How To Accomplish Anything

How Do You Make Dreams Real?

You want to write a book, learn how to cook vegan, make a new group of friends, or climb a mountain. How do you go about accomplishing anything in life? It actually depends on the kind of person you are! You’ll be more successful in achieving your goal if know how you like to go about getting things done.

Which of the following kinds of people are you?

The Researchers

These people may decide that they want to learn how to cook vegetarian, but they are going to learn everything they can about it first. They will go online and to bookstores and scour every book on the subject, then every blog and website about the pros and cons of eating a vegetarian and vegan diet. But that’s just the beginning! Then they begin to interview… everyone and anyone who they think will know something about this topic and who can add to their ever-growing knowledge base.

Once they feel comfortable that they have just enough information to be dangerous, they will eventually have to commit and do what the next group of people do: jump!

The Cliff-Jumpers

These people know they will never do anything in their life of importance if they wait until they know everything about it, so they just take a leap off of the cliff and have faith that they will learn what they need to learn as they go. They sign up for the rock-climbing class without ever having been on a rock before. They start a blog about recovering from cancer because it seems like it could help someone, though they know nothing about computers or blogging. They may put the cart before the horse, but they trust that they can always find a horse to pull a cart full of goodies!

The Micro-Movers

These are the people who know what they want to do, don’t endlessly research and interview about it but also don’t impulsively jump into getting started with it, either. These are the Goal-Setters who decide step-by-step how they want to get from Point A to Point Z. They want to make a new group of friends, so they break down everything they are going to have to do differently to make that possible. They look into existing contacts, how to widen their network, where good places to meet new people would be, and then they set daily and weekly goals designed to encourage active involvement in their process of working toward making new friends.

Everything is broken down into micro-movements that can be checked off each day, allowing these people to know they are making progress and seeing their goals reached.

Do You Know How To Get Going?

So do you feel like you are a Researcher, a Cliff-Jumper, or a Micro-Mover? Knowing which style fits you best will help you in taking the first steps in accomplishing something that matters to you. For researchers, it is making the time in your schedule to gather information about your future goal. For cliff-jumpers, it is just committing to taking the leap. And for micro-movers, it is taking the time to break down all of the steps needed to accomplish progress toward the goal.

Whoever you are, and however you get things done, take the time you need to make your dreams become real!

Dr. Anita Sanz, PhD, Psychologist