In Ray Dalio’s book, Principles, he lists a 5-step process for how to make progress on your goals:
- Identify your goals.
- Encounter your problems.
- Diagnose the problems to get to their root cause.
- Design changes to get around the problems.
- Do what is needed.
In short, you must constantly measure your current outcomes against your desired outcomes and then take action.
You need to know what it is that you want, you need to know what is true right now, and then you need to decide what you are going to do about it.
Side note. Ray’s process of ownership, diagnosis, and action is almost identical to something my wife and I have been working on with our three younger boys. We are trying to teach them to take ownership of their own problems, consider cause and effect for various outcomes and solutions, and then make a choice and act.