[title size=”1″ content_align=”left” style_type=”none” sep_color=”” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”20″ class=”” id=””]Planning Makes Perfect[/title]
I’m off to a speed reading course this Saturday and have been preparing by getting together a collection of books to ‘speed’ through over the weekend.
Predominantly my stack is comprised of long-forgotten personal development volumes that have either been propping up tables or gathering dust somewhere inconspicuous (despite the most virtuous of intentions).
As I hauled my carton of books into the office yesterday I thought about the THOUSANDS of dollars people spend every year (myself included) on self help books, seminars, audio files, workbooks and manuals. The funny thing is, I realized, there’s one particular technique that crops up again and again, regardless of what you’re reading, or who you’re listening to.
Goals. Yep, that four letter word some people loath, and the same word that seems to be at the heart of any ‘Go Get ‘Em’ paperback.
So, if all these books are encouraging people to use goals as a tool to achieve what they desire – why do so few of us fail to set them?
I sometimes hear the excuse, ‘I don’t have the time to sit down and write out my goals’ (a catch cry that varies in its delivery from a sheepish murmur to the more nasally whine). My response to this common roadblock is, ‘You don’t have time because you haven’t set goals!’ The fact is, you need to plan your life around your goals, which includes setting time aside to formulate and articulate them.
This can often be the hardest part of personal development for some people, so they spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on seminars where a speaker makes them write down their goals as part of the program.
Why spend money unnecessarily when all you need is 5 minutes, a pen, paper and some self-discipline?!
Think of one or two things you’d like to achieve in your life right now and formulate 3 goals for each that would help you achieve that aim. Write them down. Take a second to do it right now. I’ll wait….
…..
……
…….
Done?
Great! See, goal setting isn’t that time consuming or difficult once you stop finding reasons not to do it, and get into the habit of actually writing down what you want/need to achieve. As the great Brian Tracy says, “Every minute spent in planning saves 10 minutes in execution.”
