Ambition is the plan. Patience is the budget. You’ll need more of both than you think.

A goal tells you where, and only time tells you whether you can afford it. Nearly everybody underestimates how long the middle takes, which is why so many plans get abandoned on schedule and then called failures. Running out of patience looks exactly like running out of money: the thing stops although nothing was wrong with it. Budgeting the years matters as much as picking the destination.

Take what you are working toward and double your guess at how long it needs. Then decide now what you will do in month five, when it is dull and nothing visible has happened.