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Home » Business And Finance Articles » Achieving Your Goal

Achieving Your Goal

There is no better tool for success in today's world than in a comprehensive goal-setting program.

Too many people have goals in mind but they don't act upon those goals. For example, there are people out there who want to write a book. They really do. If you ask them, they'll tell you that one of their goals is to write a book.

But they're not doing it.

Is it because, deep down inside, they don't really want to write a book?

No.

It's because they don't actually have a plan.

It's one thing to have a goal but it's something else entirely to sit down and figure out a way to achieve your goal.

It can be done -- there's no doubt about that. Just about any goal that you can think of can be achieved with the right plan. (Naturally, this only applies to realistic goals. If you have a goal that is totally unrealistic -- such as playing professional basketball when you're eighty years old in a wheelchair -- there isn't a plan in the world that can get you where you want to be.)

So the first thing that you need to do is set your goal.

Write it down on a piece of paper. Put it there in black-and-white (or whatever ink color you're using) and when it's there, stick it in a prominent place where you are not going to forget to look at it. Most people stick it in their office or on their desk and some have it there on the refrigerator, where it can be viewed every day. It doesn't matter where you put it, though -- as long as it's there and as long as it's visible as much as possible.

Now, one of the reasons that putting your goal down on paper is that it is the first step in a very valuable tool out there -- focus.

Focus is an incredibly powerful tool and yet, there are so many people who don't take advantage of it. The way that I like to think of focus is a magnifying glass. If you've ever taken a magnifying glass out in the sun, you know that you can make the beam sharper and more focused by moving the magnifying glass up and down, right?

What happens when you focus the rays of the sun on a piece of paper?

It gets hot and it burns.

That's what focus does.

When you use focus to define and to sharpen your goals, you'll get hot. You'll ignite yourself and you will see progress like you've never seen before.

Now, focus works best when you have your goal broken down into steps. If you have no clear-cut plan of success, what you need to do is break down your overall goal into smaller goals so that you can focus on the smaller tasks and get them eliminated.

Take your ultimate goal and break it into into a set of smaller sections.

Let's use the example of someone who wants to write a book someday.

Writing a book is AN ULTIMATE GOAL.

This can be broken down into smaller goals:

Outlining the book
Researching the material
Writing Chapter One
Writing Chapter Two
Writing Chapter Three

See how it works? Instead of sitting on the couch and thinking that one of these days, you want to write a book, you can actually focus your attention on a smaller section of the ultimate goal and move ahead with that.

Another aspect of achieving your goal is to set up a daily "movement" goal. In other words, to make your goal happen, you should give yourself one do-able milestone heading towards your goal that you can feel good about. It's important to make sure that this is do-able. Don't set up a goal that you can't achieve for that day -- and in the event that something comes up that you can't ignore, you can skip the daily task. Don't make the mistake of skipping it too often, however, or you'll find yourself right back on the couch and thinking about the goal that you're going to achieve one of these days.

On the other hand, make sure that your daily goal is something that requires you to do some actual work. If you give yourself a daily goal such as, "I'm going to do 10 minutes of research today," that's hardly even worth it. By keeping your goals too low and accessible, you'll never challenge yourself -- and you'll never see any forward progress.

The important thing is that you set down your goal, you break it down into smaller tasks, and you break the smaller tasks down into daily "do-able" tasks. By following these simple rules, you'll quickly find yourself on the road to achieving whatever goal you've set for yourself.

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Does Your Company Face a Triple-Threat That Will Cause The Loss Of Your Company's Lifeblood - C

Does your company face a Triple-Threat that will cause the loss of your company's lifeblood - customers?

See full color web version at: http://www.SeniorManagementServices.com/pvt-101-assets.html

Be sure to renew your PVT subscription before March 15th! Just cli'ck this link: mailto:Mike@SeniorManagementServices.com?Subject=Renewal-2005

"Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life." -- Immanuel Kant.

Whenever your employees leave for any reason -- even just to go home -- they take all or most of your company's most valuable assets with them.

Every time they walk out your door, you say good-bye to:

• your trained employees who possess...
• your intellectual capital and conduct ...
• your proprietary business processes.

And when you l'ose any part of those three assets, you risk losing customers.

I'm sure this is not news to you.

But, the question is: What can you do about it?

You can protect yourself from this Triple-Threat by slaying one of your company's worst enemies - undocumented (tacit) employee knowledge (your intellectual capital).

Here's an example of what I'm talking about: I recently met a couple in a restaurant.

Sam was in real estate, and Betty worked for PeopleSoft. Betty was losing her job due to the Oracle/PeopleSoft merger.

Betty's boss asked her to go to India to train her replacement!

Well, I suppose her manager had nothing to l'ose by asking. But, you can imagine her answer.

OK,n0w multiply this problem by 5,000 employees! (As I recall, that is how many will be laid off in the merger.)

Baaaaad timing! As a manager, you must not wait until your employees are packing to leave to ask them to document their positions and tacit knowledge.

MURPHY'S LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS "Things get worse under pressure."

Too busy to manage knowledge?

I have helped companies that were moving all or part of their company out of California. Some employees were moving with the company, some were being "let go."

The employees who were moving to the new location were "too busy moving" to document their work. Besides, they already "know their job."

Worse, most people being laid off were uncooperative to-the-max when it came time to document their (lost) positions!

They had virtually nothing to gain and little to l'ose - except maybe a good recommendation (except management couldn't really make that threat).

Really, during good times, it is difficult to get employees to document their positions and divulge their tacit knowledge - unless management provides an incentive. In fact, I recommend that you make it part of their position contract.

"Even in the best of times, it's a battle to convince employees to participate in knowledge management programs. But in tough times, the tendency is for employees to horde what they know." -- Lauren Gibbons Paul

How to use your employee's knowledge to help your company.

Knowledge Management experts agree that tacit knowledge is the most valuable type of knowledge to a company. Thus, the value of most companies lies in their knowledge assets!

However, knowledge does not eliminate the need for skill - knowledge must be backed by skillful application of that knowledge.

As a manager, your success depends on your ability to capture and manage those assets. Don't rely on random emails and documents. Instead, foster a culture of sharing knowledge.

One of the best knowledge management systems you can implement is to develop operations manuals (before it is too late).

Knowledge alone is not enough - it takes management support for employee satisfaction.

A label has emerged for employees who are hired for what they know: "Knowledge Workers."

The management of knowledge workers boils down to a marketing application, where management asks the question, "What do the knowledge workers want from us?" Instead of, "What do we want from them?"

Most knowledge workers want management's support. And they derive job-satisfaction from using their special knowledge to solve problems and make a contribution.

"People have to see tremendous immediate benefit from knowledge management. They have to see, smell, touch and taste how it's going to improve their work lives. -- Barbara Saidel, CIO, Russell Reynolds Associates

Questions to ponder

As a manager, what "knowledge" are you more interested in - theories or how to apply them?

Why do you hire a knowledge worker?

What is your key resource today - m0ney or knowledge?

How could you use m0ney to leverage special knowledge? How could you use special knowledge to leverage m0ney?

As an employer, how much, (if any) of your employees' intellectual capital do you "own?"

What's more important - the intellectual capital or its effective application?

What did you learn today that you found most beneficial?

How will you apply what you have learned at work?

Any other comments are welcome:

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The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office. -- Robert Frost

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Until next week...

Best Regards,

Mike Hayden, Principal/Consultant Your partner in streamlining business.

PS. If you're not on our P V T Roster, sign up (fr#e) at: http://www.SeniorManagementServices.com

(c) 2005 Mike Hayden, All rights reserved. You may use material from the Profitable Venture Tactics eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including live website links and email link.