I’ll start by saying I’ve seen this approach succeed twice in the past 3 months, so I’m starting to believe that there may be some merit to it.

I’ve found that clearly identifying and making known what you want out of a situation can do nothing but help your cause.

Most situations have 4 critical components:

A) Your current state
B) Your desired state
C) What you are willing to do to get from A to B
D) The person who ultimately has to say yes

We all know what A is. But what often goes unmentioned is B. And if you haven’t made it clear to D what B is, then how can you formulate C?

“I am an intern and I want to be hired.”
“I am an Assistant AE and I want to be an Account Executive.”
“I have a 3.5 GPA and I want to have a 4.0.”

…”and here’s my plan.”

So if you are not where you want to be, consider this approach:

1) Determine B.
2) Put on C on paper and get buy-in from D. Execute the plan and update D frequently on your progress. Keep B top of everybody’s minds.
3) D can’t say no.

So, what’s your plan?