| I suggest that goal setting is one
of the most powerful keys to success there are. What
do you consider success? If you do not know where you
are going, how do you know when you will get there?
If you do not have a plan to succeed, then how do you
know the route to take? Goal setting is the blueprint
for your success. If you were to win the lottery, money
was no longer an issue and you decided to build your
dream home, you would know exactly how you wanted it
to look. You would hire the best contractor there is,
and, even though money is not a problem, the contractor
would not start until you had given him a set of blueprints
or plans.
I have used the following analogy many times to explain
how I believe goal-setting works. I hope it helps you
to understand the importance of goals a little better.
Have you ever decided that you were going to move into
a new apartment, condo or house? You knew exactly how
much money you needed for the down payment, closing
costs, first month’s rent or security deposit.
You knew how much you needed to get your electricity,
your telephone and even the cable television turned
on. You had to agree upon a specific date for moving
in.
They may have given you a floor plan or information
on the new home. The new home became a predominant thought.
When you went shopping you would walk through the stores,
see things, and say to yourself, “That would look
nice in our new home.” You would drive by the
new address and say, “This is the Chinese restaurant
we will order from when we move.” How did you
get the money you needed to move? Did you drastically
change your spending habits to save the money you needed?
Did you take a second job to raise the additional monies?
In most cases the answers are no.
Many people, when asked, do not even know how they
got the money they needed. They became totally focused
on the apartment, condo or house, and by the time they
needed the money somehow they had it. The reason why
this was possible is because the home became their predominant
thought. They knew the exact address they planned to
move to and exactly what the home looked like. They
knew exactly how much they needed. They said to themselves,
“I will be living here by such-and-such a date.”
This is how goal setting works; anything you can picture
in your mind and set a specific time frame to accomplish
will start to dominate your thoughts and will cause
your sub-conscious mind to focus and assist you in the
achievement of the goal. Do not confuse goal setting
with wishing. Without even realizing what you had done,
you had used the principles of goal setting to achieve
what you wanted. You must set a reasonable time frame
to achieve your goal; you must picture it clearly and
vividly in your mind. The goal must be specific in every
detail, and it must be predominant in your thoughts.
You can expand your goal setting to other areas of
your life and career—not just with the big items
like saving money for an apartment, condo or house.
Take, for example, the amount of money you had to save
for a home and consider the period of time it took you
to save it. Then, see if you cannot save that much money
for another goal. Most people will not exert the effort
to plan and focus in such a way, so they go without
when it is your option of moving forward with such goals.
Merely count the cost and pay it.
.
I encourage sales people to find pictures of the cars
they want, the homes they want to live in or the places
they want to travel to. I encourage them to display
them at their desk, on their frig or in their car. This
will help them to visualize the result they want. It
also helps remind them why each call or presentation
is important and what he or she is really working for.
Picturing your goals in your mind is a significant
step toward the day of their fulfillment.
|
