Research shows that only 4% of the population actually have written goals and the 4% who have written goals achieve them 95% of the time.

Believe it or not…goals can be so powerful they can actually help people delay dying by a brief period.

In China one group surveyed death patterns. They discovered that just before the Chinese Moon Festival there was a 35% drop in deaths and that immediately after there was a 34% increase in deaths. People briefly delayed dying until the festival was over.

In another survey with a specific religious sector of elderly people they discovered a 34% drop in deaths 1 week before a major annual religious holiday period and a 35% increase in deaths immediately after…the amazing power of goals.

Most people don’t have goals. They have wishful thinking. What is missing with wishful thinking is clarity of purpose, actions and time lines that get them there.

Goal setting is one of the most important habits and abilities that a business owner can have. According to Dr Lee Pulos, having a focus on a self-determined destiny or goal, is the one quality consistently found in people who are high achievers.

With goal setting it is important to make sure that your goals are achievable goals. If they are sales targets they should be achievable sales targets. Goals need to be attainable and realistic. One of the common reasons for depression is continually having goals that are unfulfilled.

According to Dr Lee Burke, children who grow up to be happy children are continually given goals by their parents, but they are achievable ones. Achievable goals create happier people. So, keep setting new but attainable goals and maybe some day you will laugh as often as a child. A child laughs on an average of 400 times a day, the average adult laughs 15 times a day.

Let’s look at how I can help you set and achieve your coming year’s goals so that you not only become a more prosperous business owner, salesperson or executive but also an even happier person.

To make it quick and simple for you I have simplified the process with 5 Steps.

Step 1: Choose Your Goal

The first key to success in any area of your life is to know what you want with no indecisiveness whatsoever. Once you really know what you want you have clarity of intent. The clearer your intent is, the greater the emotional desire is to obtain what it is that you want and the sooner you will experience it becoming a reality.

As a business owner, you will choose the areas that you want to achieve specific results in. Those areas could be:

• Increase our turnover or my sales from 2 million to 3 million
• Increase profits by 10%
• Open three new market areas this year
• Launch a small telemarketing division that will achieve 20% of our turnover
• Hire and develop a sales manager to take over the managing of the sales force
• Build a 6 month Cash Reserve for the business by December of next year.

In your personal life it could be goals for:

• Good health, energy and vitality
• Financial security for you and your family
• An enhanced spiritual life
• Mental and personal development
• An improved lifestyle

With any potential goal, ask yourself the question…do I have the time, energy, ability and desire to commit to this.

Start only those you want to achieve and the ones you know you will persevere forward with and enjoy the journey moment by moment because you probably will experience the long dry desert called The Dip before reaching your goal. Ask yourself, “in my heart do I really want this? Is this my goal or is it someone else’s goal and I think it is mine?” Be sure it is your goal!

Remember: “When The Mission Is Clear “Abundance” And “Know How” Will Appear”

For clarity your goals must be Smart Goals.

You also want to make sure your goals align with your personal values and personal beliefs. If the goals do not align you will continually sabotage your progress.

As an example of a goal let’s assume your specific goal is to hit 3 million in turnover this year. Now that you have chosen a goal we go to Step 2.

Step 2: Break Your Goal Down Into Smaller Goals

There is the old saying, “How Do You Eat An Elephant?” The answer “One Bite At A Time”.

To achieve any goal you must break the goal down into smaller digestible bites or into smaller chunks or more narrow time frames.

For Example:  you now break your 3 million goal down into sub goals.

• Your goal is to generate

• 600,000.00 in the first quarter
• 700,000.00 in the second quarter
• 800,000.00 in the third quarter
• 900,000.00 in the fourth quarter

In the first quarter you break your goal down to:

January      150,000.00

February     200,000.00

March         250,000.00

Total           600,000.00

You then do the same for the second, third and fourth quarters. By breaking the big goal down into smaller chunks, you began to see how it is possible and reasonable to attain the goal.

Step 3: Action Plan

At this point you put together an action plan broken down into monthly, weekly and daily activities to achieve the smaller goals that will eventually lead you to achieving the overall goal.

To simplify an explanation of an action plan, we will utilise the previous example. Let’s say your average sale is 5,000 and you have three sales people.

• It takes five client “face to face” meetings to close one deal
• That means the following:

• In month one your team needs to see 150 clients to close 30 sales at 5,000 per sale.
• In January they only have 15 working days.
• You decide you need two of your salespeople to see 3 clients per day and one salesperson has to see 4 clients per day. This will give you your 30 sales for the month of January.

The key here is you have your team moving to action daily with specific activities.

Action is vital. Motion creates emotion that in turn creates more motion or more action. I think Abraham Lincoln summed it up well with this statement: “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” Move to action…you and your team do not want the “leftovers.” Remember, planning is great although “Action Creates Clarity!”

Step 4: Set Up A Measurement System

“What gets measured, gets managed, and what gets managed, gets done.” You need to have a system that measures your progress. In other words “Keep Score” so you can pat yourself and your team on the back for how far you have come. You can also see whether or not you are ahead or behind in the activities needed to reach your goal. By having measurements you receive a feeling of achievement when you accomplish the task or are ahead of schedule. It gives you short time measurement targets to reach for. You can also see if you are lagging behind. That awareness can then stimulate you to increase your actions, adjust them or change them. Measurements in the example would be measuring the activities, the number of sales and the average sale size. Put up a “results and measurement board” so the team can see it. Track it by the day.

Step 5: Rewards

Have celebrations and rewards along the way to reward yourself and your people for a job well done.

Additional Tips

Add these additional tips and you are well on your way to achieving your goals for the coming year.

• Be clear about your motivation. Make a list of why you want to achieve the goal. The why is what really motivates?
• Interview people who have achieved a similar goal and gather stories and articles about how different people have done it.  You need “models of possibility” directly (face to face) and indirectly (stories and articles).
• Draw a picture or create a collage of photographs of what your goal is, or “how you will feel” or “what you may receive” when you reach your goal. Make up a screen saver with your goal on it.
• Develop some self-talk statements or affirmations that support your goal.
• Set up some type of measurement system and have rewards at certain points of accomplishment.
• Make them visible, carry them with you and review them regularly.

May you have health, wealth and happiness in the coming year! 

In February I will be conducting 2 Day Intensive Workshops on Making “Real” Marketing and Selling “Really Pay.” The workshops will be held in Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg. For more information go to the following link: http://www.entrepreneur.co.za/how-to-make-real-marketing-really-pay-2-day-event/ or contact our office directly. Our office contact details are below.

Also, if you have found this blog article to be valuable for you, I would be grateful if you “shared” it with your Social Media Networks. Also feel free to circulate it by e-mail or other means internally within your organization or externally to your clients, suppliers and personal and business network.

Bill Gibson is a Canadian who is living in South Africa. He is an international speaker and author and a developer of sales, service, marketing, collecting, employee morale building, personal development and entrepreneurial training programs and systems. His blog is www.bill-gibson.com and his website is www.kbitraining.com. He can be reached at bill@kbitraining.com or phone +27-11-784-1720 in South Africa. You can follow Bill Gibson on Twitter: @billgibson1, connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gibsonbill or Knowledge Brokers International SA Pty Ltd Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/knowledgebrokers?ref=hl