Way back in the 1970s when I was in elementary school, a common question we were asked was, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I wanted to be an astronaut, or a doctor, or a pilot, or maybe a rock star. I became a Registered Nurse, I have about 30 hours in a single engine airplane, and I am a musician, playing keyboards, bass, lead guitar, and drums. So, I got close.
What did you want to be when you grew up? How close did you get? What are your plans and goals today? Do you have any?
I ask that last question because of a Harvard Business School Survey that found 83% of all people in the USA have no goals at all. They basically go through the motions every day, just getting by. But that does leave 17% of the people. What are they doing? I’m glad you asked.
Fourteen percent (14%) of people in the USA can tell you what their goals and dreams are. And they can give you a fairly good idea of how they are going to achieve those goals. The remaining three percent (3%) have put their goals in writing, including a written plan of achievement and target dates. Now for the interesting part.
The 14% who can verbalize their goals and plan end up being 10X more successful than the 83% who have no goals. And the 3%? Well, they are 3X more successful than the 14%, or 30X more successful than the 83%. Did I get your attention?
If this is true, why aren’t more people involved in a goals program? There are at least four reasons.
- Fear of the unknown – This is something that in unfamiliar, and people tend to be more fearful of what they don’t know.
- Poor Self-Image – If you have an unhealthy self-image, you will not feel as if you deserve the fruits of hard work and success. To read more on this, please see my post called “Have You Talked to Your Bowling Ball Lately?”
- Not Convinced – You are simply convinced it isn’t worth the time and effort. I mean, I’m doing okay as it is now.
- Don’t Know How – You have never been taught how to set and achieve goals.
The goals program I’ll be going over in the next number of posts is simple and straight-forward. But just because it is simple does not mean it is easy to accomplish. It will take time to work everything out. In fact, it will take about 10-12 hours to get through the initial process.
The good news is that once you have this program developed, you will gain 4-10 hours per week due to being able to work smarter. And the more good news is that once you get this process down, you can use this for any goal you have.
You were born to win. But to be that winner, you must first plan to win and prepare to win. Then and only then can you expect to win. Are you ready to be part of the 3%? I will start sharing that information in the next post.