If you have studied success for any length of time then you will have come across the system of setting a goal, writing an action plan and then putting the plan into practice. It sounds simple but in reality this doesn't work, for most people, because they don't know the key to writing an effective action plan.

The typical approach to preparing an action plan is to start at where you are now and then try to write down the steps that you would need to take in order to reach your goal. What's the problem with this approach? The problem is that you are doing it backwards.

The key to writing an action plan that works is to start at the goal and work back to where you are today. Let me explain.

I'll use a simple example in order to illustrate the process. Let's imagine that a particular person sets a goal to buy a million dollar house. They start the action plan process by asking the question "what would I need to have immediately before I could buy the house?"

There are several answers to this question. One answer could be a million dollars cash. Another could be a combination of money and a loan. If the person could currently qualify for a half million dollar loan and they already own a house worth $600,000 then they could already be in the required position if they sold their current house.

But what if their circumstances were that they owned no house, had $50,000 in savings and only earn enough to qualify for a $200,000 loan. From this information they realize that they are about $800,000 short of the mark.

The good news is that they have made their goal more specific; raise another $800,000. Again they ask the question "what would I need to have before I had $800,000?" As before there are many possible answers. Let's say that they come up with the answer that they would need $400,000 plus a system to double the money.

All our imaginary person has is $50,000 and no system. Now they see that the system is the most important component, because if they had the system then $50,000 could be doubled to $100,000 which could be doubled to $200,000, which could be doubled to $400,000 and then they would be in the position they need to be; they would have $400,000 and a system to double it.

So now they know that their new goal is to find a system for doubling their $50,000.

After they do their research they discover that there is a town nearby where they can buy land for $50,000 and then borrow $100,000 to build the type of house that would sell in that location for $250,000. They calculate that they would have to pay interest, taxes and selling expenses of up to $50,000 once they sold the house.

A quick calculation shows that the $250,000 sale price minus the $100,000 loan minus the $50,000 of interest and additional costs leaves them with $100,000 profit. They now have their system for doubling their $50,000. Now they know that they have two action steps to follow; find appropriate land and talk to their bank.

If they had tried writing their action plan from where they are now instead of working back from where they wanted to be they may never have realized that their best action step in the plan to own a million dollar house was to look for a $50,000 piece of land.

Please don't get hung up on the figures, this is simply a hypothetical example used to explain a process. Now it's time to go from a hypothetical to a real situation. It's time for you to try this step back method on your own goals.

Start with your goal in mind. Keep asking what you would need immediately before that and work back until you get to a point where you have an action step that you can take today.

The strength of this method is that it turns goals into concrete steps and it brings those steps back to a size that you can relate to and believe in. You then set your focus on the immediate step that you are doing. Because you are focused on a relatively simple step that you can relate to and believe in, it is much more likely to actually get done.

When you are using the traditional method of trying to devise an action plan from the perspective of where you are now, you are far more likely to be distracted by the size of your final destination and not really see a valid series of relatable steps that will take you there. You can easily become overwhelmed and abandon the quest before it is begun.

Try the step back method on your goals today.