Organized Planning

There are a lot of books out there that talk about goals. Many, many pages are devoted to describing the value of goals and how to set goals. This is definitely very important. Goals are the basis of achievement. As they say "How can you hit a target if you don't know where it is?"


Much less time is spent talking about plans. Part of the reason is that its much easier to talk about goals, because it can be applied to anyone. Plans on the other hand are very specific to the goal, so its much harder to write about plans in a way that targets the reader.


But this creates the mis-perception that all you need to do is set goals, and the rest will take care of itself. I have read many books that describe people setting seemingly impossible goals and achieving them thanks to the glory of goal setting. Of course, without a plan to achieve the goal, you can't get very far.


As Napoleon Hill says:


"Your achievement can be no greater than your PLANS are sound."


But to be fair, setting goals is quite easy. Making plans to achieve the goal, on the other hand, is hard work. But equally as important.