“A person’s burning desire to achieve something must come from within.”
You’ve set lofty goals for 2014 but have you also built the plan to achieve them?
Often we fall into the trap of setting goals without ‘building a plan’ to achieve them. If you decide to make one change this year – ‘build the plan and then implement it’.
I often have clients tell me they want to earn a certain amount of money this year. The first questions I always ask are, “what are you going to do with the money?” or “let’s pretend I’ve just handed you the amount of money you want to earn – what are you going to do with it?” I always get the most interesting responses because most people don’t know what they’d do with the money. When I ask how they came up with the number, they shrug and tell me they’ve just pulled it out of the air. Is that your way of deciding how much money you want to earn in 2014 or do you really know why you want to earn a particular dollar amount?
The first step in the process is to determine what your personal goals are and why they are important to you. I encourage you to take the time to look at all aspects of your life and set goals in the following areas:
1. Social
2. Physical
3. Spiritual
4. Financial
5. Mental (educational)
6. Professional
7. Familial
8. Personal
Sometimes we get so caught up in the financial goals or targets the company we work for has either set for us or asked us to achieve, that we lose focus on how these targets impact our personal lives and dreams. Your incentive to achieve the ‘what may seem unrealistic’ goals will be put into perspective when your desire to achieve them is because of what you want to do personally. So when you’re not feeling motivated or when you’ve had one too many rejections during your prospecting calls, think about what goals you’re working towards for motivation.
How to get started with this process:
1. Decide what you want. Spend some time really thinking about what’s important to you and why you want a particular amount of money, vacation, new home, etc.
2. Build a plan. How are you going to achieve it? What is required to have it come to fruition? The key in this process is establishing S.M.A.R.T. goals:
a. Specific
b. Measurable
c. Attainable
d. Realistic
e. Time-bound
3. Break down the plan. Take that plan and organize it into monthly, weekly and daily tasks so you’ll know what’s required at all times to achieve your goals.
Just saying in January that you have 12 months to achieve what you set out to do isn’t going to get you where you want to go. The plan has to be built so that every day, every week and every month you know what is required. I can hear the groans from some of you reading this right now, however I ask you to look back over the years and review if you achieved your goals consistently without building a plan.
What are you waiting for? Are you prepared to make a big change in 2014? Then decide what you want and build a plan. And the days you get discouraged, you’ll remember why you need to do what you’re doing.
If you need help with getting started contact your local Sandler Training office and ask for some guidance.
