Don’t worry this isn’t a rehashing of SMART Goals – for goodness sake if you want more about that do a Google search (I got “About 6,130,000 results” in 0.24 seconds). I’m going to make an assumption that if you’re reading this you know how to set a goal; what you want to know is how to achieve it!
Here are my 3 simple steps to achieving your goals.
- Figure out what the FIRST small step you need to take to get momentum is
- Do it
- Repeat steps 1 and 2: over & over & over again…. until you reach your goal
Remember though “just because it’s simple doesn’t make it easy” ~ Lynn Hidy (don’t you hate when people quote themselves).
Now for all the stuff I think is more important to think about:
What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?
That is on a piece of steal that sits on my desk, right below my monitor. Why? I need the reminder to be fearless when I start to move forward toward my goals. It is so easy to stop MYSELF by:
- playing the “what if” game
- expend energy on worry (the most useless activity in the universe – my opinion only of course)
- prefer to do nothing than do the wrong thing (ok so for me that isn’t the issue, but it is for some of my clients)
Action Item #1 = figure out what your stumbling blocks are and work on overcoming them
Do one new thing each day; by the end of a year you’ll be a true innovator!
That is a quote by Nancy A Shenker of TheOnSwitch.com that is on the WomensAdvantage.biz calendar for January 1st. I can’t think of a better quote to start off the year. For inside sales that may not be as difficult as you think!
- Ask a new question
- Talk with prospects & customers about products you don’t typically sell
- Call on a job title that you typically wouldn’t
I could probably get through the whole year with just those three over and over again…
Action Item #2 = do something new every single day
To grow fast, fail fast. Failure is an opportunity to get things right the next time.
That quote is from January 2nd of the same calendar, from Rigdha Acharya of GetYourSuccessNow.com. I know it seems like the reverse of my ‘What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?’ mantra but it is actually completely unrelated to me.
What it makes me think about are all the lessons that can be learned by NOT winning deals:
- What is really important to the prospect organization
- Questions I didn’t think to ask that I need to incorporate moving forward
- Was I chasing business that wasn’t in my core competencies
Action Item #3 = make sure that every failure is evaluated for the lesson
Now you have BOTH my simple 3 step process along with 3 more complicated action items to make it work for you. That way when you finish out the year you can look back at your goals – see achievement – celebrate your success!
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I received a fantastic note from one of my clients (who prefers to remain anonymous) with two good tips that I wanted to share:
1. Setting a goal… ya better take your time, pick a goal and create it for yourself, it really, really needs to be Just for you, it really needs to come via your brain, but from your heart… unless you really really feel the drive to work towards and fight towards that particular goal… for YOUR OWN reasons.. you won’t get there.
2. Life is not a static thing.. you have to keep remember any of the axioms that you can relate to, but “life is a journey not a destination” works for some. As you progress towards a goal, or as you encounter obstacles.. you may need to make adjustments, shift the target, move the posts… just keep in mind that you have to continue making progress or the whole idea is a failure.