Goal Tracking

"Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible."

 - Tony Robbins

Setting Goals is vital to bringing dreams into reality. In a previous blog post, the distinction was made between long-term and short-term goals. You can see that post here.

Most leaders have goals in mind, but they are nebulous and undefined. They are a feeling or a specific moment that they're looking forward to. Like scoring the winning touchdown at the Super Bowl. It's an admirable goal, but unless you provide clarity and direction as to how to meet that goal, it will go unrealized. 

The first step in being able to track your goals is to clearly define them. Charles Kettering said, “a problem well-stated is half-solved.” Goals carry their own set of obstacles to overcome. A clear vision of what's going to be accomplished is half the battle. Envision exactly where you want to be and write it down. If you need extra help shaping the vision for your goals, check out Michael Hyatt's site for some free videos on goal setting. 

Writing down the specific steps to achieve your goal is helpful for two reasons. One: you can set an exact strategy for how your goal is going to be reached and foresee obstacles before they catch you off guard. The man with the plan is the man with the power. Two: it shows you when to celebrate victories. After every win, you should celebrate to keep your momentum and morale up. This will push you towards accomplishing more. 

You can check out my website's professional services tab (currently under construction) for a free resource sheet to help you track and write down your goals and strategy. My goal is to have this site fully operational before the year ends. One of my needs to accomplish this is feedback. So check it out at www.howtomasterlife.co and leave a comment on what you think.

What are your goals for 2016?

Setting Goals

"Goals are not only absolutely necessary to motivate us. 

They are essential to really keep us alive." - Robert H. Schuller

Setting and keeping goals for yourself is a critically important practical step of leadership. It will be next to impossible for you to help those you lead to achieve goals if you don't take the time and energy required to meet goals in your own life. Goals bring drive to a purpose, a means of evaluating a project, and are a vehicle to help us arrive at our destiny. 

"It's not an accident that musicians become musicians and engineers become engineers: it's what they're born to do. If you can tune into your purpose and really align with it, setting goals so that your vision is an expression of that purpose, then life flows much more easily."

 - Jack Canfield

Goals are simply a vision or dream with a plan to bring it into reality. So here's some simple ways to look at goal setting that will get you started. 

Set your Long Term Goals - Your long term goals should be more than accomplishing a single feat or achieving a single action. They should be about becoming something more than what you are currently. Envision what you want to be remembered for when you are no longer a contender on planet earth. This clarity will help you plot out your path to get there.

"You control your future, your destiny. What you think about comes about. By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands - your own." - Mark Victor Hansen. 

But don't spend too much time fretting about setting your long term goals in stone. In fact, take a look at your lifetime goal every 5 years and ask yourself if it still lines up with who you are and where you want to be.

Create Benchmark Goals - Too often, young leaders wistfully dream about the future they'll have only to be absent minded when it comes time to plan. Get your plan together and set 5-10 year goals that will line up with your primary, long term goal. For example: My lifetime goal is to be known for instilling excellence in others. To help me get there, my 5 year goal is to be part of a team that coaches leaders - to have a leadership book in the works - and to have been adding faithfully to this blog for those 5 years.  

Establish short term goals. "What I think a lot of great marathon runners do is envision crossing that finish line. Visualization is critical. But for me, I set a lot of little goals along the way to get my mind off that overwhelming goal of 26.2 miles. I know I've got to get to 5, and 12, and 16, and then I celebrate those little victories along the way." - Bill Rancic. Life becomes a series of marathons to reach your goals. Setting monthly and yearly goals helps you keep focus while you run for the finish line. It also gives you the opportunity to celebrate along the way. 

I checked out mindtools.com and found this excellent principle to guide you to set appropriate goals. It's using the SMART mnemonic

S - specific/significant
M - measurable/meaningful
A - attainable/action oriented
R - relevant/rewarding
T - time-bound/trackable

"One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so when I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don't invest any energy in them, because I know who I am."

- Michelle Obama

What are your long term goals?

What short term goals are you going to set for this month, and how will you celebrate?

Leadership Beginnings

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." - Lao Tzu

Everyone has great dreams when it comes to leadership. You imagine thunderous applause after a rallying speech. You smile and wave while soaking in the moment. The crowd enthusiastically thanks you for the pearls of wisdom eloquently set upon them like crowns of sterling. That's where most of us would like to wind up; the question is "How do I get there?"

Some will tell you that leadership begins with you, but the truth is that it doesn't. Although the primary focus of the development process is on you and your choices, true leadership isn't generated naturally within an individual. There are a complex set of qualities necessary to lead others that can only be instilled by following leaders who are strongly established and have mastered the essentials.

Any leader who desires to make an impact on this world must learn and grow into new levels of influence. Because of the learning process involved, leaders almost always start at the bottom. This means there is hope for YOU! There is nothing [genetically] stopping you from becoming a great leader. It all begins with who you choose to follow.

How to begin...

• Choose leaders who have been, or can take you where you want to go. If you want to climb Mt. Everest, select a guide who has successfully traversed the mountain and come back alive. John Maxwell says, "A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way." Find an experienced, seasoned, and proven leader and make them your mentor.
• Choose to follow leaders that you can connect with. One of the mistakes aspiring leaders make is to absorb their mentor's style and system when it's in conflict with who they are. Leadership qualities are meant to be duplicated, but choose a mentor who you can relate to and meshes well with your own personality and style. You'll grasp the leadership styles better without having to differentiate what is style and what is pure leadership qualities. Remember, what works for one leader's personality might not work with yours.
• Choose to follow a leader that you can easily approach and ask millions of questions to. Remember, "Leadership cannot really be taught. It can only be learned." - Harold Geneen. You can't expect the leader you follow to have a twelve point course laid out for you. Ask questions. Catch the principles that go unsaid. Take notes. Study behavior. Think critically about everything that takes place in your leader's life. Your job is to learn.

So start following leaders and begin your own journey! And follow more than one. I'm following Bill Hybels on Twitter to see how he leads and inspires world changers on a daily basis. Locally, I'm following my pastors at my church and learning how to apply excellence in everyday life.  

"Leaders are made, they are not born" - Vince Lombardi.

Which leaders are you following, or who are you going to start following? 

What's a question you've been dying to have answered from a leader's experience?