writeforyour.life - Planning your future transition story: Module 5

Having completed all previous modules, now is the time to turn what you have learned about yourself and your situation into effective transition strategies, including who can support you as you aim for success (remember the transition ‘4S’? We just added a third — success).

Aim

The aim of this module is to help you create a transition plan based on the key situational, self, support and strategic assets and liabilities you identified in previously.

The goal is to set you on the path to transition success, enabling you to continue to grow, develop and prosper.

It is fitting, then, that we will use the GROW model as our template.

The GROW model

While there are many templates that we could use to guide our goal setting and planning, we have chosen this one as it is relatively simple, yet also effective. The four-stage process also incorporates aspects of other models.

It is important to emphasise, however, that the planning process must work for you, so you are at liberty, of course, to explore using other models and adapt and adjust this one however you see fit. In fact, we encourage to do so, as the whole purpose of these modules is to enable you to take charge of your transition process, along with the path you decide to take.

In the first instance though, you might find the following model a useful start point:

Step 1: Goals

To set some future goals, you might draw on the ‘high points’ you identified in previous modules, perhaps turning them into personal and professional objectives.

If you are to achieve these goals though, you stand a better chance if they are realistic and achievable. This does not mean that goals cannot be challenging, but you must have the means and motivation to reach them (subsequent sections will help you evaluate this).

It is also useful to attach a time frame, or time frames if you need sub-goals as part of a larger objective, for similar reasons. This is so you have a realistic aiming point or points, which can motivate you and you can use to check off as you reach your sub-goals and overall objectives.

However, if you miss these targets (or look like you might), it’s perhaps best not to be too hard on yourself. Simply re-evaluate how much longer you might need and/or what other resources you might require, and adjust your plan accordingly.

With that in mind, have a go at entering some motivating and realistic goals in the box below. We will come back to them again, so just some initial ideas will do at this point. (I have provided a brief example here, but you might be aiming for personal as well professional goals, and a lot more than just the one or two ideas I have included.)

Step 2: Reality

Next, to work out how long you might need to achieve the above goals, you need to be honest about where you are in relation to them now.

This honest assessment will also help you work out what resources and support you might need as you work towards your goals.

So, in the box below, simply and honestly state where you are in relation to the above goals. Your story, created in previous modules, should help you do this.

Step 3

Next, try to use the box below to state:

a. the obstacles (or ‘liabilities’ identified in previous modules) that might prevent you from reaching your goals, and

b. what you need to do to overcome them (e.g. what support and resources might help you, such as family help and understanding, financial grants/income, educational and training courses etc)

Again, previous modules should help you identify this.

Step 4: Way forward

Before completing this last section, just revisit your goals, and check they are still realistic and achievable in the time frames set and with the support you think might be available. It might be that additional resources identified mean that you can add more goals and make others more challenging. Alternatively, you might need to adjust some to make them more likely to be achieved. This constant evaluation and adjustment is good practice, and it might be of benefit to do this relatively often as you progress, given circumstances often change.

Once you’ve checked your goals and assessed where you are presently in relation to them, along with resources available to you and any ‘liabilities’ or obstacles that you might need to work around, this is where you draw up strategies to achieve your goals. This becomes your transition plan.

Re-evaluate how much time you need to achieve any previously identified sub-goals on the way to accomplishing overall objectives, and consider the resources that you can, and need to harness (e.g. income/finance, people, organisations, training courses etc). Indicate how you will harness those resources, along with when and how they will be financed etc. This can be as detailed as you wish, but it helps to be realistic and indicate time frames as previously mentioned. Write that plan in the box below or on separate sheets of paper or documents.

With that done, we have arrived at the end of this module, and completed the storying and planning transition starter tools from writeforyour.life.

As with previous modules, don't forget to preview and save your answers by clicking on 'Preview PDF' below, or 'Submit' and then emailing and/or downloading your form after confirming you are not a 'robot' and clicking 'Submit Form'.

By getting to this point, you should have explored your life ‘story’ with the aim of determining what has, and what can continue to motivate you as you transition to a compelling future. Based on this transition story, along with an honest assessment of your current situation and any ‘liabilities’ (obstacles) that you might need to mitigate, you will have begun to identify some realistic and achievable personal and/or professional goals, along with support assets that you might harness as you progress towards them.

So, it remains for us to wish you all the best as you continue to develop your plan and life story!

If you would like to offer us some feedback on these materials, discuss them or need any form of support with them, we would be delighted to help. Please click here and drop us a line.

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Graham Cable (material and website creator)