Building Your First Roadmap
Building your own 33thou Roadmap is a personal affair. How it looks and how you maintain it are both very much down to your preferences. However, whichever methods you choose, there are some basic elements that must feature in it.
However, before you even begin to build your own 33thou Roadmap, for each goal you need:
- 1. An uncompromising determination to succeed.
- 2. A clear vision of what ‘being successful’ looks like.
- 3. The total number of your available 33thou days.
- 4. Your wholehearted commitment, enthusiasm, and dedication to deliver your goal.
- 5. Your acceptance that making mistakes is OK provided you are prepared to learn from them.
- 6. Above all, your readiness to embrace
“I Can”!” – “I Will!” – “I Do!” – “I’m Great!”
Preparation –
Arrange Your Goals In The Order in Which
You Want To Address Them.
It helps if you can prioritise all of your goals, but for now just identify those goals that you want to achieve first. You can come back later to sort out the rest.
You can work on each goal one at a time or, if you know what you are doing, combine a few of them and do them together. Don’t try and do too many at once though, as this can quickly make things unnecessarily complicated. This could cause you to become overwhelmed, resulting in you feeling disappointed with your performance.
Also, grouping goals which are similar in some way, e.g. learning to play musical instruments, can save you time as you’ll be able to benefit from any common eleents without having to relearn them.
So let’s now tackle your first goal.
If you already fully understand exactly what you must do to make this perticlar dream come true, then get on and deliver it. If you are not so sure, then you can practice using 33thou to make it happen:-
Stage 1
Decide How You Will Maintain Your Roadmap
Your 33thou Roadmap can take on a format which suits you. Use a laptop, a spreadsheet, a piece of blank paper, a wall chart, – anything, provided you are comfortable using it and can access it at any time.
Stage 2
Set Out Your Vision Of Success
Develop a really clear picture of your goal. Imagine it in its completed state. Be specific. Describe it as if you were explaining it to someone who has never seen anything like what you are trying to do. The clearer this image is, the easier it will be for you to recognise the moment when you have achieved it. Make this description specific (i.e. avoid blanket words like ‘nice’, ‘pretty’, ‘general’, etc).
Enter these details into your 33thou Roadmap as a broad heading to identify your goal, and add your description of its finished state. This is your target goal. So that you don’t waste any of your 33thou days trying to recall it, your vision of it must be both clear and accurate.
Example
My Goal: Master computer spreadsheets.
Specifically: Learn how to use spreadsheet software so that I will be able to produce a computerised register on my laptop to help me manage changes to the membership details of my choir group. This will include the same details that I currently keeps in my existing, worn out membership book.
Stage 3
Carry Out Your Research
Use suitable reference sources to make sure that your vision really is complete, e.g., on-line, books, contacts etc. Don’t be put off if your research identifies unexpected features. You will deal with these. Compile a list of all the specific skills, information, knowledge, contacts, equipment, materials, etc. which your research identifies as necessary to achieve your goal. This is important!
Keep going until you are happy that you clearly understand the finished state of your goal, and you are satisfied that you know what you must do to reach it.
Identify, assess, and address any significant threats to the achievement of your goal.
Revisit your Roadmap and update your target goal, if necessary.
Stage 4
Identify The Gaps
This stage is extremely important as it will generate key elements of your 33thou Roadmap. Review the list of necessary skills, materials, resources, etc. which you have just compiled to see if you already have any of these. For example, if you have a contact who has already done something similar, record their details. If you have any books, manuals, website details, or other such material, record these as well.
For any equipment or other materials that you are missing, record these as “gaps” in your Roadmap in the order that you plan to address them. – This exercise is called your Goal “Gap Review”.
It highlights any gaps in your stockpile of ‘enabling assets’ required to get you from where you are to where you want to be.
Stage 5
Address The Gaps
Describe each of the gaps identified in your Gap Review in the most specific way that you can. e.g:
– “10 sheets of white glossy card, size A4”,
– “A permit to fish in Blowfield Pond – supplied by J Hargraves”.
Where possible, group ‘gaps’ into categories, such as “Skill gaps”, “Materials gaps”, “Equipment gaps”, etc. Organise them efficiently because you are about to commit your 33thou days in filling these.
For each gap, use information gathered in your research to answer the question, “What must I do to fill this gap?”. Try to be as precise as possible.
Look for answers that are similar, or which might overlap, For example, a skill gap might overlap with a lack of information. An equipment gap might align with a money gap, etc. Identifying overlaps will help you co-ordinate your responses, and save time. By so doing, you need visit, say, the hardware store just the one time to purchase any tools you might need.
Stage 6
Organise Your Roadmap
Organise all the actions you must take into the order in which you intend to carry them out. Work these into a logical sequence.
Hint – it wastes less time if you put your sock on your foot before you put on your shoe!
This approach will help ensure that you acquire your enabling assets in time for when you need them. This process will become easier for you the more you practice 33thou.
Make sure that you include all the actions necessary to address each of your Goal Gaps.
Example (continued)
Well done!
You have just established your very first 33thou Roadmap!
You now know what you must do to achieve your goal and can declare “I Can!”
The gap between you and your goal is already smaller. You are already well on the way to being Great! That’s worth celebrating! You’ve earned a reward. Enjoy it!
The next phase is where you allot your time to complete all of the actions on your Roadmap.
Remember, this is not about doing it all “by next Tuesday”. That’s not how 33thou works.
You are about to allocate however many of your 33thou days it takes to reach your goal.
This is vitally important. You cannot manage what happens between now and next Tuesday,
but you can manage how your 33thou days are allocated to achieve your goal.
It’s up to you to determine how quickly you want to achieve your goal.
Stage 7
Allocate Your 33Thou Days
Determine the the number of days you are ready to stake on completing your goal. This will be worked out from the individual actions listed on your 33thou Roadmap. Against each action, write down the number of your 33thou days you will use to complete it.
If you intend to do several actions in one day, split the day and share it between all the actions. If, however, you only intend to perform one action on a day then, no matter how small it may be, you must allocate a whole day to that action – that’s the reality of your limited stock of 33thou days.
Adding all the days together will show you how much effort – measured in the number of your 33thou days – you will commit to achieving your goal.
Stage 8
Establish Your Key Milestones
Establish milestones on your Roadmap to highlight what you believe are the significant stages of your journey. Milestones identify each of the key points along your route where you will celebrate your progress. They provide an incentive for you to reach each milestone, and reward your achievement when you reach it.
Don’t skimp on these rewards. There can be as many as you like.
They make your 33thou journey much more fun and even more enjoyable!
Your 33thou Roadmap is very nearly complete!
Stage 9
Review And Assess Your Roadmap
Review your Roadmap and assess whether it is fit for purpose.
Compare what it will achieve with what you want it to achieve. Make sure that these are the same.
Ensure as far as possible that there are no obvious omissions in the actions you are set to take to achieve your goal. Also, make sure that you have allocated each action a realistic amount of your time.
Make any necessary amendments to your Roadmap and review it again for completion.
Your 33thou Roadmap is now complete! Well done!
Remember – you can always repeat Step 9 if ever you have to break off from working on this goal and return at a later time. Also, it pays to periodically review your project using Step 9 to make sure that your are staying on track.
You now understand that you Can reach your goal, and you have the time to ensure that you Will reach it! Because of all you efforts so far, your goal is now so much closer to becoming a reality!
You really are doing just Great, so reward yourself!
Stage 10
Follow Your 33thou Roadmap and COMPLETE Your Goal!
You are taking great steps towards reaching your goal!
Now, just follow your 33thou Roadmap. Commit yourself to doing what it says. Complete everything that you need to do to deliver your goal.
Leap the gap between where you are and your destiny!
Don’t waste time. Put your 33thou days to work to deliver exactly what you have planned.
Very soon, you can move on from this goal and start to deliver all the others that are just eagerly waiting to benefit from your hard work and enthusiasm.
The more you practice 33thou, the easier your quest will become.
And with each success, you can declare “I’m Great!”
Let’s Party!
