Perhaps one of the skills we have to learn is setting goals and achieving them. Let me share with you some of the most interesting things I found from the book Goals! How to Get Everything You Want- Faster Than You Ever Thought Possibleauthored by Brian Tracy.
Tracy talks about the top 3 percent:
In his book What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School, Mark McCormack tells of a Harvard study conducted between 1979 and 1989. In 1979, the MBA program graduates at Harvard were asked, “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?”
It turned out that only 3 percent of the graduates had written goals and plans. Thirteen percent had goals, but they were not in writing. Fully 84 percent had no specific goals at all, aside from getting out of school and enjoying the summer.
Ten years later, in 1989, the researchers interviewed the members of that class again. They found that the 13 percent who had goals that were not in writing were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 percent of students who had no goals at all. But most surprisingly, they found that the 3 percent of graduates who had clear, written goals when they left Harvard were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97 percent of graduates altogether. The only difference between the group was the clarity of the goals they had for themselves when they graduated.
From that, I realized how important setting goals are and the value of having them written down. It is a key to success.
Here are the steps that you can take to set your goals:
Part 1: Set the Stage
- Start a visioning exercise. Think about the bigger picture, where you want to be, say ten years from now. Be realistic but also inspired. Think POSSIBILITY, not probability. Take time to reflect and visualize it. Ask yourself, what will your business look like and feel like? What might you be hearing, seeing?
- Ask these two questions:
- What do you WANT for your business but don’t have yet? (Anything from financial success to a type or number of clients, joint venture, equipment, and employee).
- What do you HAVE in your business but don’t want? (E.g. Things that waste your time, money, getting in the way of business success— anything that adds stress or cost without reward).
- Identify what’s most important to you in the next year? (TOP 3 Business Priorities)
Part 2: Set Your Goals and the target date of completion. Answer the following questions:
- If you did nothing else, WHAT 3 things would you make this coming year a business success? What would you be disappointed if you didn’t achieve? Be specific
- WHY bother? What outcomes are you looking for? Why this goal? What are the benefits to you or to your business
- WHEN will you achieve it? Pick a date to aim for that inspire but does not drain you.
- HOW will you know you achieved this goal? How can you measure it?
- Identify 7 Secondary Goals – for a total of 10 business goals.
Part 3 – Preparing for Success
- Success Accelerators: What can I start doing, stop doing, do more or less of that will help me achieve these business goals
- Smash Those Obstacles. What could get in the way? If you are going to sabotage yourself, how would you do that?
- What is the best advice I could give myself to achieve these goals?
Part 4 – Taking Action
what ONE thing will you do to get started on EACH goal in the next month? Write just ONE action that will complete towards EACH goal in the NEXT MONTH?. This is the FIRST STEP. Break the action down into smaller steps or actions until you can commit 100%. you want to do more than one action, great, but there must be a minimum of one.
Part 5 – Support and Commitment
Identify WHO will help & support you? What KEY support do you need? Example: Your personal trainer, coach, a friend, gym partner, family, a work colleague. Get specific on how they can support you.
Attached is the worksheet that you can use to help you create a written goal. Do this, and be in the three percent of people who are most likely to become successful!
Download a free Visioning and Planning Worksheet
Watch out for my next blog on how to achieve your goals using the “4 Disciplines of Execution”