Step 3 to Your Success: Manage - Plan your Imagine

This step can be one of the hardest steps - if you make it that way. The goal is to keep it simple. Don't overthink it and get bogged down in every little detail. This is important. We are not building the space shuttle. We are building dreams. So let's stick to that, deal?

Okay, let's revisit our Imagine. To make this as simple as possible, I will use an example from something I've done - travel. After I was just finished with college, I met some Brits abroad. They were traveling around the world for a year. That immediately became my Imagine.

I committed to my Imagine, but of course I still needed to plan how to make that happen! So I researched and planned.

As with any project, the three basic elements are scope, time and money. Ultimately the scope is your Imagine, so keeping your Imagine in mind, you scope out your plan and determine how much time and money you have.

Scope:

In the world travel scenario, the first step was to research my Imagine. How do I even get tickets? Won't it be expensive? Are there restrictions? Where do I want to go? How much money do I need? What timeframe will I have?

So, I went to a travel agent and found out the cost of the ticket and the restrictions (there was nothing online at that time). The ticket restrictions and costs were acceptable and reasonable for what I felt I was getting. One year, 13 stops. I didn't even know that there were such tickets! Not a problem. I had ideas of where I wanted to stop and that made it easy to figure out the rest.

If your Imagine is to get a new and more rewarding job, you still need to do your research. Where are those jobs? What does it take to get one of those jobs - how are you going to Stand Out?

Money:

Of course the more challenging part is usually the money. For my travel plan, I was only recently out of college and working at a little more than minimum wage. Not much money. But, this was my Imagine and I was doing my plan. I decided that as part of the plan was to get another part time job.

In the job scenario, you may be lucky to already have a job that pays you enough to survive, so your money situation may be fine. However, don't overlook the concept of investing in yourself to Stand Out. If you don't know how you are going to Stand Out to get your new and more rewarding job, you may need help. And investments take money. Continue on your research and determine how much this investment will be to hire a coach to help you.

There may be some educational costs involved with getting your ideal job as well. For example, many years ago my Imagine was to get a job as a project manager. I knew what being a project manager was about. I did my research and decided that 1) I needed help with my resume and 2) Some education wouldn't hurt. So, I went to get a certificate in Project Management and invested in someone to critique my resume. As I was taking classes, low and behold I got a project manager job!

Time:

Back to the trip scenario. Since I knew the trip was going to be one year, the only other time constraint was how long it was going to take to make enough money to have it to live. I estimated it to be about six months. In the grand scheme of things, no biggy.

And that was it. Yes, I needed to get a passport, shots, research climates etc, but those were details. The big plan was to know what I was dealing with and move on to making it happen (Action).

If you are currently looking for a job and aren't sure how much longer you can take where you are right now, you may have to invest some money to save time. If you are currently secure in a fruitful job, this must not have been your Imagine. It would be great if you would share how you got your job with the rest of the readers as there may be some mentorship tips they can benefit from!

In summary - look at your Imagine. What is it going to take (scope). How long is it going to take? How much is it going to cost? By putting these three things down, you have your plan! Hurray! Now go Enjoy something that is on your "almost free" Enjoy list.

Remember to post a comment on the forum as to how The IMAGE Success System is working for you! Positive reinforcement and feedback are the most important things to a person's ability to move forward. Let us all reinforce each other!