A goal without an action plan is just a daydream. – Dr. Nathaniel Branden

You know, the older I get, the more I realize that life is actually a lot SIMPLER than I thought. Please don’t confuse simple with easy. A lot of people think that when faced with touch choices, it’s so difficult to arrive at a decision. Actually in most cases, the CHOICE is easy. It’s accepting it or implementing the steps that follow that choice is the one that’s difficult.

So why do I say this? When people ask me what my ‘best tip’ is to reach their goals in life, I say “that’s easy, act on them”.

Goals must be followed by planned action to become a reality. Otherwise, as the great Dr. Nathaniel Branden mentioned above, your goals are just a daydream.

So what’s the key element that you need to make a goal a reality? MOTIVATION.

Motivation is the energy that fuels your actions. And each action made is a step on the ladder that will ultimately enable you to reach your goals.

Of course, planning is crucial to ensure you are doing the right things to reach your objectives in life but all the planning in the world is nothing without proper motivation.

So what can you do to motivate yourself?

For one, keep your eye on the goal and imagine how you will be living your life once you’ve attained it. I had a friend who was not happy at all with his job. He absolutely hated the commute, hated his boss, and hated what he was doing. He told me he really felt he was leading a ‘cubicle kind of life’.

He didn’t have the funds to go back to school and re-educate himself for a new career but he was always good at helping people fix their PCs on the side so he focused on that. His goal became to set-up an online site where people can ask  a question and even call for help when encountering PC problems.

He started to imagine how his life would change. No more alarm clocks (he can wake up when he wants), no more commutes (maybe 5 minutes to get to this home office), no more bosses, and every thing he does has a direct impact on HIS wallet.

This picture was so vivid in his mind that he was truly motivated to take action. He even made a ’schedule’ on when he would sit down and plan his action steps. From this point, it was one task to another. Within 3 months he had his site up, in 6 months he was in full swing online, in 12 months he had increased his savings so that by the 15th month he was able to resign his day job.

He told me that leaving the doors of his work for the last day was one of the happiest moments of his life. He stopped by Starbucks, sat down, and told himself he will enjoy the moment alone for 2 hours of uninterrupted java, chicken club sandwich and reading pleasure.

So you see, MOTIVATION is extremely important. Remember, it’s the energy you need to achieve your goals in life.