THE POWER OF GOAL SETTING

In Mark McCormack’s book, “What they
Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business
School” he discusses a study conducted of
Harvard MBA grads between 1979 and
1989. Graduates were asked if they had set
clear, written goals for their future. 84% had
not, 13% said they did have goals but
surprisingly only 3% had actually written
them down. Ten years later in 1989 they
went back to these grads and found that
the 13% with non-written goals were earning
on average twice as much as those who
had no goals at all. The amazing part is
that the 3% that had true written goals were
earning on average 10 times as much as
the average from the entire remaining 97%!
Obviously Harvard does not graduate
dummies so it’s pretty clear that goal
setting made the difference, not
intelligence.

Here is a system and some tips for writing,
tracking and achieving your goals:
Write down your goals! This is critical – and
when I say “write” I don’t mean take mental
notes nor do I mean typing in on your
computer or smart phone. I mean the good

old fashioned way with pen and paper.
When setting your goals always follow the
S.M.A.R.T. system. Here’d
s an explanation…

S for Specific
Your goals need to be specific. “Make a ton
of money” or “have more free time” are not
specific goals and won’t push you into
action. Specific goals are “Make $250,000
this year” and “attend 10 of my son’s little
league games this season”

M for Measurable
No point in setting goals if you can’t
measure them. If your goal is to make
$250,000 in 2010 then you know that by
July 1 you should have made $125,000 or
you could be off track and need to kick it
into high gear. If you can’t measure your
progress with your goals then success or
failure may be open to speculation. We
either hit or miss our goals – no in
between.

A for Attainable
Your goals need to be worthwhile and
possible otherwise you won’t be motivated
to pursue them. I’d love to make a billion
dollars a year but despite being a fairly
confident and optimistic guy I know that’s
hardly an attainable goal. Set ambitious
goals but always remember it’s a whole lot
more motivating and gratifying to over
perform on your goals than it is to fall
short

R T for Realistic Timetable
Goals have to have a deadline otherwise
they won’t motivate or inspire commitment.
It’s hard to really be motivated to take
action on something we want to achieve
someday. It’s much easier to take action on
something we want to achieve by the end
of the month or year. Give yourself a fair
time frame to achieve your goals otherwise
you will set yourself up to fail but also
remember that most humans are not wired
to think more than a few years out. 1, 3 and
5 year goals are what I generally try to set.

End Goals vs Means Goals
There are basically two types of goals… end
goals and means goals. End goals are your
ultimate goals, for example, earn $250,000
in 2010. That goal should be set but to
really kick yourself into action you will also
want to create means goals. (as in a means
to an end). What goals will you need to set
on a daily – weekly and monthly basis to
achieve that $250,000 in 2010? How many
leads, sales calls, candidate introductions,
etc. will it take to achieve my ends goal? In
addition to writing out these goals, take an
extra few minutes to also write down how it
will make you feel when you achieve your
end goal. How will it make you feel if you
don’t achieve it. Leverage your fear of
failure to motivate you and visualize your
success.

In my 20 or so years of striving to be a
successful entrepreneur I have read books,
attended seminars and sought advice from
so many of the greats including Anthony
Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Steven Covey, Brian
Tracey, Chet Holmes and more. While the
general styles and focus of these people
may vary I have never read one of their
books or attended one of their seminars
where true goal setting was not a key
focus. If you have not already done so – go
get yourself a plain spiral notebook and a
pen and get busy setting your goals. I
guarantee it will change your life.