Leaders set goals in all areas of their lives. So many people never get anywhere in their lives because they do not know where they are trying to go. If you do not have a destination in your career, and in your life, how are you going to make any plans? If you do not know where you are going, how are you ever going to help anyone else reach their destination?
The most successful people are those who set goals early in life. To really move ahead, you need short-term goals and long-term goals. You need to know where you want to be six months from now and two years from now…even 10 years from now. There is nothing wrong with making changes in your goals as you go along. It is important to be flexible. The most important thing is to make a conscious choice about what you want to achieve and how you’re going to get there.
Have specific goals, and a specific plan for reaching them.
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Have a specific goal
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Set a specific time in which to achieve your goal
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Develop a plan to achieve your goal
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Decide what kind of price you are are willing to pay
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Write it down, and
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Think about reaching your goal every day.
Six simple steps - but there is a power in those steps that has been proven repeatedly by great leaders in business. The day you start setting goals, you are a day closer to success. One of the biggest dangers to achieving your goals is procrastination.
The first step to a goal is a dream. Your dream is the glue that holds all the effort together. It is the one thing that, once you have it, no one can ever take it away from you.
One of the saddest things in the world today is when people stop dreaming. Our world today is so competitive and so tough that young people starting out sometimes get many hard knocks. Before they have had a chance to develop their potential, they are beaten down by how tough it is. The enthusiasm they once had turns to bitterness, and they decide to just “settle” for whatever hand they are dealt. The older people get the more and more they forget how to dream; they think that dreaming is only for the younger generation.
When you approach people to join your movement, you cannot just sell them a job. People are sick of jobs; they have had other jobs, and, many times, they have not been good experiences. People are not really looking for guarantees; all they want is a chance. They do not want you to just offer them a job, they want you to offer them a dream and the opportunity to make it come through. If you can offer people a chance to do something special with their lives, a chance to believe in something, a chance to dream again, you’ve given them the kind of motivation to succeed that they would not have had if you had just give them a set of duties.
Goals are not just for business, but also for all areas of your life. You set goals in all areas of your life, not just in your business career. Your life consists of more than your work. You have certain desires for your family; you have personal desires, you have spiritual and emotional desires. These other areas are just as important as your career or your business.
Once you get into a habit of goal-setting, you’ll wonder how you ever managed to accomplish anything before. As far as your people are concerned, helping them establish their goals will be one of the most helpful things you can do for them as a leader.