SHARE YOUR GOALS FOR SUCCESS

Before I start today’s post I need to ask everyone who reads my blog a question, WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO GET YOU TO FOLLOW A FREE BLOG? J This is my 89^th post and I see I am getting a lot of people coming to the blog (the blog has a stats page where I can see the numbers and I have over 500 visitors a week) but the number of followers isn’t even close to the number of viewers. If you stop in and enjoy the dishes I serve up on the Training Buffet, please click on the FOLLOW button and let me see who you are not just how many of you there are. Thanks.

This morning I had the great experience of giving a speech to my Toast Masters Club. This was my 4^th speech in the short 3 months I have belonged. I love the opportunity to talk to this group because not only do they help me get better at speaking, but I am hopefully helping the other members get better at speaking as well.

My topic today was SHARE YOUR GOALS FOR SUCCESS. This is something that I have often thought about, sometimes talked about with people but have never given a speech about. I would like to share some of the highlights of the speech with you.

I started out by quoting the greatest heavy weight boxer of all time (my opinion, and for this blog, the only one that counts) Muhammad Ali. “I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, Joe Frazier will go down in three”. It was a relativity young crowd so no one really knew if these were the exact words or not, and I know they weren’t, but I was making a point. I asked why Ali would make such a boast. One person answered, to get inside Frazier’s head. I agreed that this was one reason, but added that there was a more important reason. No one answered so I said, “It forced him to perform at a level necessary to fulfill his goal”

Imagine if Ali didn’t make his goal of knocking Frazier out in the third round public. In the second round Frazier hits Ali and hurts him. All of a sudden in Ali’s head the poem changes to, “Float like a butterfly sting like a bee, I sure HOPE Frazier goes down in three” There is a BIG difference between these two poems. The first one is a statement of a goal, the second one is a wish.

I asked the group if any of them had goals, and most said they did. I asked if they had their goals written down, and most said yes, I asked if they had them with them, NO ONE did, I asked if they have shared them, NO ONE did. This was a perfectly average group as near as I could tell. Most professional people have goals and most have them written down. However, very few people ever have their goals with them. This is a very important step in helping to keep your goals. Having your goals with you works as a reminder to you that first you have goals and what these goals are. The next question, how many have shared their goals is the finishing touch to achieving goals.

A statement I made during the talk was, cloud computing is very cool technology, cloud goal setting sucks. Goals that are in the clouds, not written down and not shared, are nothing but dreams. The problem with dreams is we will change them on a whim. The slightest setback, the smallest obstacle, the most modest problem will have us changing our goals and goals, like targets, are hard to hit when they keep moving.

I ended the speech by telling the group what the ingredients of a good goal are, let me tell you;

1)      Your goals must be realistic and attainable.

2)      Your goals must be specific.

3)      Your goals must have a time frame.

4)      Your goals must be written down.

5)      Your goals must be shared with the people who will hold you accountable.

Of all the people I know, I have yet to find any successful people without goals that were set using these 5 steps. I don’t want you to believe me however, I want you to go ask the successful people you know. Ask them about these 5 steps and get their opinions. I am confident that you will be told by EVERY ONE of them that they use all 5 steps and believe that having their goals helped make them successful.

This is a great time of year to think about goals. A week or so ago I talked about your PRE NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS, I hope that some of you are well on your way to developing your good habits of success. If not, then PLEASE, start thinking about your goals for 2011. Over the next week and a half use the 5 steps to help you compose your goals and get them written down. Then on News Years Day make it a point to share your goals with someone. If they are not with you call them, or e mail them, just make sure that your goals are shared. Once you share them I know that you will not allow yourself to not accomplish them. Sales Reps are just that way!

Lorin