This post introduces a slight, but very important, change in trajectory for this weekly series. I am going to take you through the theory and advice on creating, setting, and achieving your goals. Whatever they might be. I’m going to take ten years of guidance and reflecting on my job, on what has worked and what has not for the many thousands of people I’ve spoken to, and unleash it all in a project very close to my heart. I’m going to write it all in a book, the sort of book I’d love to give to all of my clients. The kind of book I would be happy to take with me on my own adventures as a reference guide when I forget my own lessons, as I regularly do in times of stress and hardship. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels like that from time to time!

For my working life, Monday to Friday, I have the immense privilege of helping people to imagine, create and achieve their goals. It’s called Career Guidance (or College Counselling in America and some other countries).

Sometimes I’m talking to students who are clear in their aims and have strong evidence to suggest they’ll make it. Other times, I’m talking to people who have wildly over optimistic ideas about what they can achieve and ask me if they think it’s possible. Other times, students will be essentially aimless and hard to reach. People broadly fall into three categories – those who have a clear plan, those who have a few and can’t decide which path to take, and those who have nothing at all. Zilch. The first and third of these types have many similarities, but the achilles heel in both is the lack of focus. The first has too much tunnel vision and doesn’t consider alternatives, even as their goal collapses in ruins around them. The latter has no desire to see the image of themselves, let alone their future self. The reasons for this could include severe mental health issues which require support and proper treatment beyond those of a careers adviser.

Let’s assume you are determined to at least give one or two of your goals a try but you just need to figure it all out. Read on.

Many things separate people who achieve their main goal from those who don’t. But one key ingredient I have noticed is that those who succeed usually have an equally clear Plan B which they are totally happy with, or, cleverly, have incorporated plan B into part of the structure of Plan A somehow. They use Plan B to get themselves fractionally closer to the main aim, and use it as a ‘save point’ at which to make key decisions.

This last method is the one I believe which is a great way of making progress towards your goal. I think this for two reasons.

First, as you travel the distance towards your end point, the world around you and your creative ideas will transform and shift in a similar way to a kaleidoscope. If you’re paying attention to it, the patterns will form ideas and interesting side projects which promise almost endless personal growth, yet with the equal danger of fatal distraction from the main objective.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, master of vision and goal setting, once famously said that ‘time on Plan B is just time away from Plan A’. It is if it is not connected to it.

So how do you square the proverbial circle, and create a hack to help you achieve your main objective without losing time and effort?

Think of your goal as a massive circular walk. Plan A is the high point of the walk, the viewpoint, the perspective you hope to attain and enjoy. Plan B is the junction of paths that you’ll come across along the way, a point at which you’ll be tempted off the path towards other destinations. Are you disciplined enough to keep going? If you are totally happy with reaching the path junction then it doesn’t matter if you are not feeling disciplined. You’ve probably still accomplished something great and seen something exciting.

Forging a career path is similar in this regard, especially with creative projects. Breaking the perceived journey down into sections, and crucially, being totally happy with finishing just one section, is all you need to succeed.

A good real life example of this is studying to become a doctor. I get loads of requests to discuss this on a weekly basis. Plan B here would be to become an excellent healthcare assistant first, and then make a further decision. Yet most people aim straight for the doctor route, which often proves to be overwhelmingly difficult and unsustainable. Why? Because the longer route is misunderstood, misperceived, and devalued as a consequence. It looks too much like failure, especially when it is tricky to describe. Career decision making is as much about forging a new identity as ignoring the niggling doubts, anxieties and fears in your mind.

Chris Hadfield, one of the most successful career changers in history (fighter pilot, test pilot, astronaut, commander of the ISS, bestselling thriller writer, musician, movie script-writer, ski racing instructor and public speaker…) once said that ‘my ambition was to go to the Moon. I never made it, so by my own definition of success I am a failure.’

An extreme example, but if you watch his YouTube videos and listen to him speak, you will see that he has been totally satisfied with every key decision point on the journey.

Plan B is a point, somewhere on your main journey, that in itself, is fully sustainable and makes you very content. Plan A, from this perspective, is simply many, many Plan Bs put together. When you identify even one great Plan B pit-stop, you have an extremely powerful career plan. If you combine this with the discipline to overcome challenges then you have an almost unstoppable career plan.

Further still, understand that if you’re ‘hungry’ enough to have a Plan A in the first place, then you better get mentally prepared for the fact that when you succeed at it, you’ll be then left to manage the void and the inevitable incoming next Plan A. By that perspective, there is never really a Plan A, just a series of points of arrival, and points of departure, should you wish to proceed. The key skill is in successfully navigating from point to point, and managing the problems that crop up along the way. Just think about all those students who qualify as Junior Doctors each year in their mid twenties. You really think they are going to be satisfied at that? No, of course not. Plan A, their ”dream goal” has suddenly been attained and now they think ‘hey, what’s next? I need another goal!’ And so on it goes.

As a mountain leader, if I try to describe the entire route in forensic detail to my clients, they would look confused, overwhelmed and maybe even become mistrustful. Instead, I break it down into 500 meter sections, with a break and a ‘well done’. The learning is gradual, the height gained incremental. To reach the true summit of your potential you must go slowly, sustainably; you must allow time for key decision points, and you must be prepared to both stop, and go back and try another approach if needed. It is very rarely a straight path to the top with no issues.

Think like a mountaineer. Approach risk like a trainee astronaut. Enjoy the journey, summit if you can, but above all, return home safely and not burned out, broken and disappointed.

Plan B is your key to success…