Connect The Dots To Achieve Your Goals

Steve Jobs said you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.  Maybe you’ve been trying to connect the dots in the future in order to feel ready to take action towards your goals and it’s just not working.  Perhaps you need to stop trying to connect the dots in the future and turn your attention towards the past.  When you feel like you can connect the dots to achieve your goals, you’ll feel ready to take action.

Future Dots

It’s easier to connect the dots looking back in the past than moving forward.  This is why it’s difficult to take action towards your goals.  The path forward is not perfectly clear.  It’s not easy to see all the dots or stepping stones to achieve your goal in the future.  Maybe you’ve been waiting to connect all the dots in the future and that’s why you haven’t taken action towards your goals.  You want the perfect plan.  You want to know all the exact steps for the fastest route to achieve your goals with the least amount of challenges and mistakes to avoid embarrassment.  But, that’s not how achieving your goals goes.  You have to use some trail and error.  Make some mistakes, learn from it, and continue moving forward.

Past Dots

Yet, when you look back in the past you can see the path.  You can see how you got to where you currently are.  You can see how each dot led you to this exact moment.  It wasn’t clear at that time when you were in it, but looking back you can clearly see it now.  Now you have a better understanding with new knowledge and expertise to help you achieve your goals in the future.  Sometimes you do have to look backwards to connect the dots in order to formulate a plan to move forward in the future.

Connect The Dots

Think about all the things you’ve learned along the way.  Consider the challenges, mistakes, failures, and struggles that you really didn’t want to go through but you had to anyway.  There was a ton of stuff you can learn from that.  Partly, what got you in that situation to begin with.  Perhaps it was poor judgement, a miscommunication, not listening to your intuition, etc.  But, instead of looking at it through a negative lens, look at it through rose colored glasses and see what you can learn from it.  Find that silver lining.  You were meant to walk on this path for a reason.  Even if you didn’t want to.  Think about how you can connect the dots from these past experiences to make better decisions in the future.

Find Your Next Dot

You can't connect the all dots looking forward.  You can only connect the dots looking back.  Think about that for a moment.  You’re so concerned with trying to connect the dots in the future that you’re missing the whole point of connecting the dots in the past.  The past is what’s gotten you this far.  Learn from it.  Remember, if you want something different you must do something different.  Stop trying to have the whole future mapped out with each dot perfectly connected.  It’s not going to happen that way.  There will be challenges, speedbumps, and detours that change the path you thought you were on.  Embrace it.  Don’t let it throw you off course to the point where you completely stop taking action towards your goal.  You just need to find your next dot.  Not the next ten dots, just the one next step you can take and then keep moving forward from there.

You’re not going to have a perfect roadmap of connected dots looking forward into the future.  It’s not until you look back can you start connecting the dots.  Realize that you’re not going to have your entire future all figured out right now and that’s okay.  You just move forward with the next best dot you can find.  But, don’t forget to take time to pause and look back to connect the dots of your past and learn something from that route.  Life is all about growth and learning.  That’s how you connect the dots to achieve your goals one step or dot at a time.

Take Action Challenge

Connect The Dots

Step 1: Look Back At Your Past

Choose one goal you're currently working towards.

Before you start planning your next steps, take a moment to look backwards.

Think about the experiences, decisions, challenges, and accomplishments that have brought you to where you are today.

Write down at least five significant dots from your past that have shaped your journey.

These could include:

• A decision that changed your direction.

• A mistake that taught you something valuable.

• A challenge you had to overcome.

• An opportunity you took.

• A moment when you surprised yourself.

Step 2: Connect Your Dots

Now look at the dots you've written down.

Ask yourself:

Look for the connections you couldn't see when you were actually going through those moments.

What once felt like a setback may have actually prepared you for your next opportunity.

Step 3: Find The Lesson

Choose one past experience that didn't go the way you wanted.

Instead of focusing on what went wrong, consider what you can take away from it.

Ask yourself, knowing what I know now, what would I do differently?

Write down the lesson and how you can use that knowledge to make better decisions as you move towards your goal in the future.

Step 4: Stop Trying To Connect Every Future Dot

Think about your current goal and all the steps you believe you need to take to achieve it.

Are you trying to figure out every single detail before you get started?

Write down what's making you feel like you need a perfect plan.

Then, remind yourself that you don't need to know all the steps.  You just need to know the next step.

Give yourself permission to figure things out along the way.

Step 5: Find Your Next Dot

Now it's time to take action!

Identify one small action you can take towards your goal this week.

Write down:

Don't worry about connecting the next ten dots.  Just find the next one and get moving!