In my experience, people who are engaged at work are people who have goals. Setting and achieving worthwhile goals seems to be a common theme amongst successful people from all walks of life. But how many of us know how to do it effectively?
I hope you pick up at least one tip that brings you closer to achieving one of your goals.
Fact 1: Most people don't have goals
That's right, most of us don't have goals ... we have dreams. Just thinking about something doesn't make it a goal. For a dream to turn into a goal it needs to be SMART:
Specific,
Measurable,
Attainable,
Reward-based, and
Time-bound.
Fact 2: SMART is only the start
OK, so you've probably heard the first fact before but SMART is only the start when it comes to setting goals. Author Stephanie Dowrick believes our goals need to also be:
- Authentic - do it for yourself, not others,
- Inspirational - stretches you to your full potential,
- Clarifying - helps you sort out your priorities, and
- Integrating - aligns you with your purpose and values.
Fact 3: 97% of people forget to take the first step
The first step you need to take if you really want to achieve a goal is so simple and yet 97% of people don't do it. The first step is to write down your goal ... and yet only 3% of people bother to do it.
The act of writing it down makes it concrete, almost like a contract with yourself. Some people even go as far as creating visual images to go with their written goals to make them even more real.
Fact 4: The power of 3 will multiply your success
A survey in the USA found that the key difference between millionaires and billionaires was the power of 3. Researchers found that millionaires reviewed their written goals once a day, whilst billionaires reviewed their goals 3 times a day.
So it's not enough to write them down, you must read your goals regularly to cement them in your mind.
Fact 5: Most people give up just before they succeed
Sales is a tough industry. Salespeople are constantly told 'no' by prospective customers. It's really easy to give up when you keep hearing 'no'; but here is the catch - most salespeople give up after the 5th 'no' but most customers only say 'yes' on the 6th attempt.
It's the same with achieving goals. Most of us give up when the going gets tough but if we hang in there, the chances are we will eventually succeed.
Buy Karen Schmidt's Audio Seminar CD from the Resource Centre:
What It Takes To Engage The Generations At Work