Achieving Personal Goals

A lot of this website is devoted to the mechanics of setting and achieving goals. Things like selecting the right goal, being clear and specific about what your goal is and why you want to achieve it, providing you with forms for writing a good plan, how to stay motivated, etc.

These are useful, important subjects which were, in my case at least, very beneficial to my progress and things that definitely needed to be learned and understood.

But there’s another aspect to achieving goals that I don’t think I’ve given enough attention. It involves the issue of what and how we think – having the right attitude, belief in key principles, understanding how expectations affect performance, achievement and success in general.

There’s plenty of evidence that how we think determines much of what we get in life, and plenty of great people throughout history who have confirmed it, yet not everyone fully understands and works at it. That’s why I’ve littered this site with quotes of famous, successful people, to illustrate that certain ideas are consistent to those who realize success:

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind.” – William James (1842 – 1910)

“Our life is what our thoughts make it.” – Marcus Aurelius Antonius (121 AD – 180 AD)

“They can conquer who believe they can.” Virgil (70 BC – 19 BC)

“High expectations are the key to everything.” – Sam Walton (1918 – 1992)

““High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.” – Charles Kettering (1876 – 1958)

Most of the process of getting our head right is enbodied in the acronym HABE (Habits, Attitudes, Beliefs and Expectations), which I wrote about here.

This is also why I’m such a proponent of loading your mp3 player, car CD player, iPod, etc. with audio of people like Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy, Jack Canfield or Tony Robbins and listening to them regularly. These guys have devoted their lives to studying, understanding and teaching achievement (realizing achievement is getting whatever you want) and passing that wisdom along. Learning these principles makes the journey not only easier, but more enjoyable as well.

My listening is not limited to those people, but also anyone with bright, insightful ideas. Seth Godin is a great example. He’s a successful entrepreneur, Stanford MBA, etc, but he’s also just a damn smart guy. He has something to say that clarifies my view of life nearly every day. Robin Sharma is another who has a create message; John Maxwell is another. Find someone who has a ‘voice’ you feel speaks to you.

Things like thinking right about persistence and focus.

Understanding, managing and using failure to move us closer to success.

Optimism, i.e. how important it is to our motivation to remain optimistic that continued effort will pay off.

Character. The idea that how we are, truly are, is far more important than reputation (how other people ‘think’ we are) and that strong character will enable you to hold yourself accountable, even though no one else knows what you’re holding yourself accountable to. Knowing you will do what is right whether someone is watching or not.

If the teachers I promote here don’t resonate with you that’s fine, but find someone who you have determined is a credible, knowledgeable teacher in the area you seek to conquer and get plugged into them.

Find great information, and listen to it as often as you can.

Time and effort invested in getting this kind of knowledge is huge, in my opinion. If we have the right attitudes and beliefs it seems our eventual success is virtually insured. Yet sometimes I’m afraid this kind of ’soft skill’ emphasis might be viewed as less essential. In truth, I would say it’s quite essential. It seems successful people in all pursuits and walks of life have one thing in common – they think in ways that produce the results they want. It’s the same idea promoted by Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich”.

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Setting goals is essential for top performance, that’s no secret. Every Olympic athlete, market leading business or worker interested in retiring before age 90 understands that it helps to set a goal and have a plan for how to get there.

This post is about how to approach your goals. As the saying goes, it’s a sad day in the neighborhood to find out that you’ve climbed your ladder of success, only to find out it was leaning against the wrong wall.

Here’s a proven idea that will help insure you have the right mindset as you make that vital decision about which fork in the road to take.

Think long term!

As with most of the ideas I have, it’s not actually mine. I first ran across this notion in Brian Tracy’s “Eat That Frog”, but it’s easy to see he’s right.

Short-term thinking and the desire for immediate gratification have derailed many otherwise well-intended goal seekers. It’s more appealing to think about getting that new BMW, taking a great European vacation or spending your evenings watching TV, until you begin to realize where you’ll be in 5 years with those kinds of decisions.

Another bit of wisdom I picked up somewhere along the way is that we tend to overestimate what we can do in the short run, but underestimate what we can do in the long run. Think of what you could accomplish in 5 years with a clear goal and a willingness to do something every singe day to move closer to that goal. Fortunes are built in 5 years. Entire lives can be changed in 5 years.

But we more frequently tend to think in the short term, one week or 30 days out, and it can be hard to it’s hard to accomplish something meaningful that soon. We can certainly get something meaningful started in that period of time, but far better to decide where we want our lives to be in 1, 3 or 5 years – not 30 days.

Thinking long term is a good predictor of future success.

Thinking long term is a great hedge insure that your decisions are wise ones.

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Today I’m just updating an prior post (1/2/10).

I just read an interesting post by Seth Godin on his blog today, where he is referencing a post he made 10 years ago. Below is an excerpt from that post. It’s about taking advantage of opportunities, but he also speaks to the idea that we should not let our talents go to waste or be unfulfilled:

“The thing is, we still live in a world that’s filled with opportunity. In fact, we have more than an opportunity — we have an obligation. An obligation to spend our time doing great things. To find ideas that matter and to share them. To push ourselves and the people around us to demonstrate gratitude, insight, and inspiration. To take risks and to make the world better by being amazing.”

About Seth

OK, now back to my original post on Oct 17, 2009 ….

It’s easy to take the path of least resistance. It’s easy to just get by, to run on cruise control, and to pursue things that are easy or safe. There’s only one problem with that (well, at least one) – it robs you, and it robs others, of the benefits of your gifts and talents.
 
I guess this idea depends on whether you hold the belief that we each have unique gifts (call them talents, aptitudes, passions or whatever you like), that we each have something unique and valuable to offer. I believe we do, and I think we have an obligation to use our gifts (a) so they are not wasted, and (b) so that others can benefit from them.
 
The good news is that if you’re willing to get in the game and make use of your gifts, everyone can win.
 
You win, because most of the time, the satisfaction we receive from an activity is proportionate to the commitment and energy we put into it. By investing in the development of your talents, it’s more than likely you will find satisfaction and fulfillment that would have otherwise been missed.
 
Others really win, because your gift and talents are then shared and they can experience the benefits that otherwise would have never been possible.

“The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity.” – Leo Tolstoy

So…

• If you know what your gift is but you’re not using it to it’s full potential, set a goal that describes how you will start to use it, and when.
• If you’re not sure what your gift(s) is, your first step is to set a goal to start trying new things until you find it (it’s out there somewhere!).
• If you know your gift and are already using it, set a goal to use it to accomplish something bigger, grander and more audacious then ever before, so that it makes the biggest impact possible.

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