Three Keys to Greatness
By Jim Rohn
Awhile back, I went into the studio and created a 56-minute video for teenagers called “Three Keys to Greatness.” Although my focus was for teenagers, the principles I shared certainly apply to adults as well.
Recently I was asked to list these three things using one to two sentences for each. Now for your benefit here they are again.
1) Setting Goals. I call it the view of the future. Most people, including kids, will pay the price if they can see the promise of the future. So we need to help our kids see a well-defined future, so they will be motivated to pay the price today to attain the rewards of tomorrow. Goals help them do this.
2) Personal Development. Simply making consistent investments in our self-education and knowledge banks pays major dividends throughout our lives. I suggest having a minimum amount of time set aside for reading books, listening to audio cassettes, attending seminars, keeping a journal and spending time with other successful people. Charlie “Tremendous” Jones says you will be in five years the sum total of the books you read and the people you are around.
3) Financial Planning. I call it the 70/30 plan. After receiving your paycheck or paying yourself, simply setting aside 10% for saving, 10% for investing and 10% for giving, and over time this will guarantee financial independence for a teenager.
If a young person, or for that matter an adult, focused on doing these three simple things over a long period of time I believe they will be assured success!
More Ways to Track Your Goal Progress
Just wanted to give you a quick update on what’s new with the GoalsOnTrack. We have made some improvements to the goal progress tracking functions so that now you can specify a starting point for your goal. Once you enter a start progress, your accumulative progress percentage will be based on that, toward your goal progress target.
This will be convenient for setting goals like savings goals. For example, if you set a goal to save $10,000, but now you already have $5000 saved before you start this goal, you can then put $5000 as the progress start.
We have also added an option for you to manually update a goal progress, without using the task outcomes. This will be useful if your goal’s measurable progress doesn’t exactly correlate with task completion. For example, for most weight loss goals, you can manually enter your exact weight as a way to update the goal progress. Or for goals like, reading a book, you can put the exact page number as the goal progress.
These new features are entirely optional, and if you don’t need to use them, do nothing as they will not affect in any way how your goals have already been setup.
Harry
Habit Formation: The 21-Day Myth
By Jason Selk
The habits of highly successful people allow them to consistently perform behaviors that breed success. Everything from eating well to responsible spending to task completion and beyond requires habits that make such behaviors part of our daily life. Michael Jordan spent his off seasons taking hundreds of jump shots a day. Cy Young award-winning Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay routinely does a 90-minute workout before practices. The young Venus and Serena Williams would wake up at 6:00 am to hit tennis balls before school. Highly successful people have learned to develop good habits, and it takes discipline, courage and hard work on a daily basis to keep those habits in place. It makes perfect sense to adopt habits that will facilitate success, yet, why are some so difficult to adopt?
Most people believe that habits are formed by completing a task for 21 days in a row. Twenty-one days of task completion, then voila, a habit is formed. Unfortunately, this could not be further from the truth. The 21-day myth began as a misinterpretation of Dr. Maxwell Maltz’s work on self-image. Maltz did not find that 21 days of task completion forms a habit. People wanted it to be true so much so, however, that the idea began to grow in popularity.
Tom Bartow, who successfully started advanced training for Edward Jonesand has since become a highly sought after business coach, developed the following model of what habit formation really looks like:
The 3 phases of habit formation:
Phase 1: THE HONEYMOON
This phase of habit formation is characterized by the feeling of “this is easy.” As all married people will tell you, at some point even the greatest honeymoon must end. The honeymoon phase is usually the result of something inspiring. For example, a person attends a highly motivational conference, and for the first few days after the conference the individual is making positive changes in his or her life.
Phase 2: THE FIGHT THRU
Inspiration fades and reality sets in. A person finds himself struggling with the positive habit completion and old habits seem to be right around the corner. The key to moving to the third phase of habit formation is to win 2 or 3 “fight thru’s.” This is critical. To win the fight thru, use the following techniques:
- RECOGNIZE: Recognition is essential for winning the fight thru. When you have entered the fight through, simply say to yourself, “I have entered the fight thru, and I need to win a few to move past this.” Winning each fight thru will make it easier to win the next. Conversely, when you choose to lose a fight thru, you make it easier to lose the next one.
- ASK 2 QUESTIONS: “How will I feel if I do this?”and “How will I feel if I don’t do this?” Bring EMOTION into the equation. Let yourself feel the positive in winning the fight thru and the negative in losing.
- LIFE PROJECTION: If the above 2 techniques haven’t moved you to action, then imagine in great detail how your life will be in 5 years if you do not begin making changes. Be totally honest with yourself, and allow yourself to feel what life will be like if the changes are not made.
Phase 3: SECOND NATURE
Entering second nature is often described by feelings of “getting in the groove.” Once in second nature, the following are 3 common interruptions that will send a person back to the fight thru:
- THE DISCOURAGEMENT MONSTER: An individual allows negative results discourage him or her into thinking, “This isn’t working, and there is nothing I can do.”
- DISRUPTIONS: An individual experiences significant change to his or her current pattern (e.g., vacations, holidays, illness, weekends).
- SEDUCTION OF SUCCESS: An individual begins to focus on positive results and begins to think, “I’m the special one. I have finally figured out how to have great results with not so great process.”
If a person experiences an interruption that sends him or her back to the fight thru, winning 2 or 3 fight thru’s will bring him or her back to second nature.
Most people want positive habits to be as easy as brushing their teeth. HELLO…LET’S BE ADULTS HERE…being great isn’t easy. In fact greatness requires sacrifice. It requires doing things that others won’t or can’t do. GREAT HABITS ARE FORMED DAILY. Truth be told, good habits require consistent commitment. Highly successful people have learned to develop good habits. Make the commitment to make it past the fight thru, no matter how many times you go back to it, to reach new levels of success.
Six Simple Factors for Successful Goal Setting
It feels good when a goal is achieved.
However, the commitment and patience it takes to stick with a goal and then see it all the way to the end is not trivial. It takes courage, faith and a little goal setting know-how to keep the good feelings coming.
Achieving your goals can provide the energy and the confidence needed to continue setting more goals. Goals help you see where you are today and where you want to be in the future. Goals are the fuel that keeps you moving forward.
Goals can vary in size and effort, but successful goal setting relies on the following six factors. When you combine these simple, yet effective factors and allow them to work together you will find lasting goal setting success:
- It’s conceivable
If you can think it, you can likely achieve it. Must goals start with an idea; a vision. Goals are dreams you want to accomplish. When you use your senses to see, hear, smell or touch your goals then they become more tangible; more approachable and more real.The first task in goal setting is to clearly visualize what you want to achieve. Spend time considering what you want and then burn this goal into your mind. Once there, the chances of success increase significantly.
- It has to be believable
After conceiving a goal, your excitement runs high. You can see the thing you want to gain and with a large dose of enthusiasm you set out to get it. But something terrible can happen along the way – you allow others to tell you that you can’t do it.It only takes one or two negative people to put doubt in your mind. An often inaccurate belief system kicks in and you start believing you can’t do it either. Old tapes play in your head; the tapes that say you are not worthy or smart enough to have what you want.
Learn to replace these lies with the truth. The truth tells you that you are worthy to have whatever you conceive. The truth tells you to believe in your goal because you breathed life into it when you imagined it.
- It must be achievable
Successful goal setting is about achievement. The goals you set are intended to be achieved. To do so, be certain to make them achievable. This starts with being realistic.Even though you have conceived a goal and you believe in its value (and in yourself), now it’s time to be practical and put together a plan to attain it. The expression, “You can’t an elephant in one bite,” is especially true in the context of goal setting. Make a plan to eat the whole elephant (your goal), but begin by taking small, deliberate and calculated bites.
See the whole picture first and then put together this plan with the knowledge gained from past experiences. When an obstacle lands in your path, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Just as there are some negative people in your life, there are also well-meaning people who care about your success. Reach out to these people and allow them to be a positive, helpful influence.
- It must be measurable
Goals need to be specific and measurable so you can gauge your progress and know when a goal has been met. Asking questions like, “When,” “How much,” and “How will I know it has been accomplished?” provide the most common units of measure when assessing goal completion.If you are a freelance writer, for example, a measurable goal might be something like, “I want to publish two articles in Vanity Fair and GQ by May 1.”
This measurable goal has three important parts: (1) It states how many articles; (2) indicates where the articles are to be published and (3) provides a timeline for completion. In this example, the writer will know exactly when the goal is accomplished. Measurable goals not only provide direction; they also give closure so you will know when to move on to the next one.
- It must be stated with no alternatives
In war, when lives are at stake, there is no alternative to victory. Seldom is there the same life and death consequence in the business world, but the stakes can feel just as high sometimes.When setting a goal, it must be stated with a firm “all-or-nothing” way of thinking. A soft goal isn’t really a goal at all – it’s a hope. You can hope to be successful or you can plan to be successful. Setting goals with no alternatives leads to the success you deserve.
- It must be something you want to do
At the end of the day, successful goal setting is about passion. If you have passion for a goal then you are more likely to accomplish it. Your passion gives you the energy to keep moving forward in spite of the negative voices you hear or the obstacles you encounter.Generally, people don’t do anything until they are ready. When setting a goal, if your attitude is anything less than passionate, then you have probably set the wrong goal.
How do you know if you have passion for a goal?
The answer is simple: Make a list of the major goals you want to accomplish. The one that jumps off the page and lands right in the middle of your heart is something you may want to do.
Believe in this one. Make a plan to achieve it. Measure your progress as you go and be resolute that there are no alternatives. When you do, you have mastered the simple factors of successful goal setting.
How to Set the Right Goals for Business Success
By Sue Clement
One tool that will help you with achieving your goals is a roadmap, not unlike what you’d take with you on a trip if you want to get where you’re going. When I was in Paris a last October, as I headed out each day to explore the city, one essential was my map. When I got turned around (ok, I’ll admit it… lost) a few times all I had to do was stop and ponder my map for a few minutes to see where I took a wrong turn or missed my subway exit to get back on track. I consulted it so often navigating my way, that it was tattered in just a few days.
And even in the age of GPS systems, which is just an electronic version, you still need to know where you are and where you’re headed.
When it comes to life and setting business and personal goals, we sometimes overlook the essential of having a map - knowing where we’re coming from and heading to. Here are a few guidelines for setting goals that will help you get where you’d like to go during this new year.
1. First spend time thinking about your values
What’s really important to you? Time, money, freedom, family, community, fulfillment, health, achievement, a trim body, lifestyle, and so on.
Then spend some time ordering those in terms of priorities, limit yourself to three or so but no more than five of them as your top priority values. As you go about setting specific goals it’s important to make sure they fit in with your values.
2. Come up with goals that are compatible with your values – and reflect what’s important to you.
Don’t go for goals just because you’ve read somewhere that you’re supposed to do a certain thing, no matter how reasonable. Make sure it’s something that YOU really want to achieve. I believe that the bigger the WHY the easier to achieve the goal.
Your goals need to be something you’re willing to do the work for and can really get behind so that when the going gets tough you don’t quit.
3. Make sure the goals you set are compatible with each other
If one of your most important values and goals is to live a healthy and balanced lifestyle, or to spend lots of time with your family, you can’t have another goal that would require you to work 80-hour weeks, no matter how good that might be for your finances.
Doing that would set you up for failure right from the start. So look at all of the goals you’re considering next to each other, and make sure that they all work together to help you achieve what’s most important to you.
4. Make your goals come to life
Make your goals come to life by going into as many specifics as possible. If you want a new car, make sure you include details like what it would feel like to drive the car, how comfortable its interior would be, what it might look like (color, shape, and even its specific make and model if you have one in mind).
My favorite is… to feel the sun on my face, the wind in my hair (yes, I’m a convertible girl) the throaty sound of the exhaust as I downshift thru windy roads - and yes, it’s got to be fast and either red or yellow. Just typing this brings it all to life for me and draws me to the goal. So what’s yours?
And if you want to achieve a certain amount of income, don’t be shy - specify your desired income level. It’s okay and even good if it’s a stretch. Just don’t make it so high that you don’t believe you can actually reach it with a realistic amount of effort. And think past just the dollar amount - what would you DO with the income?
5. Write down what you want to achieve
This is the step most people miss. You will greatly increase the outcome of achieving your goals if you write them down. And when you do, make sure you write them in terms of what you want to achieve, i.e., increasing your client base and your profits, not in terms of what you are trying to get away from, i.e., avoiding debt.
While there’s nothing wrong with avoiding debt, phrase it in a positive way. For example, you could resolve to pay all your bills on time and work towards an ever increasing positive net worth.
6. Set aside some time to work out the action steps
Setting goals is just the first step. You can’t just write them down and then sit there wishing they’ll come true. Next, you should set aside some time to work out the details of how exactly you’re going to get there. You’ve got to be willing to do the work.
Mark out benchmarks along the way to check your progress. I’d really be in trouble if I just looked at my Paris map at the start of the day - I needed to consult it occasionally to ensure I wasn’t too far of course.
Coming back to our GPS or map model, the goals are just the destination. The action steps are what will get you there.
7. Goals aren’t written in stone
Finally, once you have them written down; keep in mind that goals are not written in stone. Remember, your goals must be realistic and achievable or they quickly become de-motivating. If they become unreachable downsize (or rightsize) them.
Also, if they no longer fit, no one is going to come and arrest you because you change your mind. Yes, if you’ve done the job of aligning realistic goals well with your values and a big enough “why”, it’s unlikely you’d want to.
However, sometimes your life circumstances may change, and when they do, don’t be afraid to make adjustments. Just remember to go back through the same process and make sure your new goal is aligned with the rest of your goals, and your values, and go for it.
The Key to Achieving Your Goals and Dreams
By Yana Hempler
Most people have a general idea of where they would like to be in life, but unfortunately they spend a lot of time wondering why their goals did not come to fruition. People are always dreaming and wishing, which is great, because every truly amazing achievement begins with a dream.
However, after a dream is formed, certain actions are required in order to make that dream a reality. A dream without action cannot possibly come to fruition, because if it was that easy, everyone would be highly successful in whatever it is that they dreamed of. What separates those who achieve their dreams from those who don’t?
First, turn your dream into a clear goal.Having a general idea of what you want to achieve is a start, but it is not enough if you actually want to accomplish it. Clarity allows you to measure your progress toward your goal. Knowing exactly where you want to go makes it easier for you to see where you are at and how far you still have to go. In addition, having a clear direction allows you to create an effective action plan.
For example, if you stated that you wanted to go to Europe but did not specify the country or the city, there is a chance that you may end up in the part of Europe that you did not necessarily want to visit. However, if your goal was to travel to Paris, France, you would know the critical details, such as which flight to book, how much it costs and where you would stay once you got there. Same goes for your goals.
If your goal is to “be successful,” you need to dig deeper into what success actually means to you. For example, for some success means a lot of money and for others it means having loving friends and a happy family. It’s your job to define what success looks like to you.
Once you’ve clearly defined what you want to achieve, write it down. Writing down a goal solidifies it. You can look at what you’ve written and you can feel yourself achieving it. People often write down to-do lists so that they don’t forget the important things that must be done. Same goes for your goals. If they are important to you, writing them down is an essential step that should not be overlooked. Also, writing your goal down allows you to evaluate it to make sure that it is realistic.
After you’ve written down the goal, you can break it up into smaller steps. People often get overwhelmed when they have a huge goal that requires a lot of work. They sometimes feel like there is no way to reach it because they have no idea where to start. Therefore, it is crucial to have smaller goals, also referred to as milestones, within the goal.
Achieving smaller goals that will eventually lead you to reaching your ultimate goal will help you gain confidence in yourself. Confidence is that state of mind that keeps you believing in yourself. When you are trying to achieve something great, it’s crucial that you don’t get too discouraged along the way when you face some setbacks. This also helps you see that your goal is attainable if you keep working on it.
Keep measuring your progress because it keeps you on track. In addition to keeping you focused, measurement allows you to evaluate what you learned from your journey as well as how to avoid pitfalls for your next goal. Once in a while, it’s important to assess where you are at and what you can do to improve your plan. You can also evaluate the results that you are currently seeing.
Then ask yourself if you are happy with the results so far. If you are, that’s excellent. If you are not, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and revise your plans. This doesn’t mean that you have to change your goal completely, it just means that a slightly different action plan is required.
Ask other people for advice. If you are finding yourself “stuck,” there is absolutely no shame in asking for advice from people who have achieved a goal that’s similar to yours. Most successful people are more than willing to talk to others and provide helpful information.
In fact, they achieved their success through a combination of focus, hard work and information from people who have done it before them. It’s crucial to leave your ego out of this and listen carefully to those who are giving you advice that you can apply to reaching your goal.
Ultimately, apart from accidents and other unpredictable events, you are in total control of the direction of your life. First, your goal must be specific because that is how you will know exactly where to go. Second, you must write it down so that you can see whether the goal is attainable and realistic.
Third, it must be measurable because you want to always be aware of how far you have come and how far you still have to go. Lastly, the goal that you set must be timely because it is always good to have an idea of when you would like to accomplish it. If you don’t know when you want to accomplish something, it becomes very easy to put it off.
If you follow the aforementioned goal-setting strategies, there is no reason why you shouldn’t succeed in whatever it is that you genuinely want.
10 Quick Ways to Give Yourself a Motivational Boost
By Ali Luke
Everyone has trouble with motivation.
Sometimes you need to get something done, but it just isn’t happening.
That’s when you need a motivational boost.
But remember, there are no quick fixes.
In the end, you have to be the one to take the first step.
There are things that can help, however, and today, we’ll cover 10 of them.
- Focus on the End Result
Whatever you’re working on has a purpose. Even if the process is boring or frustrating, the end result is worth having.
Think how useful it’ll be to have all your files organized. Remember that getting a newsletter out to your clients will bring in new sales and repeat business.
- Take a Break
Sometimes, your motivation wanes because you’ve been working too hard for too long.
Take a break.Even a few minutes away from your computer can help you unwind. This is also a great way to recover a sense of perspective, if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the task at hand.
- Go for a Walk
One of the best ways to take a break is to go for a walk.
Even a five-minute walk helps. You’ll get your body moving and your blood pumping, and you’ll return to your work feeling re-energized.
- Write a Task List
Sometimes, your motivation might take a nosedive because you’ve got so much on your plate, you don’t know where to begin.
Write a task list for the rest of the day. Get everything out of your head and onto paper. It’ll only take a few minutes – and everything will look much more manageable.
- Race Against the Clock
Struggling with a tedious task? Challenge yourself to work faster.
Aim to clear your inbox in just 30 minutes. Push yourself to sort that huge stack of files in under an hour. Set a timer, and try to beat it.
- Talk to a Friend
Friends are a great source of support. A quick chat online or on the phone can give you a genuine motivation boost.
If you’re struggling with your diet or exercise plan, call a friend and tell them. If you’re having doubts about your freelance design work, talk to other designers. Remind yourself of the value of what you’re doing.
- Drink a Glass of Water
Are you drinking enough water?
Mild dehydration makes it hard to stay focused – so if your concentration levels are dipping, grab a tall glass of water.
- Alternate Between Two Tasks
Got several big tasks to tackle? Pick two and alternate between them: work on one for ten - fifteen minutes, then the other, and so on.
This helps keep you moving (if you’ve only got ten minutes, you’ll focus better than if you’ve got two hours) and stops you from getting bored with doing the same thing endlessly.
- Tackle an Easy Task
If your motivation is low in general, do something easy. Get one simple task knocked off your list.
That might be sending an email, making a phone call, sorting out a niggling problem with your computer – anything that takes under fifteen minutes. If it’s something you’ve been putting off, you’ll feel great that you’ve finally got it done.
- Write Down What You’ve Already Accomplished
Perhaps you feel like you’re not making much progress towards your goals. If so, get a piece of paper and write down everything you’ve already accomplished.
Maybe you’ve started working for yourself, gathered some testimonials from people you worked with in the past, and found your first client. Those are genuine, big achievements – writing them down will remind you how far you’ve already come.
Goal Setting – The WHY behind the WHAT
By CRAIG HARPER
Our Real Goals
In Personal Development-speak we are always talking about goals, outcomes, success, desires and dreams. In other words, all the stuff we want to do, achieve and create in our world. And while it’s important for us to know what we want to achieve (our goal), it’s also important for us to understand why we want to achieve it; the reason behind the goal or some would say, our real goal.
Exploring the WHY
Sometimes when we explore our “why”, (why we want to achieve a certain thing) we realise that our “what” (our goal) might not actually deliver us the thing (feeling, emotion, internal state) we’re really seeking. For example, the person who has a goal to lose weight in the belief that weight loss will bring them happiness, security, fulfillment, attention, popularity and the partner of their dreams. In this instance, their “what” is weight-loss and their “why” is happiness (etc.) and a partner. Six months later, they have lost the weight (achieved their goal) but as is often the case, they’re no happier, no more secure, no more confident, no more fulfilled and in keeping with their miserable state, they have failed to attract their dream partner. After all, who wants to be with someone who’s miserable? They achieved their practical goal but still failed to have their needs met. So they set a goal to lose another ten pounds. And then another. And maybe just ten more. With the destructive and erroneous belief that if they can get thin enough, they’ll find their own personal nirvana. And we all know how that story ends.
Our Motives
The important thing in the process of constructing our best life is not necessarily what goals we set (what we think we want) but what motivates us towards those goals (what we really want). The sooner we begin to explore, identify and understand what motivates us towards certain achievements, acquisitions or outcomes (that is, we begin moving towards greater consciousness and self awareness), the sooner we will make better decisions for our life, set more intelligent (and dare I say, enlightened) goals and experience more fulfilment and less frustration. We all know people who have achieved what they set out to, only to end up in the same place or worse (emotionally, psychologically, sociologically) because what they were chasing wasn’t really what they were needing. What we think we want will rarely provide us with what we actually need.
Our Internal State
We all set specific goals to achieve/acquire certain things (a job, a car, a partner, a better body, a bank balance, a title, a victory) because on some level most of us believe (consciously or not) that the achievement of those goals will bring us what we really seek; joy, fulfilment, happiness, safety, peace, recognition, love, acceptance, respect, connection. Of course, setting practical, material and financial goals is an intelligent thing to do considering the world we live in and how that world works but…setting goals with an expectation that the achievement of certain things in our external, physical world will automatically create an internal state of peace, contentment, joy and total happiness is an unhealthy and unrealistic mindset to inhabit.
What We Want and What We Need
Sometimes we need to look beyond the obvious (superficial) goals to discover and secure what we really want. Sadly, we live in a collective mindset which teaches that the prettiest and the wealthiest are the most successful. Some self-help frauds even teach this message. If you’re rich or pretty, you’re happy. If you’re both, you’re very happy. Pretty isn’t what we really want; it’s what we believe pretty will bring us. Same goes with money. When we cut through the hype, the jargon and the self-help mumbo jumbo, we all have the same basic goals, desires and needs: joy, fulfilment, happiness, safety, peace, recognition, love, acceptance, respect, connection.
What We Don’t Need
Nobody needs a mansion or a sport’s car but we all need love. Nobody needs massive pecs, six percent body-fat, a face lift or bigger breasts but we all need connection, acceptance and understanding. Nobody needs to be famous but we all need peace, calm, balance and happiness. The problem is, we live in a culture which teaches that one equals the other. If only we lived in a culture which taught that real success is far more about what’s happening in our internal environment, than our external one.
Different but the Same
It’s a commonly-held belief that we’re all very different and we all have different goals but in many ways we’re not, and we don’t; we all want essentially the same things. Now all you have to do is see past the fraud and deception and find the right path.
Goal Setting Using the SMART Principle - How to Make it Work
By Russ Moran
Goals are Dreams Written Down
I don’t know who came up with the SMART acronym for goal setting, but he or she was brilliant. It forms a basis for any step toward setting goals and should be adhered to. Here is what the SMART principle holds. A goal should be the following:
Specific: Define your goal in exact language. This is where you turn a dream into a goal, as will be discussed shortly. This is the mental space that you begin to populate with the tangible stuff. “I will open a new branch within 10 miles” beats “I will expand.”
Measurable: Set forth your goals and their intermediate benchmarks in a way that can be actually measured, both at the end and at every step of the way. The measurement could be dollars, mailing pieces sent, appointments, sales closed, or new clients signed up. Most organizations involved in direct sales have statistics breaking down each part of the sales process. For example, the statistics may show that for every 50 calls you make, you will get three appointments. For every three appointments, the statistics show that you will close one sale. The average commission on a closed sale is $1,200. Therefore, every call is worth $24 ($1,200 divided by 50)—just for making the call. Want $24? Pick up the phone.
Achievable: Is it possible to reach your goal within the set period, given the resources that you will need? Don’t hope that something will show up; make sure you have the resources, or at least access to the resources to make the goal achievable. “I will renovate 100 new kitchens within six months.” Well, that’s very exciting, but you’d better have a contact list filled with subcontractors who have nothing else to do in the next half year. An unachievable goal will only lead to frustration; that will turn you off on the whole goal-setting process.
Realistic: Is your goal based on reality, or is it a fantasy? An unrealistic goal is unlikely to be met and can only lead to your disappointment. If it’s realistic, you can form a mental picture of your goal. Once you have that mental picture, a picture you can really be a part of, your goal will have a real life. A week after opening your doors, I don’t suggest that your goal setting include “I will be bigger than Microsoft within a year.”
Timed: It is crucial to place a time limit for achieving a goal; otherwise, it remains a dream. Timed goals lend themselves to charts, especially bar charts. Think of hospital fundraising campaigns, which are often accompanied by a big bar chart right by the entrance. Every week or month, or whatever period is appropriate, you can gauge the progress. This is one of the fun parts of business. I love working with Excel. I mastered it enough to know how to do all kinds of charts based on the underlying numbers. Many people think of a spreadsheet as a tool for showing them what has happened. Open your mind to it as a tool for charting the future—for goal setting. If you don’t know how to use Excel, you should consider taking a course. It will be worth your time and money.
Most business writers and consultants, myself included, would add one other element to the list: your goal should be challenging. It may not fit nicely into the acronym, but it is essential. Suppose, for example, you are a real estate broker, and you sell an average of two houses per month at an average price of $250,000 ($6 million gross sales per year), and you set forth a goal of increasing your house sales by three per year. This is obviously S pecific, M easurable, A chievable, Realistic, and T imed, but so what? There is nothing challenging or exciting about the goal. How about one additional sale per month, or twelve per year? This would bring your gross sales up to $9 million. Remember, for goals to be meaningful, they must be dream-based. Realistic, yes, but also exciting. Yes, I know that as I am writing this, we are in a horrible real estate slump. But working through the SMART principle of goal setting and adding the word challenging, will get you to your goal faster than by bitching about the market to the folks at the diner.
Goals and Dreams Are For Life, Not Just For Business
As you begin your goal-setting adventure, you should organize goals into categories. The number of categories is limited only by your own imagination, but I suggest that you start with just a few. Here are my recommendations in alphabetical order:
Business Goals
Family Goals
Financial Goals (personal)
Fun Goals
Charitable Goals
Turning Dreams into Goals
Dreams are great. Without them you are really not in the game of living up to your potential. But dreams are fuzzy; they have no sharp edges and can meander into mental mush. Remember Helzel’s book, Goals are Dreams with a Deadline ? Try the following exercise, which is closely tied to the Specific part of the SMART principle. On the left-hand side of a piece of paper, list your dreams, broken down by category. On the right-hand side, turn that dream into a goal by making itSpecific.
Business Goals
Dream: To write a business plan. Goal: I will investigate business planning software and begin the plan no later than one week from this Friday.
Dream: To build a successful business. Goal: To achieve $5 million in revenues and $1 million in net profits by December 2014.
Dream: To own my own office building someday. Goal: I will purchase a four thousand-square-foot building within 10 miles by July 2013.
Dream: I need a better filing system. Goal: I will research different filing systems and decide by next Tuesday.
Family Goals
Dream: To spend more vacation time with my family. Goal: To purchase a vacation house within 100 miles in the next 12 months.
Dream: To have family projects that we can all enjoy. Goal: With my family’s input, I will come up with a list of 12 monthly projects by February 2012.
Financial Goals
Dream: To build a retirement nest egg. Goal: To accumulate $3 million in liquid assets by age 65 (break this down to monthly or at least annual amounts).
Dream: To be debt free. Goal: Meet with my financial planner and develop a plan to be debt free within 10 years.
Fun Goals
Dream: To be a really good golfer. Goal: To knock 10 points off my game in the next year by practicing daily for one hour and taking monthly refresher lessons.
Dream: To learn to enjoy fishing. Goal: I will research and decide on an instructor or group that will teach me how to fish by November 1 of this year.
Dream: To clean my messy desk. Goal:I will attack my desk tomorrow afternoon at 1 PM.
Dream: To learn how to dock my boat. Goal: I will research books and videos on boat docking and decide on course of action by tomorrow at 3 PM.
Charitable Goals
Dream: To give more to charity. Goal: I will donate $5,000 to my five favorite charities by 2013.
Dream: I would like to help combat illiteracy. Goal: I will contact local literacy groups and become a literacy volunteer within 60 days from now.
Goal setting is fun. You might have 10 or more dreams for each of the above categories. How about setting a goal right now? When will you schedule your first dream-to-goal conversion session?
The Jeff Bezos School of Long-Term Thinking
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If you want to know about Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ obsession with longevity, all you have to do is read up about his side projects. You could check out his super-secretive aerospace company, Blue Origin. Or you could look in the Sierra Diablo Mountain Range in Texas, where Bezos is carving out a hole in one of the mountainsides to build a 10,000-year clock using $42 million of his own money.
Why focus 10,000 years into the future? The answer lies in Bezos’ letter to Amazon shareholders from 1997 when the company went public, a manifesto of sorts about the benefits and approaches to long term thinking.
The 1997 letter’s main point: we can’t realize our potential as people or as companies unless we plan for the long term. Every subsequent year Bezos has ended shareholder letters by attaching the original 1997 essay with a reminder of the importance of thinking long term. And every year, he is proven right.
The company that started out as a few guys in a garage has now revolutionized the way we buy everything from books to toys to clothes. Amazon is now one of the 100-largest companies in America, mostly thanks to bold long term plays like the Amazon Kindle.
“If everything you do needs to work on a three-year time horizon, then you’re competing against a lot of people,” Bezos told Wired in 2011. “But if you’re willing to invest on a seven-year time horizon, you’re now competing against a fraction of those people, because very few companies are willing to do that.”
In a nod to Bezos’ obsession with long-term thinking, 99U has combed through a dozen interviews and profiles on the CEO and pulled out a handful of his day-to-day habits that can help you keep an eye on the long term, just like Bezos.
(Disclosure: Bezos is an investor in Behance.)
1. Write out new ideas.
At Amazon, senior executive meetings don’t start out with conference calls or PowerPoint presentations, they start out with reading. Lot’s of it. From a Fortuneprofile:
As Ben Casnocha points out, when you’re speaking it’s easy for audiences to fill in the gaps in your ideas and for you to gloss over the details. By demanding his team to write everything out, it makes them consider all aspects of an idea to make it more durable for years to come.
2. Incentivize team members for the long term: make them owners.
Compared to the lavish salaries and perks of some other established Silicon Valley tech companies, Amazon likes to run lean. The company doesn’t give its employees free snacks, keeps salaries low, and even once (allegedly) preferred to use doors as desks instead of expensive modern furniture. But that doesn’t mean employees aren’t well compensated.
Amazon prefers to reward employees with stock options rather than cash. Bezos explains his logic in the 1997 letter: “We know our success will be largely affected by our ability to attract and retain a motivated employee base, each of whom must think like, and therefore must actually be, an owner.”
3. Follow the “two pizza rule.”
Bezos believes in avoiding complacency at all costs, especially when reinforced by groupthink. From a Wall Street Journal profile:
His antidote? Make his teams as small as possible while throttling communication where appropriate. Bezos said he believed in “two pizza teams”: if a team couldn’t be fed with two pizzas, it was too big.
4. Dedicate time to think about the future.
A 1999 Wired profile of Bezos revealed that he purposefully keeps two unstructured days a week on his calendar so he could allow his mind to wander and generate new ideas. Sometimes he just surfed the web, other times he set up his own meetings.
5. Routinely “check in” on long-term goals.
The same Wired profile reported that Bezos meets with his assistant every quarter to assess his progress on 12 pre-selected initiatives. Mainly, he wants to assure himself that he is spending adequate time on each one by reviewing the past three months of his calendar. The exercise enables him to “check in” to make sure he stays true to his long-term goals and while not getting distracted by new and fleeting ideas.
6. Work backwards.
As Amazon jumps from books to music to web hosting to content creation, its endeavors may seem random, but are all the result of working backwards from a common goal of customer satisfaction. This is opposed to a “skills-forward” approach where people – and companies – let what they are good at determine next steps.
From Bezos’ 2008 shareholder letter:
Bezos even applies this logic to his personal life. When he has to make big decisions he often works backwards and thinks about how he’ll feel about the choice when he is 80. As he was weighing whether to quit his day job to start Amazon, he toldWired that potential regret made him say yes.
“Am I going to regret leaving Wall Street? No. Will I regret missing the beginning of the Internet? Yes.”
