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“The tragedy of life does not lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach!”
- Benjamin E. Mays
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Now that the joy and stress of the holidays has come and gone, almost half of you have created at least one goal that you would like to obtain this year. Unfortunately, statistics show that only 20% of these resolutions will be maintained past Valentine’s day. This is an upsetting statistic because goals are important in each of our lives. And not just from January 1st through January 31st. Setting goals and holding ourselves accountable all year round is important for success and fulfillment in both our personal lives and professional lives.
So, what are your goals? We have six steps below that will help you see your goals through from start to finish, not just until Valentine’s day.
One of our goals is to provide even more interesting, helpful and relevant information to each of you. As many of you know, we not only have this newsletter as a means of communicating with you, but we also have a live and active blog on our website. In order to be sure that we are providing you with relevant information to help you achieve success as we enter this new decade, we encourage you to inform us of topics that you would like to learn more about. You can send them to my email at Peter@pbsconsulting.com. I’m interested in hearing from you.
Strive for excellence, not perfection,
Peter B. Stark and Jane S. Flaherty
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Goal Setting: Creating Your Life’s Dream
& Turning it into a Reality
For the last 20 years, we have had the privilege of working with thousands of leaders. Leaders who are passionate about life and love what they do to earn their living. Leaders who are CEO’s, managers and supervisors representing all types of organizations and industries.
What is important to note is that each of the leaders we have worked with and every one of us who is reading this article are equally fortunate in one way: we are all blessed with the same amount of time each day. Everyone has the exact same 1,440 minutes each day and 365 days each year. Although we are all granted the same amount of time in a day, some people accomplish a lot more in their time than others do.
How are these people able to accomplish so much more?
The single most influential difference between those people who are wandering across the median of life, and those who are the peak performers achieving great accomplishments, is that the peak performers almost always have goals and a plan of how they will turn their vision into a reality.
To make 2010 the best year ever for you and your team, here are six steps to creating great goals and building a successful path to accomplishment.
Step One: Create a powerful, positive, compelling vision of the outcome
Without a clear, compelling, positive vision of what you want to accomplish, it is very difficult to know what goals to set and actions to take. A vision is a clear mental picture of the outcome you are trying to achieve. A great analogy of a vision is the picture on the cover of a jigsaw puzzle box. You know what you are trying to build and what the puzzle is going to be before you even start working on the puzzle.
Once your vision is clear, make a list of all the actions you will need to take to turn your vision into a reality.
Step Two: List the potential problems and benefits
Most goal setters do not take time to acknowledge potential problems. It is important that you take the time to list every problem that could stop you from accomplishing your goal. It could even be as simple as one word such as time or money. If you take the time to list the problems and create a plan to overcome them, there is a good chance that the problems may not arise.
Once you list the problems, compare them to the benefits. The benefits have to outweigh the problems or the problems will stop you.
Step Three: Create a written plan with measureable actions and time frames
When writing out your plan, you need to include both milestones and deadlines for accomplishments. Without deadlines, things always take longer to accomplish. If you were leaving for vacation tomorrow at 10:00 am, between now and then, I promise you will accomplish a ton more than you ever would or could if you were not leaving for vacation.
Once your plan has been written out step by step, you have successfully worked through the plan both on paper and in your mind. At this point, you could actually lose your written plan and most likely you will still be successful in accomplishing your goal.
It is important to note that every action and goal needs to be measurable. Without goals clearly identified, you will still be rewarded, but most likely, rewarded in Heaven.
Step Four: Is the goal realistic and obtainable to YOU?
This is a step that is not discussed much in the literature. The reason I feel it is important is that there are far more people in this world who will tell you what won’t work or can’t be done than there are people who will extend their arm and lift you up with encouragement. Some of you are the type of person that truly gets pumped and motivated when someone tells you something can’t be done. If the goal is realistic to you, GO FOR IT!
Step Five: Be willing to do whatever it takes
In 1982, a little book called The Ultimate Secret, written by an author known only as J.D., shared what I feel is the most important ingredient to your success after you have crystallized your vision. J.D., in his book, says the ultimate secret is asking yourself this one question: Are you willing to do whatever it takes to successfully accomplish your goal? If you can answer yes, then nothing will stop you. If you are not willing to do whatever it takes, there is a good chance that one of the problems you listed is going to be too big of a mountain for you to climb.
Step Six: Celebrate your successes today!
Life is short. It is over in one heart beat. If you wait to celebrate your successful goal accomplishment, you may never find the time. Celebrate what you have accomplished today and set new goals for tomorrow.
I have found out the hard way that life is short, at its best. Dream big. Set Big Hairy Audacious Goals. Believe in yourself. Take Action. If you do so, you will be a person who out accomplishes the wandering generalities of life. When our time comes to leave this world, we all want the ability to say, “I made a difference and left this world even better than I found it.” I encourage you to set goals and make a positive impact.
Need help? Peter Barron Stark Companies has been building organizations where employees love to come to work and customers love to do business for more than twenty years.
Our Services Include:
Please visit our website,www.peterstark.com, contact us via email, peter@pbsconsulting.com or call us toll free, 877.727.6468.
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