How to meet or succeed with your goals
So often people will make plans and write down what they hope to achieve. It can be shown that this is a good way to succeed, but many fail to accomplish their goals.
I hope to use this thread to discuss ways to make it more likely that you will create achievable goals and more clearly see a path to completing them.
I'm a big Brian Tracy fan and for goal setting (and successful achievement!), I recommend his 2 books/audio books Eat That Frog and Flight Plan.
I haven't read either book, could you give us a synopsis.
Personally I have found that one of the most important things in goal setting is starting with a long term goal and refining what it might take to get there. These would be sub-goals. It is often a good idea to further define these down to were you have daily and monthly action items that lead you down the path to reaching your ultimate goal(s).
That hits the nail on the head - the old Chinese proverb that a journey of 10,000 miles starts with the first step. By breaking the end goal of 10,000 miles down into smaller individual sub-goals of individual steps and before you know it you are arriving at your destination. I also recall the memory jogger SMARTER:
Specific: Goals must be detailed and clear.
Measurable: Must be able to track progress.
Attainable/Achieveable: Challenges you to capacity.
Realistic/Rewardable/Relevant: Match values & beliefs.
Timely: Set a timeline. 1-yr/5-yr/10-yr or for annual goals = Annual/Semi-Annual/Quarterly/Monthly/Weekly/Daily.
Effort: Effort is required.
Reward/Review/Revise: Review often and revise them to keep on track.
Hope this will help out.
Great acronym Dale. It all starts with knowing where you want to go.
Making your goals measurable is an important part of goal setting as well. It is important to know that you are making progress towards your goal.
A salesman that want to make at least vacuum cleaner sales in a month. Need to know how many potential customers he might have to get in front of. He also needs to know how many calls or other lead generating tasks it will take to get these appointments.
With this information it is not hard to know what needs to be done each month to achieve the likely outcome of completing your goal. It gives you a way of also measuring your progress toward the goal.
Charles--I don't know about synopsis, but....Flight Plan likens goal setting (and achieving) to being a pilot that goes through a pre-flight, in-flight and post-flight checklist. I know that probably sounds simplistic, but it does talk about more than that, as important as that is itself. It also goes into activating the Superconscious mind to help find ways to blow through obstacles in the path to goal achievement; imagining worse-case scenarios and how to deal with those, etc.
Eat That Frog was a fun read that talks about how every goal can be broken down to smaller steps. Most of us know that. Now these smaller steps aren't of equal value: some of these steps taken will more quickly and powerfully propel you toward you goal achievement than others, but these are often the more difficult steps to take. He (Brian Tracy) likens these difficult steps to eating a big, ugly, hairy frog. If you can down one or more of those, you are well on your way to goal achievement success! I know that maybe doesn't make the most sense or sounds like that most enticing book, but I really did find it helpful and like I mentioned before, it was a fun read! :)
I know that my comments don't really do either book justice, but I hope someone finds then useful.
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Good comments above!
Another way to be successful is to lower your expectations! LOL
Really, setting unrealistic goals is not good for you. Making your goal to make your first million in five years is possible, but is it realistc, given your ability, knowledge and determination? Maybe if you stretch that out to 7 years, you'll hit your target. Setting unrealistic goals can demoralize you quicker than anything.
I suggest that money not be your goal, that you break down the target to hit as a number of deals, or a number of units to acquire with certain attrinutes. I found that doing the deal was alot more interesting and fun than shooting for a dollar profit that had to be reached. The money will come.
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Love this topic.
Brian Tracy is really good. Some other great Autohors/Experts on goal setting agree that "Thinking from the End" is the best way to achieve all the things that you want.
Bill has a good point. Goals need to be realistic, but also should be made to stretch you or take you out of your comfort zone.
There seems to be two thoughts on goal setting that Bill touches on.
1. Set them High - "Aim for the stars cause even if you miss you'll still hit the Moon" -which is good if you are super driven. This method can burn you out and be a little demoralizing if you can't bear not meeting your goals. If you can step back and still be proud of what you have accomplished then this method may be good for you.
2. Being Realistic with your goals, which bill covered well in his post.
Another thing I do is try and make myself uncomfortable everyday. I look for ways to stretch my comfort zone as much as possible. Speaking to new people, making 20 extra calls. Door Knocking. Whatever it is - if you are always going a little further than your comfort zone then you are growing and in turn getting closer and closer to your goals.
Mat,
Good comments about making yourself uncomfortable. Some people say you should do something that makes you uncomfortable daily. I don't disagree, but I can't say that I make it happen with that kind of frequency.
Then again, some stretches are more powerful than others. A few things I pushed myself to do this year that I didn't know if I could beforehand:
1) climb to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro and
2) jump out of a plane at 10,000+ ft!
a few other things I've pushed myself to do over the last few years:
3) walk across glowing, hot coals
4) break a brick bare-handed
5) lie on a bed of nails
6) break a beer bottle bare-handed
7) execute a full side split between chairs (like Van Damme)
and numerous other lesser "victories!"
I realize that none of this has anything to do with real estate, but I enjoy challenging myself to my psychological, as well as physical limits & I look back on my achievements and think, "Hell, if I can do ____, I can certainly do _____." My 2 cents. :D
Kevin - thanks for sharing something about these books. Sounds like they might prove very useful to anyone working on their goals.
Bill - I agree that realistic expectations are important. I also agree that it is important to understand the other steps that can make it possible to get their. Many of which have no money attached, but will create money done the road.
Marc - stepping out of your comfort zone consistently is a great to whittle away any fear that you have. Fear is associated with the unknown and if you keep stretching your limits that will broaden your perspective.
Kevin - not sure that I want to challenge my physical limits as you have. I'm sure though that does help stretch your vision of what you can be and do though. Power to for have the courage and willingness to try anything like this.
You absolutely never know what you can do until you try. One failure doesn't mean that you can't do it either. Sometimes you have to keep working at it.
Great topic! I'm a big believer in breaking goals down into sub-goals (divide and conquer) as Charles mentions. This is something I've used very successfully in my day job, and am now porting over to our REI. Many people become overwhelmed, or find it hard to believe in, the big goal due to how difficult it initially is. Divide and conquer turns it into a series of steps that often aren't really that difficult by themselves. I think the hardest thing for a lot of people is believing that this series of small steps will indeed lead to the big goal - especially when you may not know what some of the later steps are, or how to accomplish them. That's where believing in yourself comes in, which is something which must be built over time. The great thing about divide and conquer is that it gets you actually doing something about your goals (the first sub-step), rather than sitting on the sidelines just hoping the big goal happens some day.
Another thing that I think is really important is knowing what your goals really are. There is a great exercise I once read about in an article by Tom Hess, a guitar guru (I'm a pretty serious guitar hobbyist in my spare time) who writes a lot about goal setting. It may have been attributed to someone else, I can't remember for sure. Anyway, the exercise asks you to write down what your biggest goal is. Then, imagining that this goal is already achieved, asks you what you would now have that you didn't before the goal was achieved. And now that you have that thing, what do you have that you don't currently have, and son on. For example, roughly paraphrased version:
Q: What is your biggest goal?
A: To be rich!
Q: Ok, imagine you are rich, what do you have that you don't now?
A: I wouldn't have to work.
Q: If you didn't have to work, what would you have that you don't now?
A: I'd have time.
Q: If you had time, what could you do that you can't now.
A: Well, I'd be able to spend a lot more of it with my family.
Q: If your real goal is to spend more time with your family, are you spending as much of it as you can with them, right now?
Makes you think, huh? I've found this to be a great exercise that can quickly lead you to a better understanding of what your real goals are.
Originally posted by Harry M.:
Q: What is your biggest goal?
A: To be rich!Q: Ok, imagine you are rich, what do you have that you don't now?
A: I wouldn't have to work.Q: If you didn't have to work, what would you have that you don't now?
A: I'd have time.Q: If you had time, what could you do that you can't now.
A: Well, I'd be able to spend a lot more of it with my family.Q: If your real goal is to spend more time with your family, are you spending as much of it as you can with them, right now?
this is a great exercise , I remember we did this in college and it really helps to break down what your TRUE goals really are and can lead you to realize that you are attempting to accomplish something for the entirely wrong reasons or that there are better ways to get to your ultimate goal.
another concept that was in a recent class talked about decompiling your goals from the end and work backwards to the beginning to map out your steps.
If your main goal is to develop a certain amount of income via rental properties, than you have to own a certain amount of them, to own them you have to acquire them , to acquire them you have to find them and fund them , to find them you must search blah..blah ... blah... to get the money you must ...... blah .. blah .. blah .. until eventualy you get down to your first step.
of course , just like algebra , you may want to walk though it forward too just to make sure it still makes sense. Each step then can become a small attainable goal.
we set the goal of getting this property when we were in dire straits and knew that the only way to pull ourselves back out again was to become property owners once more. We made a five year plan with indications of where we would like to be at the end of each year and how we would know we were there. By staying focused on each of the smaller steps - the larger goal simply comes together by design. It's the end of "Year one", and we have our first investment property ( after having none for 4 years) just as we had planned and are now taking steps towards our second one which we are hoping to acquire within a year to a year and a half.
Understanding where you want to be say 10 is the cornerstone of the whole process. All of the rest of your goals support that main goal.
Harry you describe an excellent exercise that can help in defining the real focus of your life. This can be an important exercise because this is what you want o build all of your mid range and short range goals around.
So, every goal should be an action item and be easily measured. If you can measure your goals it helps you see the progress you are making towards the ultimate goal.
Some never get going and have "paralysis by analysis".
The goal is nothing will ever be perfect you just have to get started and constantly revise along the way.
So many people look for a reason to not do something that they never get going with anything.
Fear of failure,fear of success,fear of making a mistake,having doubts are all mental roadblocks.
I ran 14 miles the other day without stopping.I am 25 pounds overweight but still had an 8 minute plus average.
People always tell me they can never do that and can't believe I can.The point is they never know because they never TRY and find out.
Some is physical but most road blocks are mental and people give up with their mind way before their body does.
Most are looking for that silver bullet (the next greatest toll that will make you rich beyond your wildest imagination! )
Consistency and small steps will get you to your goals but it is not as sexy and glittery as the magic pill many want to swallow.
Smart work,determination,consistency is the key.
Joel, I have to agree that many defeat themselves before every getting started. Others fail to plan which turns into planned failure.
Fear can rob us of so many things.
What was that quote...help me out here, Charles...."The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself!" (That is how it goes, right? lol)
Yes, and so true.
It is also easy to say there is no time for planning or goal setting. Which usually is a recipe for disaster as well.
"No time." Is all too frequently uttered. As we all know, we all have 24 hours. It falls to how we choose to allocate our time. Do we choose to spend time doing yardwork that we could pay the neighbor kid $10 an hour to do, while we could be potentially making double or triple or even more that amount working on real estate? Do we have the TV on the average of, what is it now, like 5 hrs/day?? Time...use it wisely.
Kevin, I agree. How to better use your time is an important aspect of goal setting.
As a CPA, I'm confronted with business owners frequently that get caught up in work and then long periods of lean because they didn't take anytime to market when they were busy.
Planning and then of course implementing your plan can mean greater stability, more time for family, less business risk, more opportunities, etc.
Sometimes time can be used frivolously for things that neither produce income or eventually create income. Establishing clear goals can help a business owner make better choices for how to use their time.
I'll be back.....got a big, ugly frog to eat! ;)
I am a firm believer in goal setting. Over the years I have developed my own personal method for goal setting that seems to work well for me.
Each year around the end of December or first of January I take a short trip by myself. Sometimes it is just a camping trip, sometimes I fly to a new location and stay in a hotel. The new location and lack of local distractions helps me 'get away' and focus and the task.
Once on site, I set my daily schedule to allow for time to work on the goals and time to get out and see the new area. Seeing a new area always helps invigorate the mind and possibly see new opportunities.
During my 'work time' I begin by brainstorming the things I like to do and things I don't like to do (basically a pro/con list) in each of 4 categories; personal, professional, family and financial.
Once I have a pro/con list in each category, I go through them one at a time to decide what are some things I want to accomplish in the next 12 months. I generally only set goals for one year out. I do have a few big long range goals, but mostly I have found it too difficult to focus on something 3 years from now.
Once I create a list of things I want to accomplish for each of the 4 categories, I then go back and rate them in order of importance to me. I take the top 3-5 in each category and write them in my journal. This journal stays with me at all times and I reread them at least once per week.
I also have a few people that also go through the same process (or similar) for goal setting and we track each others goals in a google doc spreadsheet. We have a conference call once per month to discuss goal achievement and other issues. Each person keeps track of their progress in the spreadsheet and briefly discusses their goals with the group. This accountability helps keep everyone on track.
I hope this helps.
Great suggestions Bobby.
I've worked with companies that had retreats like this before. There would be a day or two for brainstorming where no idea was rejected. Followed up by sessions to review how some of these ideas could get the company closer to their long term goals.
You offer a great suggestion also for keeping yourself accountable to your goals.