treat. This is the one time when it really serves your purposes to do nothing at all. Go to a film, go get some exercise and take a stroll outside, have a nap. Whatever you do, remove yourself from the flack of daily life.

Your brain has a wonderful way of processing and ordering this stuff in the background whilst you get on and do something else entirely.

When you do get an idea, though, write it down. Don’t think that you’ll rememeber it, because you won’t. You know that by now. Your brain is making sense of so many ideas that it really doesn’t seem to have the resources to remember the ideas it creates. Additionally once you’ve thought of the idea it will immediately change, being built upon with still more new ideas. This is not always a good thing. So write down the first idea immediately. You can always cross it out if a better one comes up.