Do you have a vision?Do you know where you want to be in 5 years? How about 10 years? What about next year? If the answer is no, then you're living your life by accident. What do I mean by that? Well, think of it this way: you can't reach any destination if you haven't got one in mind. If you get into your car and simply start driving, you'll end up somewhere by accident. You might be an excellent driver, but you'll have no idea where you're going.
Enter the world of goal setting. Now, this isn't new. You've probably even set goals for yourself in the past. But what happened? My guess is that one of several things happened to make it nearly impossible for you to reach those goals.
What is goal setting? Goal setting involves establishing specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-targeted (S.M.A.R.T) goals.
Specific: Your goals must be precise. If you want a red Ferrari, it isn't enough to say you want a flashy car - you want a red Ferarri.
Measurable: Your goals cannot be intangible or unmeasurable. If you want to lose 50 lbs, earn an extra $50,000 per year, and spend 10 more hours per week with your family, those are things you can measure. On the flip side - how can you measure: I'd like to lose some weight, earn some more money, and have more family time. How would you know you'd reached your goal unless you could measure it?
Achievable: You've probably heard some guru say, "Reach for the stars!" Hogwash. If you set your goal too high, you're only setting yourself up for failure. Humans like positive reinforcement. That means you must be able to see progress and you must be able to see the finish line to be self-motivated. I don't advocate having a single finish line - quite the opposite, but for now, you need achievable targets.
Realistic: Ever heard the Miss America speech about ending world hunger? I have, and I didn't believe it either. Rather than world hunger, why not make the goal more realistic? How about ending one person's hunger today? Applied to business, this could be, "Be the number one car salesperson at my company," not, "Be the best salesperson in history!" You might eventually get there, but again, how would you measure that?
Time-targeted: Just as you must have a map to arrive at your destination, you need to have a target arrival time. Without a time target, the normal human response is to put off action. Set a goal, set a time frame and you'll have something to shoot for.
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