8 Ways To Take Action And Chase What You Want, Even If You Don't Have A Plan

We've sifted through the inspirational quotes on our #MondayMotivation Pinterest boards, listened to the inspirational TED Talks and soaked in all the pep talk to finally go forth and pursue the thing we really want.

Neat. But now what? We don't have a plan yet, are you kidding? And to those of you blessed souls who do, I tip my Type B hat off to you. But really, what many of us fail to realize is we don't really need a rigid plan that'll guarantee us success.

After all — if you'll pardon the analogy —we all sort of just up and started playing Pokémon Go, didn't we? Unless there's some secret rulebook getting passed around, I sure as hell didn't know what the fuck I was doing when I went on to catch my Pokémon.

What I did learn over the course of my Poké-career is that it takes a lot of trial and error, help and hacks from other players in the game and just moving around to get the things we want.

See where I'm going with this?

TL;DR: Here are eight ways you can take action to go after what you want because, let's be real, you don't actually need that master plan:

1. Get rid of the blueprint.

Thanks to social influences, we seem to have it in our heads that there's just a general way of doing things, like some overarching design we have to figure out how to follow.

But there isn't. Stop assuming there is one and that you're following it wrong/don't know what to do. You'll be more prone to recognizing things as failure and get discouraged, rather than seeing the potential of an opportunity.

That, and you can close yourself off to a lot more options that may get you closer to what you want in a way you hadn't considered.

2. Turn later into now.

I'm not saying anything new here, as we all know procrastination is the ultimate self-imposed obstacle to getting from point A to point B, despite how badly we want to get there. Because “later” is so much easier, and who doesn't love hitting that snooze button?

There's some pretty good advice out there on beating procrastination, and I find it easiest to start with the small, baby steps. Breaking it up and tackling a little bit at once, or really focusing your energies on getting one thing done right then and there will make getting it done that much more realistic and manageable.

So, even if it's just a matter of sending that email or asking that question to get things started, just do a little bit of it. There's nothing stopping you.

3. ASK.

If someone is already doing what you want to do, tap into those resources. You'd be amazed at the kind of insight and/or valuable help you may receive if you just ask someone.

There's no shame in expressing that you want to be doing what another person is doing, that you want to be where another person is. Brownie points if they can help you get there in some way.

Oftentimes, we get held back by a certain pride that may come across as defeat if we have to ask for help. Or maybe it's the assumption that we'll be bothering other people.

Whatever it is that's holding you back from just reaching out, I promise you'll at least learn a lot more from asking than if you stay silent.

4. Do your research.

If you don't have an accessible human resource IRL, thank goodness we live in a time where we have the rest of the world is at our fingertips.

Start sleuthing through the internet. Dig into the how's, the what's, the who's, the where's, the when's and the why's of getting what you want.

There is so much valuable information you can stumble upon that will help you better understand and push you in the right direction.

5. Keep a healthy balance of open-mindedness and focus.

It's important to keep an open mind when it comes to pursuing anything. You never really know what can happen, especially without a plan, amirite?

Having the flexibility to embrace whatever experiences, people, failures, successes, etc. come your way will only help you move forward and not get stuck on one process/outcome you've had ingrained in your head.

At the same time, you obviously want to hone in on what it is you want. You want to ensure that you reach your goals without getting sidetracked.

So, make sure to check in with yourself often and ask yourself if you are where you want to be and/or what else you can do to change that.

There are hidden opportunities everywhere... who's to stop you from creating one for yourself?

6. Understand why you want it.

Sometimes we want things seemingly without any rhyme or reason. But more often than not, there's a pretty damn good reason why we want that thing, even if it's buried deep within us.

Understanding what it is that drives you to want that job, that person, that life, is what will help get you closer to it. Without realizing it, that motivation is what will act as your pseudo-plan.

Because this reason, this "defining" of desire, if you will, makes it all the more real and attracts the things to help you get it. Or at the very least, pushes you there.

7. Recognize the opportunities and seize them, or CREATE them.

There are hidden opportunities everywhere. And even if you can't quite see them or really don't think they're there, who's to stop you from creating one for yourself?

Put yourself in the right place, at the right time. Make time or use spare time to educate yourself and act on what you've learned.

Go out of your way to talk to someone. Use failures to find a different course of action for the future. You don't have to wait around for that golden opportunity that finally says, yes, you can finally have what you want.

No, that's your choice to make.

8. Remind yourself you deserve it.

And perhaps most importantly, never forget that you are always worth it. You deserve to be happy. You earned what you have.

Don't deny yourself that with some silly self-doubt just because you don't think you have any of it figured out.

I mean, this is you we're talking about.