The self-help inspirational guru, Tony Robbins teaches a “chunking” strategy to methodically reach goals. He gives an example in one of his audios on using chunking to reach your travel goals. Planning an extraordinary once in a lifetime trip to an exotic part of the world can seem so complicated that many people never make the first step.
Chunking is a strategy to break things up into smaller much more doable tasks (chunks) that allows you to break the inertia and move toward your goal.
Here is how this might work……….
1. Get Inspired
One way to get started is to imagine that dream trip that you would talk about for the rest of your life. This is one that you always fantasized in the back of your mind but never seriously looked into. Create a vision of you in that location and imagine how it would feel.
2. Research
Research can be fun and should feed your enthusiasm. Google the location. Go to travel message boards to read feedback from others such as TripAdvisor.com. Go to Google Earth and zoom in on the location. Google Earth has photo icons embedded into the locations. Click these to get a sense of what you will see. I remember zooming in on a remote beach in the Philippine Islands and seeing beautiful remote beaches with mountains along the shore. Total inspiration!
3. Prepare a budget
This often stops people cold but can be simplified. If you don’t have the cash to pay for the trip now, decide how much per pay check you can contribute to a to a travel budget. For example, if you can contribute $50 per paycheck and you have 26 paychecks per year, that would give you $1300 in a year. Many payroll departments can have this money direct deposited into a separate account for you. This gives you a starting point for planning. The length of time for saving the money and amount of money saved per paycheck can be adjusted based on your personal preference.
4. Determine approximate ticket and accommodation prices
Prices change based on seasonal and other factors but with some research, you can come up with estimated prices for plane tickets, a room, a cruise price etc. There are some aggregator sites that will drill down into a lot of the large travel agency sites and give you the best deals out there. See my articles on deep discount plane tickets and discount accommodations. Come up with a budget that fits with your savings goals.
5. Plan it out
With a budget and approximate prices, you can now plan out dates for your trip. Plan on actually booking the trip a month after you have saved enough cash. To keep costs down, plan around the prime tourist season if possible.
6. Remember the details
As the trip date gets closer, remember to plan for the pets, the kids, the plants and potential vaccines. Also, remember to have enough prescription meds and if needed, pills for malaria, sea sickness and stomach sickness.
Breaking your planning into these type steps can take the fear out of the process and get you moving. The most important step for me is step 1, get inspired. If you want to do something badly enough, you can make it happen.
