goals
Success Tweet 85: Focus on Opportunities, Not Obstacles
Aug 13th
Success Tweets: 140 Bits of Common Sense Career Success Advice, All in 140 Characters or Less is my new career success coach book. I’m proud to say that it has just gone into its second printing. I want to thank all of the kind folks who have posted a review of Success Tweets on Amazon.com. You can pick up a copy at your local bookstore or on line at amazon.com. Better yet, you can download the eBook version for free at www.SuccessTweets.com.
Today’s career advice comes from Success Tweet 85…
Always be on the lookout for new ideas. Find opportunities where others see obstacles.
Henry Ford once said…
“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.”
Good one Henry. I have a great story about this. It involves a trash can and a hair dryer cord.
In our bathroom at home, the trash can sits under a shelf. Cathy keeps her hair dryer on the shelf. The cord loops down in front of the trash can. Being the frustrated NBA player I am, and also being a normal guy who turns even the most mundane things into sport, I make a game of tossing my used tissues into the trash can. For the longest time, I focused on the hair dryer cord as I tried to swish my tissue into the waste basket. I hit the cord almost two thirds of the time, missing my game winning shot in the 7th game of the NBA Finals.
Once day I saw Henry Ford’s quote on line. The next day, I began focusing on the waste basket opening – which is a lot bigger than the hair dryer cord anyway – and I swished the shot; thereby winning the Denver Nugget’s first NBA championship. I kept doing this in the days that followed, and I ended up with more NBA championships that Red Auerbach, Phil Jackson, Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippin, Kobe Bryant and Shaq combined. I couldn’t miss – all because I kept focused on the goal (the trash can) not the obstacle (the hair dyer cord).
This may sound like a stupid story told by an overgrown adolescent. It’s not. It makes an important career success point. When I tried to avoid the obstacle, I hit it very frequently. When I tried to hit the goal and ignored the obstacle, I began making the shots – achieving my goal. And that’s what you need to do too.
Here’s the career advice that comes from this story. Keep focused on your goals. Don’t take your eyes off of them because you’ll begin seeing all of the obstacles to overcoming your goals.
30 years ago this September, I enrolled in a PhD program at Harvard. I had to overcome quite a few obstacles to get my degree. First, I had to get accepted. Once I was accepted, I had to figure out how to pay for the privilege of attending an elite university. Then I had to make sure I graduated.
I spent the time necessary and wrote the very best application I could. I got accepted, one obstacle down. I sold my car when I moved to Cambridge. This money – along with grants, student loans, work study jobs and a part time teaching job at Northeastern University — were enough to pay for my education. By the way, I was in my late 40s when I paid off my last student loan.
Graduating became a little more challenging. I left Harvard after I finished my course work, but before I had completed my dissertation. I took a full time job in New York. Professors advised me against this. They told me that it is very difficult to work full time and write a dissertation. They were right. It took me four and a half years, but I submitted a dissertation that my committee accepted. I kept focused on the goal – the right to call myself “Dr. Bilanich.” – interestingly enough I never use the title except when I want to get a reservation at a crowded restaurant.
I have too many friends that are ABD – “all but dissertation.” These folks wander the earth with a sense of profound incompletion. I promised myself that this was never going to happen to me. I kept my eyes on the goal – even though I had quite a few obstacles thrown at me along the way — and I achieved it.
The common sense career success coach point here is simple. Successful people achieve their goals because they stay focused on them. They follow the advice in Tweet 85 in Success Tweets. “Always be on the lookout for new ideas. Find opportunities where others see obstacles.” Obstacles often are opportunities in disguise. Successful people see opportunities where others see obstacles. And, as Henry Ford said, “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eye off the goal.” My best career advice here is to keep focused on your goals – whether it’s bathroom basketball, or getting a PhD — and you’ll be able to turn obstacles into opportunities.
That’s my take on the career advice in Success Tweet 85. What’s yours? What obstacles have you turned into opportunities? What goals did you accomplish a result. Please take a minute to share your story with us in a comment. As always, thanks for reading.
Bud
Success Tweet 32
Jun 1st
My latest career success coach book, Success Tweets: 140 Bits of Common Sense Career Success Advice, All in 140 Characters or Less is now available on Amazon.com and in bookstores. I am in the process of blogging about each of the tweets in it. You can get a free copy of Success Tweets at www.SuccessTweets.com. If you like it, I’d appreciate a positive review on Amazon.com.
Today’s career success coach post is on Tweet 32…
Stuff happens as you go about creating a successful life and career. Choose to respond positively to the negative stuff that happens.
It’s simple, really. Success is all up to you, and me, and anyone else who wants it. We all have to take personal responsibility for our own success. I am the only one who can make me a career success. You are the only one who can make you a career success.
Stuff happens: good stuff, bad stuff, frustrating stuff, unexpected stuff. Successful people respond to the stuff that happens in a positive way. Humans are the only animals with free will. That means we – you and me – get to decide how we react to every situation that comes up. That’s why taking personal responsibility for yourself and choosing to respond positively to the negative stuff that happens to you is so important and is some great career advice.
I tell my career success coach clients that personal responsibility means recognizing that you are responsible for your life and the choices you make. It means that you realize that while other people and events have an impact on your life, these people and events don’t shape your life. When you accept personal responsibility for your life, you own up to the fact that how you react to people and events is what’s important. And you can choose how to react to every person you meet and everything that happens to you.
The concept of personal responsibility is found in most writings on success. Stephen Covey’s first habit in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is, “Be proactive.” I have a little book called Daily Reflections for Highly Effective People also by Stephen Covey. It is one of the most read books that I have. I like it because it provides a little snippet of career advice from 7 Habits of Highly Effective People everyday.
The daily reflection for September 24 goes directly to the career advice in this tweet, and it gets to the heart of personal responsibility and life and career success.
“It’s not really what happens to us, but our response to what happens to us that hurts us. Of course, thing can hurt physically or economically and can cause sorrow. But our character, our basic identity, does not have to be hurt at all. In fact, our most difficult experiences become the crucibles that forge our character and develop the internal powers, the freedom to handle difficult circumstances in the future and to inspire others to do so as well.”
Dr. Covey provides some great career advice here. We can’t always choose what happens to us, but we can choose how we react to both the positive and negative experiences we have as we go through life. Successful people choose to make lemonade out of lemons. Unsuccessful people choose to complain about the bitter, tart taste of the lemons they are handed.
I know the “lemons into lemonade” line is a cliché. However, clichés become clichés because they have an underlying truth. The important point is that human beings are blessed with free will. As such, we can choose what we do and how we react to the world around us. We can choose a positive, productive path; or we can choose a path of self pity and inaction – and hurt only ourselves in the end.
The 7 Habits advice for September 25 carries on in the same vein…
“Proactive people can carry their own weather with them. Whether it rains or shines makes no difference to them. They are value driven; and if their value is to produce good quality work, it isn’t a function of whether the weather is conducive to it or not.”
I love the concept of carrying your own weather with you. It is great career success coach advice.Choosing to react positively to the negative people and events in your life is the best way to carry your weather with you– and to take personal responsibility for your life and career success.
The common sense career success coach point here is clear. Successful people know that they can choose how they respond to everyone they meet and everything that happens to them. They know that “the devil made me do it” is never an accurate statement. They also know that no one can “make” them mad. In short, they follow the advice in Tweet 32 in Success Tweets. “Stuff happens as you go about creating a successful life and career. Choose to respond positively to the negative stuff that happens.” If you want to create the career success you deserve, remember Stephen Covey’s advice. Carry your weather with you. In this way, whether it rains or shines on the outside, it will be sunny on the inside. Choose to react positively to the negative people you meet, and the negative things that happen to you. When you do, you’ll find that you’ll have less negative things happening and fewer negative people entering your life.
That’s my take on the career advice in Tweet 32 in Success Tweets. What’s your? Please take a few minutes to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us. As always, thanks for reading.
Bud
Success Tweet 31
May 31st
Happy Memorial Day to my readers in the USA. I hope you are enjoying the first three day weekend of the summer.
My latest career success coach book, Success Tweets: 140 Bits of Common Sense Career Success Advice, All in 140 Characters or Less is now available on Amazon.com and in bookstores. I am in the process of blogging about each of the tweets in it. You can get a free copy of Success Tweets at www.SuccessTweets.com. If you like it, I’d appreciate a positive review on Amazon.com.
Today’s focus is Tweet 31…
Plan how you will achieve your goals. Then do whatever you have to do, not want or feel like doing, to achieve them.
Your goals won’t get done just because you’ve written them. Common sense career advice says that you have to work your goals. There are two steps here. First plan how you will achieve each of your goals. Second, work your plan. You can have all of the good intentions in the world, but if you don’t plan how you will achieve your goals and then work your plan, you will not achieve the life and career success you want and deserve.
Gary Ryan Blair, The Goals Guy, and author of a great little book called Everything Counts makes an important point about the importance of working your goals…
“Good intentions, while honorable, are of little use when you let weeks, months, and years of potential and possibility slip by.”
Gary has a weekly ritual of reflecting, reviewing and updating his goals. He said that this ritual has allowed him to continue to grow and make significant performance gains for twelve straight years without missing a beat.
Check it out.
Every Sunday night, or Monday morning, isolate one goal and ask yourself the following five questions:
- What are my current year to date results in relation to this goal?
- What has gone right so far this year? Why? Identify strengths and strategies to repeat.
- What has gone wrong so far this year? Why? Identify weaknesses and strategies to drop.
- What corrective actions will I immediately implement to remain on target?
- What will I commit to doing this week to ensure that I will meet or achieve this goal?
I love this exercise. I have committed to doing it every Monday morning. I began today. As a career success coach, I encourage you to do the same. Give this exercise the time and attention it deserves, and as Gary says, “you will have positioned yourself for having a breakthrough week.”
Tweet 31 in Success Tweets provides some no nonsense career success coach advice. It says “do whatever you have to do, not want or feel like doing, to achieve them.” Gary Ryan Blair, the Goals Guy provides a great exercise to help you stay on target and moving ahead toward achieving your goals. Even if you don’t feel like reviewing one of your goals every week, I suggest you do it. This is common sense career advice. The more you focus on your goals, the more likely you are to achieve them.
There is a Japanese proverb that I like and is appropriate here…
Vision without action is a daydream.
Action with vision is a nightmare.
No matter how big, your goals, plans, thoughts and dreams will never become a reality until you act on them. You have to commit to taking personal responsibility for achieving your goals and for creating the life and career success you want and deserve. And action is the single most important word when it comes to demonstrating your commitment.
On the other hand, action without vision truly is a nightmare. You’ll never get where you want to go if you don’t have a clear idea of exactly what you want to achieve. That’s why you have to set goals. Your goals are your vision for the career success you will create.
Goals give you direction and focus. Action makes your goals a reality.
The common sense career success coach point here is simple. Successful people follow the career advice in Tweet 31 in Success Tweets. “Plan how you will achieve your goals. Then do whatever you have to do, not want or feel like doing, to achieve them.” Goals are the foundation of your success. You need to do two things to achieve your goals. First create a plan. Second, implement your plan; do whatever you have to do to achieve your goals. Gary Ryan Blair, The Goals Guy, suggests focusing on one of your goals every week. Figure out how well you’re doing on this one goal. Then commit to doing the things necessary to move you closer to achieving it. If you rotate through your goals, one week at a time, you’ll be moving in the right direction. You’ll be on the road to creating the life and career success you want and deserve. This technique works. Take it from a career success coach who uses it.
That’s my take on the career advice in Tweet 31 in Success Tweets. What’s yours? Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us. As always, thanks for reading.
Bud
Sucess Tweet 30
May 28th
My latest career success coach book, Success Tweets: 140 Bits of Common Sense Career Success Advice, All in 140 Characters or Less is now available on Amazon.com and in bookstores. I am in the process of blogging about each of the tweets in it. You can get a free copy of the eBook version of Success Tweets at www.SuccessTweets.com. If you like it, I’d appreciate a positive review on Amazon.com.
Today’s focus is Tweet 30…
Success is a journey, not a destination. When you accomplish on goal, reach higher and set a new one.
You’ve probably heard of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – it’s a staple in undergraduate social psychology. In case you haven’t, or need a refresher, here is a quick recap. I bring up the Hierarchy of Needs here because it’s related to the career advice in this tweet.
In 1943, Dr. Abraham Maslow wrote a paper called “A Theory of Human Motivation” in which he described his ideas about what motivates humans. He suggested that human beings have a series of needs which we strive to meet and that the best way to motivate someone is to appeal to the need most relevant to him or her at a given time. He arranged these needs in a pyramid.
Physiological, or survival needs like breathing, food, water and sleep are at the base of the pyramid. Dr. Maslow suggested that until these basic survival needs are met, human beings will not be motivated by any other needs.
Safety and security needs are the next up on the pyramid. Dr. Maslow suggests that once people feel that they will survive today, they will be motivated by the need to survive tomorrow, the next day and the long term.
Love and belonging needs are next. Dr. Maslow suggests that once human beings experience a reasonable level of security, their needs turn to developing friendship and family relations.
Esteem needs are next. Once people feel secure and loved, Dr. Maslow says that they seek gratification that comes from achievement, self respect and the respect of others.
Self actualization needs are at the top of the pyramid. Dr. Maslow often described self actualization as “being all that one can be.” And therefore, one can never be truly self actualized.
I bring up the Hierarchy of Needs not as a motivational tool, but becasue it has implications for life and career success. Successful people operate at the top of the pyramid. They strive to become self actualized.
Dr. Maslow suggested that self actualization is the pursuit of perfection. In other words, once you accomplish something that you previously thought of as the pinnacle, you will find that there is more that you can accomplish. This is in keeping withthe career advice in Tweet 30 which suggests that becoming self actualized is a process in which you set new and higher goals whenever you accomplish one of your goals.
That’s why I say that success is a journey, not a destination. Successful people see themselves as works in progress. Successful people are never finished becoming all that they can be. My best career success coach advice suggests that if you want the life and career success you deserve, you need to think of yourself this way — keep becoming more.
I’m not suggesting that you take no time to celebrate your successes and look back at them with pride. I am saying however, that if you want to build long term career success, you will use your successes as springboards to bigger and better things.
Set new goals. Develop plans for achieving these new goals. Work your plans. And then do it again. Think of yourself as someone who is “becoming” not as someone who is “complete.” Successful people realize that there are always new challenges and opportunities. Some of the best career advice I ever received was from an early mentor who told me to see beyond the horizon, to keep actively looking for new ways to learn, grow and succeed.
The common sense career success coach point here is simple. Successful people never stop learning and growing. They follow the advice in Tweet 30 in Success Tweets. “Success is a journey, not a destination. When you accomplish one goal, reach higher and set a new one.” This is the idea embodied in the concept of self actualization; you can never be all that you can be because there will always be new challenges ahead. Setting and achieving ever increasingly difficult goals is the best way to live a fulfilling life and to create the career success you deserve. Keep learning, keep growing, keep achieving, and you will succeed beyond your wildest dreams.
That’s my take on Tweet 30 in Success Tweets. What’s yours? Please leave a comment. Tell us about the times you reached beyond what you thought you could accomplish. Did you fail? If so, what did you learn? Did you succeed? If so, how did you feel? What did you do next? As always, thanks for reading, and commenting. I really appreciate you.
Bud
Success Tweet 29
May 27th
My latest career success coach book, Success Tweets: 140 Bits of Common Sense Career Success Advice, All in 140 Characters or Less is now available on Amazon.com and in bookstores. I am in the process of blogging about each of the tweets in it. You can get a free copy of Success Tweets at www.SuccessTweets.com. If you like it, I’d appreciate a positive review on Amazon.com.
Today’s focus is Tweet 29…
Aim high. Set and achieve high goals – month after month, and year after year. Do whatever it takes to achieve your goals.
This post is more about goal achievement than goal setting. You know that you need to set goals in all parts of your life. You know you need to set S.M.A.R.T. goals. You know that you need break your goals into manageable milestones. You know that you need to keep your goals with you. You know that you need to write your goals and share them with others. All of this is a great start. However, it’s just the start.
Successful people do whatever it takes to achieve their goals. This takes commitment and tenacity. It means working towards you goals when you are tired. It means not giving up in the face of problems and setbacks. It means doing what needs to be done, not what you want to do, or feel like doing.
This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from Malcolm Forbes…
“Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs.”
It takes thousands of years and tremendous amounts of pressure to turn coal into diamonds. While you don’t need to spend thousands of years creating the successful life and career you want and deserve, you do have to stick with it. If you give up every time you run into a problem, setback or roadblock you’ll never become a diamond. If you can’t take the pressure, you’ll never become a diamond. You have to stick to it and bare up under the pressure. It doesn’t take a career success coach to tell you that you need to be persistent if you’re going to achieve your goals.
I am a fan of Lindsey Vonn, an Olympic gold medal winning alpine skier who makes her home in Vail; so she’s a local as far as I’m concerned. She is the most successful American woman skier in World Cup history.
She’s 26 years old and has been skiing for 24 of those years. She moved away from home and her family at a young age to pursue her dream of being a world class skier. She started skiing competitively at 7 and competing internationally when she was nine. She is devoted to her sport.
Check out what Lindsay Vonn says about going for your goals…
“When you fall down, just get up again. If you fall get up stronger, hungrier, more ambitious. Setbacks help you concentrate. When success falls into your lap, you lose sight of your goals.”
She fell hard earlier this year and had a terrible bone bruise on her arm. She didn’t miss an event. She had a terrible injury just prior to the Olympics and still won the gold medal in the downhill – the most prestigious skiing event – in the 2010 Winter Games.
I tell my career success coach clients that Lindsey Vonn is someone who can be likened to a lump of coal that has turned into a diamond because she’s stuck to her job. Remember her story the next time you feel like giving up on your goals and your dreams.
The common sense career success coach point here is simple. Successful people commit to taking personal responsibility for their lives and careers. They follow the career advice in Tweet 29 in Success Tweets. “Aim high. Set and achieve high goals – month after month, and year after year. Do whatever it takes to achieve your goals.” You can begin achieving your career success goals by taking personal responsibility for your life and career success. Do whatever it takes to succeed. Stick with it when the pressure gets strong. Do whatever it takes to achieve the life and career success goals you set for yourself. Respond positively to the negative people and events in your life. Remember what Malcolm Forbes has to say about success. “Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs.” Become a diamond. Stick with it. Set high goals, achieve them. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
That’s my take on Tweet 29 in Success Tweets. What’s yours? Please take a minute or two to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us. As always, thanks for reading.
Bud
Success Tweet 28
May 26th
My latest career success coach book, Success Tweets: 140 Bits of Common Sense Career Success Advice, All in 140 Characters or Less is now available on Amazon.com and in bookstores. I am in the process of blogging about each of the tweets in it. You can get a free copy of Success Tweets at www.SuccessTweets.com. If you like it, I’d appreciate a positive review on Amazon.com
Today’s focus is Tweet 28…
Write your goals. Share them with others. You are more likely to achieve goals that you write and share.
Accountability is the key career advice here. When you write your goals and share them with others you are choosing accountability.
Writing your goals demonstrates your accountability to yourself. Written goals are real and tangible. Goals that you keep in your head most often are fuzzy and poorly defined; little more than wishes.
Besides being solid career advice, taking the time to write your goals, and then making them S.M.A.R.T. (see my recent post) puts some rigor into the goal setting process. You end up with a set of well defined goals on which you can build your career success.
Sharing your goals with others close to you is another way of choosing accountability. When you share your goals, you are making a public statement about what you are going to accomplish. This makes you more likely to do the work necessary to achieve them.
Let me give you an example. I have made a big effort to improve my level of health and fitness in recent years. A few years ago, I set a weight loss goal. I shared this goal with several of my friends, especially those who are committed to their own health and fitness.
One of these people is one of my clients. I was visiting his office one day. There was a big platter of oatmeal raisin cookies left over from a meeting sitting in an open area near his office. As we passed the cookies, I took one. I was beginning to take a bit when he turned to me and said, “Do you really want that?”
In the moment, I really did. But in the greater scheme of things and given my health and fitness goal, I really didn’t want to be eating cookies in the middle of the afternoon. I tossed the cookie into the trash.
Sharing my health and fitness goal with this guy helped me achieve it. By asking me a simple question, “Do you really want that?” he helped me make progress toward my goal. He helped me fight the temptation to do something that ran counter to achieving my goal.
But remember, he never would have asked me the question if I had not first shared my health and fitness goal with him. This is one of the basic ideas behind the Weight Watchers program. This works for goals in all areas of your life and career.
Here’s another example. I was having a conversation with Doug Westmoreland, king of motivational videos. He and I were talking about email list building. I mentioned that I have a goal of growing my subscriber list. Doug asked a few questions, made a few suggestions and then said something really profound. “Bud, you’re a great guy, you give lots of value to your subscribers. It’s about time that you begin offering them the opportunity to reciprocate by making products available for sale in your electronic correspondence with them.”
Doug’s comment was really helpful. He got me to rethink how I communicate with my subscribers. I never would have received this great advice if I hadn’t shared one of my goals with him.
The common sense career success coach point here is simple. Successful people set and achieve high goals. They follow the career advice in Tweet 28 in Success Tweets. “Write your goals. Share them with others. You are more likely to achieve goals that you write and share.” I have found that writing your goals and sharing them with others are two of the best ways to ensure that you achieve them. Both of these simple actions increase your personal accountability for achieving your goals. When you write your goals, they become more real for you. When you share them, you invite others to help you achieve them. You build a support network that can keep you on track and moving forward in creating the career success you deserve.
That’s my take on the advice in Tweet 28 in Success Tweets. What’s yours? Please take a few minutes to leave a comment sharing your thoughts – and goals — with us. As always, thanks for reading.
Bud
Success Tweet 27
May 25th
My latest career success coach book, Success Tweets: 140 Bits of Common Sense Career Success Advice, All in 140 Characters or Less is now available on Amazon.com and in bookstores. I am in the process of blogging about each of the tweets in it. You can get a free copy of Success Tweets at www.SuccessTweets.com. If you like it, I’d appreciate a positive review on Amazon.com
Today’s focus is Tweet 27, one of several tweets on the importance of goal setting and goal achievement…
Create goals in all areas of your life: career, personal, business, family, hobbies, health and fitness. Make sure they are congruent.
Since I am a self employed career success coach, my career and business goals overlap. I have personal goals that overlap with my health and fitness. Biking and reading are my hobbies. I have goals for them too. My most important goal is to be a loving and supportive husband.
My career and business goals focus on helping others succeed, getting my career success coach message out in as many different ways as I possibly can, and making enough money to let me travel less and work from home more.
I have lost quite a bit of weight in recent years. My personal and health goals focus on maintaining that weight loss and losing even more. I have a long term goal of doing a metric century bike ride (62 miles) in 2011.
I set goals for my reading hobby as well. I have a goal to reread several of Tolstoy’s works this year.
I also have goals for our marriage. My marriage goals intersect with my business and career goals. The more time I spend at home, the more time I have to devote to our relationship. This means that i need to do a good job on my business and career goals.
See how this works?
What are the important parts of your life? Do you have goals in each of them? Are these goals congruent? Even though I am a career success coach, I urge you to spend time thinking about both your life and career success. Create goals in all parts of your life. Make sure these goals are congruent. You’ll be happier – and more likely to achieve the career success you deserve –this way.
The common sense career success coach point here is simple. Successful people are well rounded. They set and achieve goals in all facets of their lives. What are the important parts of your life? Do you have goals for each of them? If not, create some. Follow the advice in Tweet 27 in Success Tweets. “Create goals in all areas of your life: career, personal, business, family, hobbies, health and fitness. Make sure they are congruent.” Pay particular attention to being congruent. Your goals need to complement one another. If they don’t, you’ll find yourself trying to juggle competing priorities. This is difficult at best, and often leads to failure on several fronts. Congruent goals on the other hand will complement one another and lead to your life and career success.
That’s my take on Tweet 27 in Success Tweets. What’s yours? Please leave a comment telling us how you balance the goals in the different part of your life. As always, thanks for reading.
Bud
Success Tweet 26
May 24th
My new book Success Tweets: 140 Bits of Common Sense Career Success Advice, All in 140 Characters or Less is now available in bookstores and on Amazon.com. It is the latest of my career success coach books. Its aim is helping you achieve the life and career success you want and deserve. I am in the process of blogging about each of the tweets in Success Tweets. You can get a free copy of the eBook version of Success Tweets at www.SuccessTweets.com. If you download the eBook and like it, I’d appreciate a positive review on Amazon.com.
Today’s focus is Tweet 26, one of several tweets on the importance of goal setting and goal achievement…
Keep your goals with you – in your wallet, or on your screen saver. They will be a constant reminder of what you will achieve.
Notice the last two words in the tweet – “will achieve.” I didn’t say, “hope to achieve,” or “want to achieve,” or worse yet “try to achieve.” I said “will achieve.” “Will achieve” is a positive, proactive statement that reinforces your visualization of your career success. As the tweet suggests, keeping your goals close at hand is a constant reminder of what you will achieve. Thinking in terms of “will achieve” rather than “hope to achieve,” want to achieve,” or “try to achieve” is a solid piece of career advice.
The other day, I saw a quote from John Wooden, legendary college basketball coach, and the author of several books on life and career success. This career success coach has them all in his library. Coach Wooden’s success pyramid is a truly comprehensive look at how to become the life and career success you deserve to be.
Here is the quote…
“I am not as good as I ought to be. I am not as good as I want to be. I am not as good as I’m going to be. But I am thankful that I am better than I used to be.”
Notice that Coach Wooden uses positive affirmative language when he says, “I am not as good as I’m going to be.” Even at 99 years old, he is still growing.
Keeping your goals with you is a great way to help you become better than you are. For one thing, keeping your goals nearby makes it easy for you to reflect on them several times a day – see the post I did on this. For another, keeping your goals with you, makes them part of you.
I keep my goals in my wallet. They’re easily accessible. I pull them out and look at them so often I usually have to print a second copy midyear. The original gets creased, dirty and threadbare from so much folding and unfolding. Having my goals in my wallet in right front pants pocket every day makes them seem more real to me. Reviewing them a couple of times a day motivates me to do the work I need to do to accomplish them.
As I often am when I write these blog posts, I’m on a plane. I just wrote all of this week’s posts. Then I took a minute to stretch and review my goals. One of those goals is to create a membership site using Success Tweets and these blog posts as part of the content. The sooner I write all 140 blog posts, the sooner I’ll be able to put up my membership site. The sooner the membership site goes up, the sooner I’ll be helping more people take advantage of my career success coach thoughts and ideas. Just reviewing my goals gave me the energy to keep writing, instead of reading for the last hour of the flight.
See how this works? First of all, be thankful for being better than you were, believe that you will be better than you are. Use your goals – the things you will achieve – to inspire you to do the work necessary to become better than you are, and to become the life and career success you deserve to be. Pretty good career advice, if I do say so myself.
The common sense career success coach point here is simple. Successful people set and achieve high goals. Goals are your promise to yourself that you will become better than you are. If you follow the advice in Tweet 26 in Success Tweets, “Keep your goals with you – in your wallet, or on your screen saver. They will be a constant reminder of what you will achieve;” you will be more likely to achieve your goals, become better than you are, and create the life and career success you want and deserve. I keep my goals in my wallet, and look at them at least a couple of times a day. Try this career success coach advice. You’ll be surprised at how much you can accomplish.
That’s my take on Tweet 26 in Success Tweets. What’s yours? Please take a minute to leave a comment telling us where you keep your goals and how often you refer to them. As always, thanks for reading.
Bud
Success Tweet 24
May 20th
I am in the process of blogging about each of the tweets in my latest career success coach book, Success Tweets: 140 Bits of Common Sense Career Success Advice, All in 140 Characters or Less. You can get a free copy of Success Tweets at www.SuccessTweets.com.
Today’s focus is Tweet 24…
Focus on your goals several times a day. Spend your valuable time on the things that will help you achieve them.
In yesterday’s post, I mentioned Denis Waitley’s ideas on goal achievement.
- Your goals need to be clear.
- Your goals need to be written.
- Your need to focus on your goals several times a day.
- You need to visualize yourself achieving your goals.
In this post I want to focus on the third of Denis’ points – the one that is lacking for many people – even those with clear, written goals. Too many of us treat goal setting as a once a year process. Some of us set quarterly milestones and check our progress then and only then. Few of us review our goals daily to make sure that what we do every day brings us closer to achieving our goals.
I always suggest to my career success coach clients that they stop a couple of times a day and ask themselves this simple question: “Is what I’m doing right now helping me achieve any of my goals?” If not, I give them the following career advice: “Stop what you’re doing and move on to something that will help you achieve one of you career success goals.”
Here’s an example. I am on a plane as I am writing this post. I was reading the latest Barbara Kingsolver novel – a writer I enjoy very much. However, long ago I realized that airplane time is found time – free of distractions, time that can be very productive, if I choose to use it that way. So I closed the novel, opened my laptop and began writing this blog post. Blogging brings me closer to achieving my goal of being a successful internet information marketer. Reading a novel doesn’t.
I wrote the first draft of 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations on a trip to Hong Kong. That was two 15 hour flights (there and back), plenty of time to think and write – and to work on achieving one of my goals of publishing a book on how to run a successful organization. Want a copy? Send me an email, and if you’re in the USA, I’ll send you a free copy. If you’re outside of the USA, I will have to charge you a few bucks for shipping.
I’m not saying that you should spend every waking hour working. I am saying however, that you should focus on your goals continually. Ask yourself if what you are doing at any given moment during the day is bringing you closer to achieving one of your goals. In this way, you will be making a conscious decision to work your goals or take some time for yourself. I have spent more than one plan trip reading a novel. Sometimes recharging my batteries is the best thing I can do to help myself achieve my career success goals.
The common sense career success coach point here is simple. Successful people commit to taking personal responsibility for their lives and careers. They set high goals and do whatever it takes to achieve them. Really successful people focus on their goals several times a day, every day. This is in keeping with Tweet 24 in Success Tweets. “Focus on your goals several times a day. Spend your valuable time on the things that will help you achieve them.” Stop for a minute during the day and ask yourself if what you are doing at that particular moment is bringing you closer to achieving at least one of your goals. If it isn’t, stop what you’re doing and start doing something related to achieving your goals.
That’s my take on Tweet 24 in Success Tweets – how to achieve your goals. What’s yours? Please take a minute to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us. As always, thanks for reading.
Bud
Success Tweet 23
May 19th
My new book Success Tweets: 140 Bits of Common Sense Career Success Advice, All in 140 Characters or Less has been well received. I think it is one of my more interesting career success coach writings. I thank all of you who have downloaded a free copy of the eBook. If you want a copy, just go to www.SuccessTweets.com.
But I must admit that I have received some less than flattering comments about Success Tweets. One of my fellow Penn State alums said that “140 tweets is not a book, it’s a page.” Another Penn State alum told me that tweets lack intellectual rigor, and are the hallmark of people who are too lazy to properly research a subject.
What is it with Penn State people anyway? Maybe it’s the air in Happy Valley.
My answer to the anti tweet people comes from one of my favorite quotes from Albert Einstein…
“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.”
I’m not calling myself a genius, but from personal experience I know that it can be very difficult to simplify complex issues. If you recall I shared my values in a post last week. “Simplicity” is one of my core personal values. As a career success coach, I work hard to simplify the complex issues involved with creating the life and career success you want and deserve.
Besides that, concise writing can be very time consuming — as it often means heavy editing of the first draft. Mark Twain once got a telegram from a publisher that said: “Need 2 page short story in two days.” He responded: “Can’t do two pages in two days. Can do 30 pages in two days. Need 30 days to do two pages.” I agree with him on this one.
There, I got that off of my chest. I think tweets are a handy, not lazy, way to communicate – if they’re done well. Of course, sometimes it takes more than 140 characters to get across everything you want to communicate about a subject. That’s why I’m doing this series of blog posts – to further explain the ideas in Success Tweets.
On to Tweet 23…
Goals are important. You can’t get what you want if you don’t know where you’re going.
If you want to create life and career success, you must commit to three things. First, you must take personal responsibility for your success. Only you can make you a career success. You need to be willing to do the things necessary to succeed. Second, you must set high goals — and then do whatever it takes to achieve them. Third, stuff happens; as you go through life you will encounter many problems and setbacks. You need to react positively to the negative stuff and move forward toward your goals.
The other day, I came across a succinct statement on goal setting and goal achievement from Denis Waitely…
“The secret to productive goal setting is in establishing clearly defined goals, writing them down and then focusing on them several times a day with words, pictures and emotions as if we’ve already achieved them.”
I really like what Denis has to say. Let’s break it down.
- Your goals need to be clear.
- Your goals need to be written.
- Your need to focus on your goals several times a day.
- You need to visualize yourself achieving your goals.
Clear goals follow the S.M.A.R.T. formula. They are Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Bound. Do your goals pass the S.M.A.R.T. test? If you’ve written them, it should be pretty easy to review them to see.
Here’s a goal that one of my career success coach clients shared with me recently.
To become a millionaire selling products on the internet.
Let’s see how well it stacks up to the S.M.A.R.T. test.
Specific? Reasonably so. This guy wants to become a millionaire selling products on the internet. This goal would be more specific if he had specified the product or type of product he wants to sell, and if he is going to develop the product himself, or resell others’ products.
Measurable? Overall yes; if he defines being a millionaire as having a net worth of over a million dollars.
Achievable? Probably. He’s a smart guy who has the desire. And, he is committed to this goal. I think he can achieve it if he works hard and smart.
Relevant? For him, yes. The guy defines success in monetary terms, so becoming a millionaire is certainly a relevant goal for him.
Time Bound? No. He hasn’t set a date by when his net worth will reach one million dollars.
Not bad for a first try. Here’s how I would make this goal more S.M.A.R.T…
To build a net worth of $1,000,000 by the time I am 40 by being an internet super affiliate marketer, reselling products in the self help field.
Specific? Very. Net worth of $1,000,000; internet affiliate marketer, reselling self help products.
Measurable? Yes. He can check his net worth on his 40th birthday.
Achievable? Likely, given some hard work and tenacity.
Relevant? Yes. Money is how he defines success.
Time Bound? Yes. His 40th birthday is a hard deadline.
This career success coach suggests that you take some time to review your goals. Make sure they are S.M.A.R.T. S.M.A.R.T. goals are written and clear — the first two recommendations from Denis Waitley when it comes to accomplishing your goals.
The common sense career success coach point here is simple. Successful people set and achieve high goals. They understand the power of Tweet 23 in Success Tweets. “Goals are important. You can’t get what you want if you don’t know where you’re going.” Written goals are the first step when it comes to life and career success. Sharpening your goals until they are clear and concise is the second step. If you don’t have written goals for your life, and for this year, write some today. Then check them against the S.M.A.R.T. criteria. Make sure your goals are Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Bound. If you take just these two steps you’ll be well ahead in the career success game.
That’s my take on Tweet 23 in Success Tweets. What’s yours? Please take a minute to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us. As always, thanks for reading.
Bud
