Daryl Zamora

Daily writing prompt

What are your biggest challenges?

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Every year, I try to come up with a detailed plan for the year, tackling key challenges and listing down dreams.

One of these challenges is related to the plan itself: following through. How do I make sure I’ll be able to achieve my goals and dreams under the plan?

Last year’s experience has a lesson for me on this.

I’m happy to say that last year I achieved 80% of my goals — a few of them unexpectedly earlier than hoped.

The key, I believe, is turning dreams into projects. You don’t just list down a bucket list, but a project plan. Write it down, create a timeline, draw up a checklist, make a budget. This was the case of the trip my wife and I had to Japan last November. It was a longtime dream, and early in the year we didn’t really plan on going there. After a major family setback, though, we knew we wanted to reward ourselves somehow for being resilient. So I planned our Japan trip last April. Timeline, checklist, budget — even a presentation complete with Japan’s best money shots. The dream was becoming a reality.

So if I’m worried about not following through with my plans this year, actually planning is the sure way to go.