How to Succeed in Business and Life

Have you ever wondered why some people accomplish far more than others in life? While it’s tempting to attribute other people’s accomplishments to good luck, good contacts and deep pockets, in reality most people who achieve great things in life don’t have any more luck, friends or money than anyone else. So what do they have? What makes them different?

The answer is goals – and a system for achieving those goals.

Ok, I can hear you groaning now. You’ve heard all this stuff about goals before. And it’s a nice theory. But you’re no closer to expanding your business now than you were a year ago. So what good are goals?

The trick to making goal setting work for your business is to understand yourself. Why are you doing all of this? Are you hoping for significant, long-term financial gains? Or is it really the power? Do you want to build a business that will give you and your family a comfortable lifestyle? Or do you want to build an empire? What would you like to be doing 10 or 20 years from now? Picture it in your mind's eye. Where would you like to live? What do you see as the most important values in your life then?

Write those goals down in the table immediately below. Make your goals specific and measurable. For instance, instead of “Buy a House,” write “Buy a $750,000 home.” Instead of “Put kids through college,” write, “Have $300,000 available for college costs.” Instead of "Expand the business," write, "Develop a $75 million sales organization." Write down why each goal is important, and assign a priority to it.

Long Term Goals	What Makes This Goal Important	Priority

Next , consider exactly what you have to do to reach those long term goals. Think in terms of smaller achievements you have to make along the way to reach those goals. And be realistic. For instance, if you want to buy a $750,000 house, what down payment would you need? How much money would you need to support the mortgage payments and the house, itself? And what milestones do you have to achieve in your business or career to get to that level. Work it all out on paper just like you might if you were planning to drive cross-country or plan a huge party.

Finally, consider what steps you need to take to reach each milestone and make a profit. What percent of the market for your products or services will you need to capture to reach your long-term goals? What specific steps do you need to take to capture that market? Do you need to hire employees to reach that level? Win contracts from specific customers? Open offices in other locations?

List these action items in step-by-step order and assign a deadline to each. If you have employees, delegate both the responsibility and the power to get each task done – to key people on your staff. If you are the only person in your organization, or the only one capable of carrying out your plan at this time, pick the first task and complete it, then move on to the next. Stay focused on achieving one small milestone after the other and before you know it, you'll be living your dreams.

by Janet Attard