To achieve success you need to have a carefully designed plan, a strategy to make the plan work and determination.

Without a plan, you have no idea what you want to achieve, and will wonder through life aimlessly. Without a strategy to make the plan work, you might know what you want, but you have no idea how to get it. Without determination and desire, your plan and strategy are pointless.

I am going to put this into a financial planning perspective. Very few people have sat down and worked out what they want from life: Why they go to work, why they save, why they spend money, and most haven't a clue whether their spending and saving will help them get everything they want from life, because they don't know what they want from life, and they haven't thought about how to get it.

Most people I speak to in a client 1 on 1 situation say to me they would retire tomorrow if they could. Most of them also have no plans in place to retire even one day before the state retirement age. Most of them will get to retirement, and if they haven't got lucky, will live a retirement in poverty.

Can I ask you something. If you want to do something, why don't you do something about it? Ok, it is unrealistic to say that you could retire tomorrow, but how about planning to reach state retirement age, and not be in debt? How about looking at retiring a few years early, and have enough money to have a half decent retirement? What about having a ten year plan to break away from the system, and find yourself retiring far earlier than you ever imagined.

What ever you plan for, it has got to be better than doing nothing. Set your sights high; try and retire 15 years early, and if you only manage to retire 10 years early then that is still great. If you set your sights too low, then you are unlikely to fail, but you might achieve far less than your potential.

We strongly recommend:

1) You set goals. Do this with a qualified life coach or financial planning professional, and they can help you set goals effectively in a way which will give you a much greater chance of making them come true.

2) You create a strategy. Your life coach or financial planner will have experience of what works and what doesn't work. A financial planner will have access to software which will help forecast different scenario's to see what are the better strategies for you to take.

3) Review your plan and strategies regularly. You should read your plan every day, and you should review this and your strategies at least every six months with your life coach or financial planner. Your daily reviews can help you see whether you are getting closer or further away from your goals, and your six monthly reviews can help you tweak your plan and strategy where appropriate.

The alternative to planning is hoping. You cannot influence hope however much you do it, but you can influence your plans and strategies. Good luck with what ever you decide to try.