|
|
|
|
MAKE it a
|
Vol. 12 No. 1, January-February 2010 =================================================== ACTION STEPS =================================================== =================================================== You do, if you want to succeed faster! Why? Let's say you own a basket ball franchise, and hire the best basketball players in the world, have them train until they play like champions, and then tell them to play the best game ever, only once they get to the court they find that neither side has baskets. What is the chance that they will win the game? You are probably thinking that's an absolutely absurd question. You might even feel that I've insulted your intelligence with such a silly question. Then why are you-assuming you are like 97 percent of the people in the United States-running your life that way? Study after study has demonstrated that only about 3 percent of the U.S. population has clearly defined, written lifetime goals. The system to success In other words your goals represent a system. Once you have mastered this system, it will get you what you want. (Read the example in paragraph #1) And that system starts with dreaming a big dream Dream a big dream In his classic book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill identified three key steps to success: Conceive, Believe, Achieve. He was absolutely right. You must first be able to conceive, visualize if you will, what it is that you want to get out of life. To find out what that is you will need a writing pad (or use the forms in Chapter 4 of my popular book: "Make it a Winning Life, http://wolfrinke.com/miwlbook.html), several 3 x 5 cards or Post-it® notes, a pen or pencil, and a quiet setting. (This is high tech stuff, isn't it?) The best way to make sure that you have a quiet setting is to get up about one or two hours before everyone else on your next day off-let's say this coming Sunday. (Yes, do it this coming Sunday; you have procrastinated long enough.) After you get up, take a brisk shower, get dressed, and pour yourself your favorite beverage. Put on some classical music-Beethoven is best. Sit in your easy chair with your pencil and your writing pad. Take a deep breath or do some breathing exercises to help you relax, and partially close your eyes. Now dream about what you want to accomplish in your brief moment on this planet earth. Do not, at this time, constrain yourself by anything. Ignore what others have told you can or cannot do; forget any past failures and setbacks; and ignore your current troubles and handicaps, real or perceived. Dream what you want to accomplish, focusing on what's critically important to you. You will recognize your "fire-in-belly" dreams when they come to you; your heart rate will increase, you'll breathe more rapidly, and will feel that burning desire. At this point, do not worry about feasibility, just write them down. To help you with this process, ask yourself questions such as: What goals would I set for myself if I had a 100 percent guarantee of success? What is my ideal life style? What do I stand for? What is really important to me? What epitaph do I want on my tombstone? What do I want my children or my loved ones to say about me when I'm gone? Where do I really want to live? (This is not necessarily in the part of the country, or even in the country, where you are currently living.) What is my ideal income level? What is my ideal career goal? Not what luck or circumstance has served up for me so far, but rather, what do I really love to do? (By the way, this does not necessarily have to be in your current profession, even if you have been in it for many years.) Write these things down as they occur to you; pay no attention to order, magnitude, possibilities, fears, limitations, or obstacles. Your objective is to dream a big dream and to capture your dreams. (If you are married, or have a significant other with whom you are planning to spend the rest of your life, have him/her go through the same process.) Translating Dreams into Reality: Step 1 After you have completed your "dream sheets", put them aside until next weekend. At that time, spend another one or two hours working with them. Begin by determining how important each dream is by rating it on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 meaning "This is a pipe dream that would be nice to accomplish" and 10 meaning "This dream is critical to me, it will change my life, and I am willing to pay any price to achieve it." Numbers less than 10 indicate that you feel less strongly. After you have rated every dream (I know it is difficult to do), strike-out all those with a rating of less than 6. As the next step, prioritize all of your dreams from 1 to whatever, with 1 being your most important dream. (#1 should have received a score of 10 in the previous ranking.) Weigh those that you assigned high ratings to more heavily when prioritizing. Write your top three highest priority dreams, actually they are your lifetime fire-in-the-belly goals, on two 3 x 5 cards or Post-it® notes. (Some of the managers I coach at SAP put their top three goals as a screensaver on their lap-top computer.) Place one of these on your bathroom mirror, where you brush your teeth twice a day, or any other place where you will automatically see it at least twice a day. Take the other one to your office, school, or work. Place it where you will see it several times throughout the day. Place your fire-in-the-belly goal card or Post-it® notes on your desk or work surface so that it is in your view when you look up from your work or when you are on the telephone, so that you can visualize living your dream long before you actually achieve them. Also, have it nearby when you plan what you want to accomplish for each day-see Step 4 below. Translating Dreams into Reality: Step 2 To accomplish your lifetime fire-in-the-belly goals you identified in step 1, you need an incremental plan of action. Such a plan should define several intermediate and short-term objectives for each of your lifetime goals. If it works the way it is supposed to, you will have attained a lifetime goal once you have successfully completed all of the objectives supporting it. To ensure that your objectives work for you, I recommend that you make each objective S M A R T: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Trackable. To facilitate this use the goal tracking forms in my book "Make it a Winning Life" (http://wolfrinke.com/miwlbook.html.) Also be sure to identify the benefits you and your family will experience when you reach your goal. This is critical, because achieving your lifetime goals is a painful process and unless your reward is bigger than the pain associated with achieving the goal, it is likely that you will give up long before you achieve it. Translating Dreams into Reality: Step 3 Now that you have identified the long-term and intermediate objectives you must accomplish in order to attain your lifetime goals, you need to identify the appropriate action plans that will help you get to where you want to go. Each objective may require a number of action or "baby" steps. Identify each action step, state when you plan to evaluate your progress, and estimate the date you plan to accomplish it. Be sure to transfer these dates and action steps to your calendar to help you track your progress and to remind yourself when to take the identified actions. Once again establish an appropriate reward for yourself, your spouse, and your family when you complete each baby step. Be sure to always celebrate your successes, and have your family participate, so that all of you have something to look forward to that will help you stay on track. Review your goal tracking form on a specific day each week. Most people prefer Monday because it allows them to make plans for the entire week. (I've provided you with completed goal tracking forms in Chapter 4 of my "Make it a Winning Life" book to help you visualize the entire process (http://wolfrinke.com/miwlbook.html). Translating Dreams into Reality, Or How to Eat an Elephant: Step 4 Having all these objectives and action steps may seem a bit overwhelming. It might feel like having to eat an elephant. To successfully eat that "elephant" supplement your intermediate objectives with daily action steps in the form of a "to do" list. An effective way to accomplish this is to start each day by defining six important things you want to accomplish that day. Prioritize these from 1 to 6 by looking at your lifetime goals (remember, they are on your desk, a 3 x 5 card, a Post-it® note, or your screensaver) and your intermediate objectives. If an activity listed on your daily to-do list contributes to one of your objectives or lifetime goals, assign it a high priority. If it does not, assign it a low priority or do not put it on the daily to-do list at all, unless, of course, it is an integral part of your job or your boss asked you to do it. Start by accomplishing item number 1, number 2, etc., until the day is over. If you get interrupted during the day, review your list to make sure that you have not lured yourself away from the critical items on your list (the critical few). That takes a lot of willpower because, as you well know, it is so much more comfortable to keep yourself occupied with busywork (the irrelevant many). My strategy is to be tenacious about the top items on the list, with the result that most of the time-to the chagrin of my wife-I don't call it a day until they are done. I am, however, much more flexible about the less important items, and often carry them forward to the next day. Remember to each day do as many of the top action items as you can,
but don't fret about those you were unable to get done. Repeat the same
process tomorrow, and every working day for the rest of your life, and
watch yourself attaining your "dreams" faster. =================================================== =================================================== On a recent airline trip, the man sitting next to me struck up a conversation.
Finally, he asked me what I did for a living. When I told him that I
am a professional speaker, he retorted, "You don't look like a
professional speaker." I answered, "That's because today is
my day off." =================================================== =================================================== If this was forwarded to you and you would like to receive your own
FREE subscription click here. |
