Goal Setting: Why 90% of us don’t do it effectively

Ken Cheo, principal at Winfree Business Growth Advisors

By Ken Cheo, principal at Winfree Business Growth Advisors

Do you have written goals? If you are reading this at your desk can you put your finger on them right now? If you answered no to these questions, you are not alone. A total of 90 percent of people do not have written goals. Writing down your goals does a number of things for you:

•    It reinforces your commitment to them
•    It helps you remember them
•    It makes you accountable
•    It gives you focus

Have you ever gone to the supermarket without a shopping list? The result is typically wasted time (when you go back for the things you forgot) and money (when you buy the things you don’t need).  Having goals and not writing them down is like shopping without a list. 

If you want to verify the importance of written goals, go ask the most successful person you know if they have written goals.

Here are some rules for writing your goals:

1.    Goal setting is not just writing down all that you desire (although that is a good way to start). 

2.    Goals need to be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time bound). A word of caution here: People will often first consider what is achievable given their current reality. This can be a big mistake. You don’t really know what is achievable and realistic for you until you have accomplished step 3 and determined what you need to do to accomplish your goals. When you think about it, by now most any goal you can come up with has already been done by someone, so it is achievable. The only question is: Is it realistic for you right now with everything else that is important to you? Always start with goals that are specific and time bound.

3.    Goals are no good unless you chunk them down into daily, weekly and monthly tasks required to accomplish them.

4.    Visualize your success - If you are one of the 10 percent who does have written goals, do you read them every day? Five percent of people read their goals daily. Reading your goals helps you to visualize success in achieving them. The really cool thing about this is your mind does not have the ability to distinguish between an actual event and something that it sees vividly. What this means is by practicing visualization you are programing your mind to get you there and your mind works 24/7.  Visualization also helps you to reframe things, which in many cases is what is required to make sure we achieve our goals and not fall back to our old ways or bad behaviors. For example, let’s say you set a goal to lose 10 pounds.  By concentrating on all the dieting and exercise you do in order to lose 10 pounds the focus is on the fact that you are 10 pounds overweight. Until you reframe that image of yourself being 10 pounds overweight, you always will be. With visualization you become your new weight. It makes the process easier, more fun and sustainable.

So go write and read your goals and become one of the elite 5 percent. It WILL get you there faster.
 

Money is not the Goal - Letter from Bob Proctor

Hi Friend,

One of the key concepts to creating wealth is to understand that
money is not the goal. That's right, I said, money is not the goal.

Frequently people will tell me that they want to make money.
However, I know it is not money they are really after. It is the
things that money can buy and the freedom of time to do what they
really want. While you may think this is an insignificant
difference, it is actually the reason so many people never become
wealthy.

Most of us were taught throughout our childhood that the whole
point of making money is to sock it away and build our own 'nest
egg'. We think of this as a type of insurance against bad fortune,
accidents or old age when we can no longer work. The wealthy know
that money only works when it is in motion - not when it's sitting
in a bank account. You must understand that wealth is an ongoing
journey of growth and circulation and if that circulation is
stopped, then the flow of money will cease.

While it may seem that there are many roadblocks on your journey to
wealth, the only real obstacle is what you believe, think, and feel
about money. Most of us were raised with the cliché "Seeing is
Believing" which is a skeptical and negative view of life. Still,
we hear it our whole lives until it becomes a part of our thought
process without our even realizing it. Wealthy people understand
that this cliché is exactly backward - you must believe in what you
can achieve before you will see it happen in your life. They know
that "Believing is Seeing." The only thing that separates a
millionaire from you right now is a wealthy mindset and the
foundation of that mindset is belief.

Does this mean that the wealthy have some special skill or
knowledge? No - but they do possess some key characteristics that
help them become wealthy.

The first of these characteristics is a willingness to listen to
their own heart. If you could become wealthy by listening to the
masses, then the masses would be wealthy and they are not. It is a
natural tendency to ask the opinions of those we love or respect.
Unfortunately, we listen to their comments and biases not taking
into account the results in their own lives. We make a decision to
listen based on our emotional attachment rather than by looking at
what they have achieved. How can anyone who has not accumulated
wealth advise you on how to do it? They can't.

A second characteristic of the wealthy is the ability to act when
opportunities present themselves. Opportunity is often imagined to
be something that you can't miss or pass up. However, I know from
personal experience that opportunity is often only a whisper that
comes during some of the most trying times of life. If you read the
life stories of very wealthy and successful people, you will
frequently find they were fired from jobs, kicked out of school or
dealt with significant personal tragedies that other people would
view as devastating. Instead, they viewed the challenges as
opportunities and prospered.

The wealthy also understand that wealth is an ongoing process. It
is not a destination you arrive at one day and then stop. It is
also rarely accomplished overnight - although it can occur in a
short period of time. However, if you gain wealth before you have
gained a wealthy mindset then you are in danger of losing that
wealth forever. We have all heard of those that win the lottery
only to be near penniless a few years later. Since they were  never
taught to think wealthy, they have very little chance of achieving
wealth that lasts and ultimately they lose what money they have.

Those with a wealthy mindset do what they love - and make money at
it. Often I see individuals who are seeking wealth like it's
something outside that they have to search for. In reality, wealth
exists within you. You have activities and hobbies that you love
and you can make these into your business if you choose to. Those
who are successful and create a great deal of wealth do so because
they are doing something they love. The money follows and is just a
logical result of them realizing their dream. Money is not the
dream.

Whether you grow up in the worst circumstance or have every
advantage, you have the exact same potential inside of you to
create the life you want. No matter how many times you read or hear
someone talk about how to become wealthy, your life will never
change until you believe that it can - Believing is Seeing.

To your success,
Bob Proctor