Year of Growing Rich: Week 15
WHY GOALS MATTER! "Goals" isn't a new subject in selling, but maybe it's time to RETHINK a NEW WAY of setting YOURS...
Week 15 Choosing Your Goals
“To be sure of SUCCESS, saturate your mind completely with your goal. Think and plan about that which you desire…
KEEP YOUR MIND OFF THAT WHICH YOU DO NOT WANT.”
—Napoleon Hill
Life is BIG.
Goals make it bigger. And “BIG” really is available.
In any study of success, achievement, selling, or striving eventually GOALS becomes the topic of discussion. And so it is in our study on GROWING RICH.
My introduction to GOALS as a young salesman was a NUMBER or an amount that was set for me by my manager. “Here’s YOUR GOAL,” he would say to me.
Only later did I learn that true GOALS are so much more than just a number.
And the learning and understanding of setting goals for life has gladly made me a student for life in the art of setting goals.
Goals and learning to set them is a critical component to UNCOMMON SUCCESS. Great minds and achievers have talked and written of them for centuries. Here are just a few of the quotes from some of the greatest teachers of success in our last 50 years…
“You become what you think about.”
—Earl Nightingale, The Strangest Secret
“Definiteness of purpose makes the word IMPOSSIBLE obsolete. It is the starting point of all success. It is available to you and everyone—without money and without price. All you need is personal initiative to embrace it and use it.” —Napoleon Hill, A Year of Growing Rich
“Only 3% of the population have clearly defined their objectives in life.” —Zig Ziglar
“Begin with THE END in mind.” —Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
A goal isn’t really a goal unless you capture it on paper.
And even in today’s computer society, I believe it should be hand-written.
Setting goals is as simple as:
Writing it down
Breaking it down
If you don’t write it down, it’s not really a goal.
And once you write it down, if it really is a goal, you will begin breaking down the how’s and why’s and where’s of achieving it (your action plan). But the most important step is in making the first list.
You can become as sophisticated as you want with the later lists, but the first list is just that…a beginning. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t even have to be pretty. You may write some things and scratch them out because you decide that’s not really your goal.
Goal lists are interactive, they become stronger and you become stronger as you “engage” the list. Think about it, add to it, check off your successes, and gain confidence in the process.
Here are some of the “headings” for your list:
· Discipline goals
· Dream goals
· Development goals
· Destination goals
· Desire goals
· Discovery goals
· Direction goals
· Dedication goals
· Inspirational goals
· Contribution goals
· Spiritual goals
· Financial goals
· Travel goals
· Health
· Wealth
Can you see how it can be a long list?
And once you begin the process you won’t have any trouble coming up with items to put on the list. In fact, later you should go back over the list and take some things OFF…Things that might not really be a goal, for whatever reason.
What do you want to do, or be, or have, or see?
Where do you want to go?
What do you want to become in the process?
And that is one of the most powerful results of setting goals…
What it will make of YOU! What you actually become in the process.
Young people shouldn’t be so concerned with “What am I getting?” or “How much am I making?” Rather, gather up all you can in the life experiences department and ask yourself, “What am I becoming?”
Goals are PERSONAL. And individuals have very PERSONAL reasons for achieving them. A big part of personal development is your goals.
There are scores of success books on goals and goal-setting and “how-to-do-it…”
My List revolves around 4 things:
Purpose (that’s your life and not just your work)
Performance (the work part, what does your “show” look like?)
Plan (what’s yours? Here’s where the goals part comes in)
Passion (The How…how you do it every day)
BIG KEY: Once You Have a WRITTEN GOAL, Find a PLAN and Go To Work On It (IMPLEMENTATION/Taking Action Toward Your Goal).
BIG NOTE: There are many “formulas” for setting goals.
If you’d like mine (which is really a compilation of many others that works for me) email me at Leader@MichaelYork.com and I’ll be glad you send you my E book on UNCOMMON GOALS.
Take some time, I mean a BLOCK OF TIME, and really think about your goals. It’s really a simple process that begins with you…