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TOTAL SUCCESS GOAL SETTING
By: Bill Sparkman,
The Coach
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The
common denominator of all great accomplishments in the mortgage
business, or any worthwhile venture, is having a clear plan of
action and meaningful written goals. The first step to "getting"
what you want is "knowing" what you want. Without knowing
what you want, and a burning desire to achieve it, you will often
settle for anything. My definition of true achievement is "a
match between what you say you want and what you actually have."
If there is a gap between the two in your career or your life
use this 6-step system to create the results you desire and the
prosperity you deserve.
Steps
To Getting What You Want, When You Want It
- Know
what you want
Be able to clearly state what you want, in what time frame.
It is easier to know if you have arrived if you know where you
want to go. The number one reason people don't get what they
truly want is not knowing what it is, then they settle for whatever
they do get. Creating clear written goals is the most important
step to attaining peak performance in business, sports, or your
personal life.
- Written
action plan
Once
you know what you want the next question is how are you going
to get it. What makes your goal distinctly different from a
wish is a written plan of action. Be specific and include each
step along the way. Your goals must be congruent with your action
plan. Your action plan must be believable or you won't pay the
price required for achieving what you say you want. Your action
steps must push you into new territory. To get something you've
never had before, you must do the things you've never done before.
If you continue to do what you've always done, you will get
what you've always gotten.
- Set
milestones and deadlines
Goal setting isn't a once a year event of making lofty resolutions
with no commitment to fulfillment. Achieving your goals is a
constant process of making sure you are "On Track"
and getting closer to what you want. You achieve this by setting
up check points along the way. The goal of building a house
is filled with milestones and deadlines along the way. First
you set the home-site and then you prepare the lot. Then the
foundation. Then the framing and drywall and so on. Each step
is critical to the overall success of reaching the goal of a
completed home.
- Monitor
your progress and make adjustments
I believe
in setting your goals quickly, getting into action right away,
monitoring and measuring your progress regularly, and making
adjustments as you go. READY-AIM-FIRE.
There is
an epidemic that I have noticed with regards to achievement;
most people don't have written goals and another large percentage
spend all of their time pondering what they want. A sure-fire
way to not fail, or reach your goals, is to not set your goals
in the first place.
The road
to success and attainment is littered with underachievers who
gave up or didn't take the necessary adjustments to their strategy
to keep them moving toward their goal. Your daily actions are
either getting you closer to, or further away, from what you
want. Monitor your progress regularly, review your results,
and make adjustments as needed.
- Create
new habits
New results
require developing new habits and rituals to replace old habits
that don't work any longer. One of the secrets of successful
individuals is that they create or adopt powerful, creative,
and positive habits and rituals for everything they do. This
places them on autopilot toward reaching their goals. Adopting
new habits, or changing habits that aren't working for you,
is easier said than done. Once you get in a rut, very often
you can't even see the way out. It takes discipline and commitment
to create new "success habits," but once you do, you've
all but accomplished your goal.
- Don't
give up
Don't get
discouraged by short term set backs. One of the biggest reasons
people fail to achieve their goals is that they allow obstacles
and set backs along the way to get them down. The question is
not if you will encounter challenges, but what you will do after
they occur. You must develop strategies in advance to overcome
the set backs that you can foresee. By anticipating obstacles,
and creating a strategy to deal with them before they occur,
prepares you to take them and deal with them head on. The bigger
the goals the bigger the obstacles.
Effective
goal setting changes your focus to what you're trying to avoid,
to what you're trying to achieve. Nothing contributes so much
to stimulate the mind as a steady purpose and clear goal.
Goal setting
is as important to the successful operation of your life as eating
and sleeping. The only difference is that your life won't end
if you don't set goals. However, without goals directing your
life, you will miss out on much of the other positive emotions
that we all desire in life such as excitement, aliveness, fulfillment,
passion, joy, and even happiness.
Good
Luck and Get Goaling!
Bill
Sparkman, "The Coach"
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