Over four decades ago I stood on a ridge overlooking a huge Desert and suddenly felt overwhelmed. I had only been out a few times on my own and honestly, they were not the most successful trips I had made. 
I decided to create a box in my mind's eye with compartments and each compartment was a step to the end goal of mining all the while building confidence. These steps have saved me hundreds if not thousands of hours aimlessly wandering looking for gold, over getting on the gold with less effort. 
Today the box is a spreadsheet and before going from one the next, it has to be checked off and complete. 
There is a sense of pure accomplishment when you work a plan and it ends in not just gold but really really good gold measured in dollars per yard over specks in a pan.