Weekly Challenge - Setting 5-Year Goals

The Challenge:

This week you must identify and write down three (3) separate goals you would like to accomplish in the next five-years.One of these five-year goals MUST be related to your long-term professional goal that most of you identified last week.The other two goals may be about anything you choose (i.e. family, new home, relationships, etc.). This next step is the most challenging part of this task.Share your five-year goals with 2 people that are close to you.

This task is worth 30-points on your scorecards.

Thought Provoking Questions:

Were you afraid to share your goals with others? If so, why do you think that was?

The Lesson:

This task walks us through two important actions. First, we continue to work through a great way to set goals by starting with the long-term vision and working our way back to the present. Second, this task has the added challenge of informing others of our goals. You see, informing others of our intentions will formalize our goals in our mind and in the mind of others. Often, we do not let other people know of our goals so that in the event we do not achieve them we will not feel quite as badly. The problem with this logic is that in NOT sharing our goals with those close to us, we deny ourselves of the encouragement that those people can bring to us. Wear your goals and intentions on your sleeve, be proud of what you want and be open to the assistance from others.

Subsequently, if we share our goals with others, we will greatly increase the odds that we will commit to achieving them. Vocalizing, sharing and believing in our goals in a public fashion will give us that subtle internal encouragement to stick to it. This is also why it is very important that your goals are well thought out and truly things you want to accomplish. It is not good for your confidence to have a million ideas but no desire to take action. People will doubt you, and more severely, you will begin to doubt yourself. Take goal setting serious enough that in each concrete goal you identify, be proud enough to share it with others.

“There is no such thing as a self-made man. You will reach your goals only with the help of others.” – George Shinn

Weekly Challenge - Setting Long-Term Goals

The Challenge:

This first task is to record in a notebook or journal your answers to the following two questions:

If you could only accomplish one thing professionally, what would it be? When would you want to achieve it?

This task is worth 15-points on your scorecard.

Thought Provoking Questions About the Task:

List any reasons why you think you do NOT deserve this goal.
List what you have to do to achieve this goal.

The Lesson:

It is important to have several professional goals in your life, but it is even better to know which one you truly want to accomplish above the rest. Depending on the size of this one accomplishment, you may be feeling that this dream is too large or difficult for you to obtain. When you are feeling this way, a simple question to ask yourself is, why NOT me? Why couldn’t I be the one to accomplish this dream? The answer is, you can achieve whatever goal you put your mind to. The process may be lengthy depending on the requirements to achieve your goal but if you stick to it, you will obtain your goal.

If you are feeling like you have surpassed your time to be able to achieve this goal, that “if you were only younger” you might have time to succeed, I ask you to remember these people that didn’t let age hold them back. Colonel Sanders started Kentucky Fried Chicken at the age of 65. Mary Key Ash started Mary Kay Cosmetics at the age of 45. Jim Morris began his professional baseball career at the age of 35 (for inspiration watch the Disney movie entitled “The Rookie”). Don’t let your age hold you back.

Lastly, many people look at what they want and they tell themselves that the dream belongs to someone else that is more worthy. Right now, tell yourself that you deserve the goal as much as anybody. If you have the right mindset and ability, you can achieve goals of all sizes. In sports, there are teams that are bigger, faster and stronger, but it is always the team with the most willpower that wins. In order to obtain your goal, you merely have to have the willpower to take the actions to succeed.

“The happiest people are the ones who follow their dreams most closely” – Donny Deutsch

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Good Luck

The Game Begins - 1.11.09

The first challenge for 2009 will be posted Sunday, January 11th.  Are you strong enough to play?

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