“Clear, written goals have a wonderful effect on your thinking. They motivate you and galvanize you into action. They stimulate your creativity, release your energy, and help you to overcome procrastination as much as any other factor.”
Brian Tracy
What is the one thing you wish you had done LAST year? Was it written down? Would it be a regret or an accomplishment if it had been?
“One of the marks of excellent people is that they never compare themselves with others. They only compare themselves with themselves and with their past accomplishments and future potential.”
Brian Tracy
Comparison can be such a slippery slope, it can far too quickly turn into an exercise of jealously and envy. All that really matters is making the most out of the gifts and talents that we have been given and using them to their fullest potential. Anything less diminishes God’s intent and purpose for which He created us. Seek growth not by comparing to what others have achieved, but what you could be on “your best day.” Then go make it happen.
“People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine.”
Brian Tracy
Half of 2019 has already passed and the beginning of the 3rd quarter is already here! It is time to review the progress made against Q2 goals and make sure that the right ones are set for Q3.
It is amazing how powerful the act of simply writing down your goals can be. Writing it down makes it tangible and real and puts the focus on defining the next action needed to make the goal a reality. I have used a written goal planning methodology for years and I couldn’t imagine not having written goals and objectives. I truly think I would be lost without this process.
What are your goals for the next three months? The remainder of the year? Are they written down?
“You have to put in many, many, many tiny efforts that nobody sees or appreciates before you achieve anything worthwhile.”
Brian Tracy
The behind the scenes work is how things are truly accomplished. The little things matter and they are likely things that no one will ever know about.
What are some of those efforts that you put in, day in and day out, that contribute to the end results? How do you stay motivated to ensure they are done the right way?
It comes down to staying focused on achieving the goal and knowing that the efforts invested, regardless of who sees them, are what is necessary to get the job done. If you are waiting on someone else to notice you are focused on the wrong things…
“Perhaps the very best question that you can memorize and repeat, over and over, is, ‘what is the most valuable use of my time right now?'”
Brian Tracy
How often do you ask yourself this question? How often do you answer it honestly…? What would you need to change to make the answers to the question easier to actually do? How many times does it happen where you get to the end of the day and wonder if you actually accomplished anything?
The answers to these questions might not be easy or answers that you like. But changing them to ones that you do like could change your world…
“A major stimulant to creative thinking is focused questions. There is something about a well-worded question that often penetrates to the heart of the matter and triggers new ideas and insights.”
Brian Tracy
I once heard Jim Collins speak and he was relaying a lesson taught to him by Peter Drucker. The essence of the lesson was that if one wanted to become truly impactful as a leader they must change their focus and truly be more “interested than interesting.” The key here was that when one is focused on being interesting they are about themselves and what they want to say and do. When they are interested they are focused on the other person and how they can help them.
The next part of the lesson was on how to accomplish being “interested vs. interesting.” If one wants to convey interest, then one must change the questions to statements ratio. Ask three, four, five times or more questions for every statement one makes. That conveys focus on the situation and the other person, not that you are only interested in being heard…
It has been at least 10 years since I first heard this and it has really stuck with me over the years. It is an area that I continually have to remind myself to work on and really focus on enhancing my questions to statements ratio. (I wrote a little bit about this (at least tangentially) back in August in this post.)
Take stock of your leadership words today. Are you asking more questions or making more statements? Are you focused on being interested or on being interesting? One side is about others, the other side is all about you…