So much information is now available about goals, goal setting and goal achievement it’s become a cacophony of white noise.
As a culture, we place a big premium on metrics–achieving our goals, creating success, making our quota, beating our competitors. The ability to set and achieve goals is a highly valued characteristic particularly in business.
If you google “goal setting and achievement”– you’ll discover there are over 3 million search results. Everyone knows you have to set goals to achieve anything!
Despite the plethora of available information, there’s no point in setting goals if you don’t know where you’re at and you’re not clear about where you’re going. Goals are navigational markers along a continuous progressive path, they’re not a destination.
What I’m suggesting is goal setting is pointless without first knowing what behaviors have brought you to exactly where you are in life and business right now, and in what direction will your vision, dream or desire for something greater take you. Without this insight, your goals will be a fuzzy abstraction.
Being on the right path with insight to set the right goals.
What many early stage entrepreneurs and solo professionals lack and need more than goal setting information is solid insight into the path (commitment) that holds the greatest opportunity for them (and their business) to become greater than they are now.
Most entrepreneurs are really good at setting goals and achieving them. I know I’m sure good at it. The trouble was, early on in my career, I set the wrong goals. I was more concerned with what I would get from achieving rather than what I would become as a result of achieving.
I also set the bar low. Heaven help me if I failed to reach a stated lofty goal and have everyone laughing at my foolishness. I played it safe and achieved every safe goal I had set for myself. I was an eager goal achiever more invested in market acceptance than market leadership.
Let that not be you!
Your ability to design your bigger future depends on your creative, marvelous mind being in a state of joyous anticipation, rather than in a state of confused apprehension.
Like a Jedi master, this is an essential first principle every entrepreneur must master early on in the game. Apprehension creates uncertainty, Uncertainty diminishes confidence, and diminished confidence forces you to play it safe, which in turn, dooms you and your business to the slush pile.
The price you will pay to achieve any goal will be far easier to pay if the promise of your sacred vision is clear to you and your whole being is deeply committed to the ideal of achieving it.
Before setting goals:
Point your life (and business) towards a path where the demands are high and far beyond the status quo. Be true to yourself and your vision. Before you set any goal remember to think about what it will make of you rather than what you will get for achieving it.
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