Against All Odds You Can Win

This simplest lesson in any part of your life is to be both organized and goal oriented.

 No company, person or government can achieve its objectives without having a plan and personal goal setting is no different. It requires a vision of what or where you want to be in the future and even more specifically the plans and tasks that need to be achieved in a verified timeline.

 No person or organization can improve their position in life without clear goals and objectives.

 There are five steps that I share with executives and managers to improve their work and personal performance.

 Step 1 Know Who You Are

 I once worked with a CEO who always said “those without Vision shall perish” of course he was quoting from the Bible. However, the message in these words is clear without a definitive plan you will not get out of the starting blocks in the race of life.

 If we looked at the most successful people today they have beaten the odds because they had a ‘Vision’ of a future they wanted to live and went out of their way to achieve it.

 Often we fail at our goals because we don’t know ourselves as well as we should. The secret to any achievement is passion and without that you will not personally be motivated to act, it will only be a wish.

 If you want to achieve your goals they have to be aligned with who you are and where you want to be in life.

 Step 2 Write out your Vision of your future

A vision statement is no more than two sentences that states who you are and what your purpose in life is.

- Every organization has a “Vision Statement” a purpose for existing.
- Successful people also have one, write yours out as well.
- Why do you exist?
- What is your purpose in life?
- What will you do differently that rewards will come your way?
- Why will others follow or hire you?

It is a discovery process and from here you can begin your goal setting.

Step 3 Goal Setting

Without clear goals there will be no improvement. This is why people fail at dieting, improving their wealth and finding new relationships. We get stuck on how overwhelming it can be and stop there. If you want to win you must take on the attributes of winners and they plan their every move.  

- Write out a very clear and specific goal.
- List out the plans and tasks you need to accomplish to make this goal achievable.
- Set small milestones along the way as a means to measure progress and a reminder.
- Think through the expected tasks that need to be achieved  and how you will go about making them actionable.
- Have no more than three goals and again be specific about what the actionable tasks and plans are.
- Be realistic…..lofty goals always end up as no more than a pipe dream.

Step 4 Review your Goals regularly

- Read out your goals daily.
- How are you progressing?
- Once you have them to memory…review them once a week.
- Optimists achieve their goals much more quickly.
- You cannot will your desires into fruition however a vision and a plan will.
- Do not tell anyone your goals…the must be personal otherwise they lose momentum.

 There is a discipline related to achieving your goals and that is the constant self reminder and focus that will not allow you to deter from your future.

Step 5 Re-evaluate and Re-set

- Learn to write out your goals every year. 
- You can revise your goals once you have achieved them.
- What lies between you and your future has always been your will to act. 

Goal setting will develop your own personal determination and a path to a more happy life.