Breaking it down into achievable chunks is important too. The paradox is you can’t plan too far ahead as life will get in the way. But if you don’t have a direction of travel you forget where you’re going.
Hence the five/three/one year ambitions followed by a twelve week plan.
What is X?
(It’s tough, I’m 44 and I only figured it out last year, but I didn’t do it this way)
Now, how can you do X?
Is it a side hustle? Is it a spare time thing? Does it need millions of dollars? Does it need you to quit your job and change direction completely?
Can you get to X in five years?
If so, what is the single most important thing you need to have completed in 3 years?
To do that one thing, what’s the most important thing you need to have completed by January next year?
And to do that, what’s the single most important thing you need to have completed by March this year.
Now you have a goal - something to achieve by March. Write out 12 tasks to get you there and do one each week between now and then.
If you can’t come up with 12 tasks you can be more ambitious in your March goal. If you can’t fit it all in you need to scale back your March goal.
And then when you hit March, look at your one year target and figure out the next 12 weeks.