Importance of Milestones

“Sir, which way to Jammu?” Asked my father as he parked the car near a small restaurant.?“Keep driving 20km straight and you’ll see a big Hanuman temple. Take a left from there and continue following the milestones towards Jammu,” replied the restaurant owner with confidence while bringing some tea for us.?

As I rolled up the window by my side, I wondered whether he really knew which direction Jammu would be. Did he have a sixth sense, or did he have a photographic memory of the Indian map? What else could a 10-year-old think??

While this story dates back to 1984, my question still remains - how would people travel far and wide without Google maps or any kind of a physical navigation system? Back then, my dad would?stop at different villages or restaurants to ask the locals for direction. And that’s how we drove 1600km from Delhi to Jammu and reached our destination in time.?

What was the reason? I believe that any journey we take in life, be it even towards our life goals, comprises of four essential things:

1. Clarity of destination

2. Clarity on how we are going to get there

3. Availability of resources

4. Setting Milestones?

This may seem common knowledge, right??

Let’s ask ourselves few questions:

1.?????What is our 5-year goal?

2.?????Where will we be at end of 4th year/ 3rd?year/2nd year and 1 year?

3.?????Most importantly where will we be after 6 months/ 3 months/ 1 month/ after 15 days/ 1 Week?

4.?????And What steps are we taking today to reach where we suppose to in next 24 hours?

We are not alone, apparently, only 3% of the people in the world actually have their goals written on paper, which means the first step is not clear for many of us. While we all want to be successful, not many of us are able to define what real success means to us.?

Let’s ask ourselves, how do we define success? Buying a car, owning a house, having a certain bank balance or just having enough for food, clothing and shelter? Nothing is Wright or Wrong, No one gets to be wrong, not even me for spelling the right as Wright. Our definitions could vary, what matters is do we actually have one written down? Unless we know where we want to go, success will always seem a farsighted destination.?

And once we know where we wish to reach, ‘how’ comes next. How are we going to get there? Now imagine, what if my father did not have enough money to fund the whole trip from Delhi to Jammu? Or what if he did not trust any villagers or other shop owners that he came across? Would we have ever been able to reach our destination? Probably not.?

Realistic understanding of what resources we need to accomplish our goals is very important. If I wish to start a business today, how much money do I need? Who is going to work for me? Do I need coaching? If yes, whom do I approach? We need to properly assess every angle of the situation and prepare accordingly. Everything comes at a price, even life goals. Right from toil, sweat, perseverance, determination, learnings and effort, every single ingredient has its own place and flavor in the dish called success. So what price are you willing to pay to achieve your goals, that should be clear.?

Many of us must have pledged to go to the gym and become fit. I remember when I started, I paid for a full year’s membership but I would often find myself snoozing my morning alarms, barely working out, eating outside quite often and then wondering why am I not losing weight.?

Well, the fact is that I never sat down to understand what I had to give up to achieve what I wanted to, be it food, rest or laziness. And this is where most of us go wrong. If we prepare ourselves mentally, emotionally and financially to achieve our goals, wouldn’t things become a lot easier??

Pankaj Gupta Executive Director -?BNI Deira, Dubai, UAE

Executive Director - Corporate?Connections, Dubai, UAE?