CAREER PLANNING FOR THE 21st CENTURY
PRISM STEP 4
Next Major Steps
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LET'S DISCUSS THE NEXT MAJOR STEPS
Our planning has identified the first and subsequent major steps for each plan to achieve one of our life vision goals. Now, we need to fill out the details for the remaining major steps we need to start, which is Step 4 of the PRISM System.
This involves researching what is involved and the resources required; and then organizing the remaining major steps into their relative priority.
This will prepare us for obtaining the resources for the next major step – which is Step 5 of the PRISM System – and then carrying out the major step, which is Step 6.
As major steps are completed via Steps 5 and 6, we will be re-cycling back to Step 4 to select the next major step to start on.
I have not yet found relevant quotes, YouTube videos, or reference articles. There’s plenty of material on project planning, but they do not address the planning of sub-goals for personal plans, which have different focuses.
The selected YouTube videos involve planning for general projects, and may give you somje ideas.
Do feel free to provide feedback on the YouTube videos, and ro recommend any other material (videos, wuotes, articles).
WHAT RESEARCH DO WE NEED TO DO FIRST?
Our first approach is to find out estimates of the time, skills, money and other resources required for each of the major steps that can be started now. We should also note any time constraints (such as the starting time and duration for training courses).
This research is essential before we can realistically organize the major steps into their relative priority, but it is only necessary at this point to obtain rough estimates.
(There is no purpose in defining steps that we won’t be starting now in detail, as the detail will likely have changed by the time that we are ready to start.)
One part of the research can be talking to people who have achieved the step. Examples are students in a course, or people working in a particular field or for a particular company (if this hadn’t been done when defining our goals).
HOW DO WE PRIORITIZE THE NEXT MAJOR STEPS?
Now that we know what is involved in each major step that we could start, we need to select which ones we’re going to work on now. We certainly won’t be able to start on all of them at once, but it’s probably reasonable to start on sone of those that involve different areas of our life (i.e. different goals).
Everyone’s situation (i.e. plan, established skills, and resource availability) is going to be different. So there’s no set of specific rules – just a few general guidelines.
Start by roughly prioritizing the steps.
Some (like getting into university, or starting a course) may apply to several goals. That may make them more urgent. Some relate to goals that are ‘want to have’ (rather than ‘need to have’); so are less important. Some may not be possible to start for a year or more, so need not be considered at this time.
Select the top few that you can realistically do, and identify a few others in case there are unexpected delays (you have to wait to get into a course, or you unexpectedly get some financing from a parent.)
WHAT INFORMATION DO WE NEED BEFORE WE START A MAJOR STEP?
Now we need to consider each major step that we have prioritised to get started on, and flesh it out into baby steps.
We also need to identify the precise requirements (time, information, skills, money, other resources) by firming up the rough estimates we used to prioritize the major steps. This may be done either at the major or baby step level.