Goals – Why they work
Is the economy taking its toll on your business? Are you letting it happen, or are you seizing the opportunities of business ownership and taking control? First and foremost you’ve got to adopt the mindset of a business builder. You were there when you started your business; perhaps some of you never left. To reignite the process you must establish specific goals and develop a plan to get you there.
Been down the goal setting road before and ended up frustrated, not achieving those goals? Have too many defeats and disappointments caused you to give up? Then you should know that a very simple secret can make the difference between success and failure. This proven method has worked for thousands of years. It’s so simple it sounds like a cliché, but the truth is that every human achievement uses this principle:
Mile by mile, life’s a trial. Yard by yard, life is hard. But inch by inch, life’s a cinch!
That little poem has been attributed to everyone from Lao Tzu to Napoleon Hill. Regardless of who came up with it, this sentiment can help you dust off your old, underachieved goals or give you the courage to start working on new ones.
Often, the problems most folks have achieving their goals are not related to the size of the goals but how they try to achieve them. Ours is an instant gratification culture, we want everything right now. We don’t want to wait; and something that will take years, forget about it!
But the most worthwhile things in life do take time. A college education takes at least four years–longer if you go part-time. Starting and running a successful business takes time, patience and perseverance.
You may have thought that you broke your goal down into small enough chunks, but maybe you need to go even smaller–and master that–before you can achieve. Almost any task can be broken down into smaller steps.
Before we get into the “how” of goal setting and management let’s review the “why” of establishing goals at all.
We’ll start with a simple statement: Without goals you don’t go anywhere!
Why?
Setting goals creates awareness. An individual may suddenly start noticing things related to a goal which might be overlooked or not paid any attention if the goal had not been set. Whenever you see anything worthwhile being done, it is probably because someone is behind it with a passion, a belief and a goal!
Have you set goals, personal or business, and failed to achieve them? Here is the crucial question: WHY?
The answer is simple: Because you did not have a strong enough desire. You may argue with that: “But I did set goals with a strong desire and still I didn’t get there!” Sorry, the desire was not strong enough. This is about INTENSE desire; in other words, a PASSION. Is your passion on the level of someone like Steve Jobs?
Rocket fuel is powerful. The energy it releases boggles the mind. Intense desire can do the same for humans when they set goals. How do you identify intense desire, passion? It’s what keeps people working all hours, up early, late to bed. The desire dominates conversation, thinking, and actions. Question: Where do desires start? How do they form?
A desire starts in the mind. Most desires come into the mind and are quickly forgotten in the everyday activity of life. But keep thinking about it, keep your mind focused on it and what happens? The desire gets stronger, action follows.
Since we have been advised to not let these blog posts get too long, we’ll save the fascinating stuff for our next post!.
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