A goal without a plan is a wish

The more I go through life, the more I see it and believe it clear as day.

A goal without a plan is a wish.

Let’s take quitting your job as a common dream and example.

• When do you plan on doing it?

• What are the conditions that need to be met so you feel ready to do it?

• What are the steps you’re taking in the next 3 months to get closer to this goal?

• How will you track if you are actually closer to this goal this month vs last month?

I know. Asking all of these questions is scary.

Because what if you fail?
What if month after month you track numbers and they don’t improve?
What if you’re not cut out to achieve your dreams?

Very scary questions, indeed.

But thinking them through is what makes the goal more achievable, because it starts to be less about your worth as a person, but about if you’re actually taking the right actions to move forward.

Every dream and every goal is made up of small steps that lead to it.

Ever since I started training calisthenics, where you literally “unlock” skills as you train and get stronger, I’ve felt like if you take the right steps –

in this case, training the right muscles to get strong enough to do a skill, aka not training ONLY legs if your goal is to do a pull up, sounds logical right? :D

– I truly think almost nothing is impossible.

You just need to follow the right plan to succeed. Or hire a badass trainer who can guide you to where you want to be without detours.

Every Saturday for 5 weeks now I’ve been going to a handstand class. My goal is to hold a freestanding handstand for a minute. I am taking the right step to train exactly that once a week in a group + by myself every day for 2-3 minutes.

That’s how I know I’ll eventually get there. Because I’m taking the right steps.

And now I try to apply this mindset to other goals, too.

Trust me, I hate all the fancy terms and frameworks and buzzwords like the “SMART goal setting system” (🤢).

But unfortunately, there is a reason why they exist. They can help.

Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

Most goals should ideally be SMART (🤢 sorry, I can’t help it - google it).

And I know, I also much rather tell people I wanna do something and live in that dream of it happening one day. And I have, for a looooong time.

I used to have SO many excuses for not achieving my goals.

I was saying:

• I wanna work out more

• I wanna sleep 8 hours

• I wanna focus better

• I wanna quit my job

• I wanna cut my screen time

• I wanna have a morning routine…

but I wasn’t taking ANY steps to actually make it happen…

I was always too stressed, too busy, too tired…

Whenever I notice this wishful thinking in me now, I go:

“Maria how f’cking dare you? If you actually want it, go and do the f’cking work”

(try it, it works!)

Thinking about my goals like this let me see that, for example, I actually don’t want to learn jazz piano (and this is one example from 10000) :D

I let go of this goal I believed I had for about 5 years. I found out I only liked the idea of being able to play jazz piano. I had to accept that I was lying to myself that me practicing for 2 hours a day was ever going to happen.

And that’s ok.

Only the goals you’re willing to put in the work for are things you ACTUALLY want.

Let go of the rest. And let that sink in.

A goal without a plan is a wish.

Once I started planning the what, the where and the how AND tracking the progress daily, that’s when my life started changing.

I urge you to plan.
To think.
To set clear goals.
To track.

Even if the numbers are demotivating at the start.

And they will be, that’s normal.

You need to start somewhere. It’s better to start now than delay and wish for months and years. You’ll be happy you got into the habit of it.

And before you know it, you will have changed your life for the better.​

This past week for me was all about facing reality and tweaking my schedule to make sure I work towards a life I actually want as a solopreneur (which is not being stuck in sales calls and meetings allll day, but having time to create content and take time off when I need it).

My goal is to publish 2 YouTube video per week now (they can be super simple in terms of editing or short, but they do need to be valuable), and to work on either improving or creating one digital product / resource each week.

I’ll keep you updated on how it goes! This week I published 2 videos about Notion.

Next week will be challenging, as I have a big presentation coming up at Make With Notion Showcase in Berlin (I’ve already finalised the slides and what I wanna say, but I need to really force myself to practice more, which is the hardest part for me).

If you’re in Berlin, feel free to drop by the post-conference event led by Notion ambassadors. We’ll have lego stations and breakout sessions (I’ll lead the marketing one!):O

I also have 3 paid consultations in one day next week (!! it’s a lot, but I’m actually super stoked about these clients – and while my focus is on content & creating, I plan on continuing to do 1:1’s, mentoring and group coaching, because I do enjoy it. I just don’t wanna rely on it for income eventually as that takes the fun out of it for me).

I feel like I wanna do more casual gatherings where we can just relax, give each other advice and become good friends.

That’s the goal. So, I wanna do these more often with no agenda other than hanging out and learning:).

OK

That was a long one, and if you’re still here, do say hi (I feel like I’m writing into the void sometimes, so every comment or reply makes me super happy <3)

P.S. if you wanna feel better, I highly recommend going outside. I was dog sitting for my mom this past week and 3 walks a day DID ME WONDERS. That and hanging out with animals. My stress levels have never been lower. Both are so good for the soul.

See you next time,
Maria