mysomeday
From Joe Satto on the Huffington Post:
I’ve got goals, lots of them if I’m being honest. In the past, the following scene played itself out countless times:

A cafe in NYC. Enter Joseph, an enthusiastic and perpetual dreamer. He sits at a table with two of his closest Friends.
Joseph: I’m going to (hike Macchu Picchu, learn to speak Italian, start a business, etc…)
Friend #1: Wow, that sounds great.
Joseph: Yeah, its going to be unbelievable.
Friend #2: So, how are you going to make it happen?
Joseph: I don’t know but its something I really want to do. I’m sure I’ll figure it out.
The Friends nod their heads, seemingly impressed. As Joseph turns to an adjacent table to ask for the sugar both Friends roll their eyes and share a silent chuckle. End Scene.

Invariably, my enthusiasm did little more than provide comic relief for my friends. Putting aside the probable diagnosis of ADD, I started to think about why I lacked follow through. I discovered that to turn these intense cravings into results, all I needed to do was to respond to my Friend’s question, ‘how are you going to make it happen.’ And the answer — put together an actionable plan.
Although it took me a while to sort this out, apparently it’s something that a lot of people already knew. “A fool with a plan will beat a genius with no plan every time.” It’s not often that I quote T. Boone Pickens (the Texas billionaire whose goal is to end America’s dependence on foreign oil) but it really crystallizes the importance of planning. In his book ‘Think and Grow Rich’, Napoleon Hill actually devotes his longest chapter to ‘Organized Planning’. His research confirmed that the most successful people in various industries all had one thing in common; a detailed plan to achieve their stated goal.
In what some might consider an ironic twist of fate, I now find myself the CEO of www.mysomeday.com, a website whose mission is to help others achieve goals/dreams in life. Less ironic is what sits at the core of the site; a tool that enables people to build or copy detailed step-by-step plans to follow and track their progress. What surprises our users the most is the amount of momentum they generate by taking the time to jot down the steps in a plan. And the results; a growing pile of success stories.
So whether you use mySomeday or go old-school and jot it down on a piece of paper, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how this simple exercise will have you turning your intentions into something far more substantial — achievements.

Follow Joseph Satto on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mysomeday