GOAL SETTING – VISUALISING WHAT SPECIFICALLY SUCCESS IS FOR US (IT’S A DIFFERENT THING TO DIFFERENT PEOPLE)
1. Never start a year without seeing it first in your mind
If you were to draw your business success in 2021, what would you see in your mind? You’re the person who will be seeing it so don’t think that you need to create a beautiful painting. Just draw it on a piece of paper.
2. Be specific about where you want to go and when you want to get there
“If I buy an airplane and ask the pilot to take me somewhere, what is the question the pilot is likely to ask me?” The pilot has not been provided with enough information so they are likely to ask what country you want to go to, what city and much more to ensure they know specifically where you want to go. Once you have provided him with that information, it becomes clear where you want to go and when you want to get there. This is precisely what you need to do when it comes to mapping out your goals. You need to create very clear and measurable goals.
3. How important is your big business goal on a scale from 1 – 10? Why is it so important?
“The why is the intrinsic motivator. Why is survival.” If your goal is going to be an eight out of 10 in terms of how important it is, chances are you are going to hit a few more difficult days along the way and this is precisely why you need to know why your goal is important.
4. What are the consequences if you do not achieve the goal?
The consequences of not achieving your goal are continued instability and motivation being unfulfilled. Therefore, you need to write down your goals. This is a powerful thing to do. It is a really simple thing to do but that does not mean it is easy. Many do not write down their goals. “I never wrote one down until New Years of 1998, I was almost 31 years of age.”
TIME – TIPS ON HOW TO PLAN YOUR WEEK, SCHEDULING, ‘CHECK-IN WEDNESDAY’, GROWTH HOUR & DECIDING ON HIGH-PERFORMANCE ACTIVITIES
5. Our goals are achieved in a thing called ‘time’
If there was a time management guru on your shoulder watching your use of time in your business in 2020, what score would they give you?
We all have the same time. We all get the exact amount of time to get things done. However, we prioritise time differently. In my early 20s, I used to prioritise two hours of late night television per night. Now, I use my time differently. Draw a week and put an X where you believe is the most important time. The most important time in your week is the time before you go into your week.
6. Either you run the week or the week runs you.
What are your high-performance activities for the week ahead? What specifically are you going to do? When are you going to do this?
One of the ways for you to win your week is to plan your week in advance. Set aside 20 minutes to plan your entire week ahead. You need to figure out your high priority goals, for example, if you are planning to revamp the business website, come up with new services, reach out to nine customers etc. Then schedule in high-performance activities which will help achieve your high priority goals.
7. Schedule 60% of your time in advance.
Why do you think it is only 60%?
60% is not an exact number, it is just a principle. By scheduling only 60% of your week in advance, it allows for unforeseen things to come up and not overwhelm you. It is much more achievable and allows for flexibility. It also allows you to get the most important things done as they are scheduled.
8. Sunday evening, usually around six o’clock is my most important 20 minutes of my entire week.
If you were to schedule yours, when would work for you? Give me a time.
Decide on a specific time for you to plan your week ahead and make it a habit. This is the most important 20 minutes of your week.
9. Assess your progress on achieving your goals each week : Check-in Wednesday
Check the plan, assess to see how the week is compared to your goals. Reconnect with your list, examine it and ask how am I doing and what are my high priority goals. These are the high payoff activities. How am I doing? A good practice is not to wait until the week is over. Check-in mid-week to see if you are on track – I call this check-in Wednesday
10. 1-2-1 Thinking Rule
You and I do two types of thinking. We do System 1 Thinking and System 2 Thinking (check out the book Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman). What is 12+12? 24. It is really quick to answer, less than a second. This is easy, automatic (System 1 Thinking) because of the skills we have and it is effortless. The System 2 Thinking goes deeper.
11. Schedule time to think about your business.
Do this at least once per year. This would be a day of deeper thinking (System 2 Thinking), every quarter would be most ideal. This may be for only two or three hours. You could even do this once a month, this could be 30 or 60 minutes.
12. What is the most important thing I could possibly do in my business this week?
What is the most valuable thing I could possibly do?
Ask yourself, what is the most profitable thing I could do in my business? And what’s one really uncomfortable thing I could do in my business that by next Friday evening, I will be delighted I did? What is one thing that would really move the dial that I could do this week?
13. It is not all about the hours you put in, it’s also about growth.
Ask where is this growth? Find the time to not only think about your business but question your actions in your business and what else you could do to achieve your goals.
14. HPA & HPG
We have discussed the high-performance activities (HPA), high priority goals (HPG) to schedule the 60% of high payoff activities
15. Don’t spend major time on minor things.
Ask yourself the question, is this a high pay off activity?
You need to identify whether the high payoff activity you are doing is minor or major. Ask yourself what you need to improve on and what you could do better too.
THE E WORD & ITS IMPORTANCE
16. Are you into regular physical exercise?
Exercise is the E word and I would encourage you to make time for exercise. 30 minutes of exercise is 2% of your day.
What does exercise do for you? Exercise makes us feel good, gives us clarity and focus, makes us feel better, switches us off, allows us to engage with nature and heals our mind.
Do you align physical exercise with your business performance? If you link your physical fitness with your business performance, physical fitness is not just one of the keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of creative and dynamic intellectual activity.
TYPES OF PEOPLE TO SURROUND YOURSELF WITH
17. The six different types of people who will help you achieve your goals.
We need to surround ourselves with great people who will help us achieve our goals. Perhaps they are a colleague, a peer, a fellow member of the Business All-Stars, someone who is a completely different business etc. They are:
- People who have skills to teach you
- People who hold you accountable
- People who inspire you
- People who tell you the truth
- People who think and operate at a level that you wish to aspire to
- The most important – Yourself
MINDSET – INNER EVIDENCE, FOCUSING ON WHAT’S RIGHT IN YOUR BUSINESS & LIFE
18. Inner Evidence: Try to fill in (in workbook) at least three things that you have achieved in your life.
Write down things you are very proud of that took significant efforts from you.
It could have happened a week ago or 10 years ago. From your list of achievements, you have shown you have the inner evidence that you have what it takes to succeed. Never put your list of inner evidence away. Keep that information front and center all the time.
19. Identify 9 things that are right in your business / career.
If we can figure out what is right in our business, how difficult would it be to identify these if they were misrepresented?
“I encourage you that even when times are difficult to remind yourself of all the things that are right in your business, even at a difficult time.”
