Having Goals are a must for any Entrepreneur or anyone trying to accomplish, whatever it is in life, to a level that’s beyond just hoping for something. When we take the time to set goals, it’s actually a great way to backwards engineer your life all the way down to daily steps. As we know, success comes from the habitual day to day actions that we take. And then compounded over time, it almost seems as if by magic you reach your goals but the truth is it was from “mastering the mundane”. It was from the daily disciplined habits and actions.
Why Do 3% of Harvard MBAs Make 10 Times as Much as the Other 97% Combined?
The answer is in these simple questions: “Have you set clear cut goals? Have you written them down as a plan for your future? And have you drawn out the plans to accomplish them?” Well, In 1979, new graduates from the Harvard’s MBA Program were asked these questions in interviews, and this is what they found:
84% – Had no specific goals at all
13% – Had goals but they were not written down
Only 3% – Had clear, written goals and plans to accomplish them
In 1989, The graduates of that same class were interviewed again. Can guess the results?
Of the 13% in the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84% who had no goals at all.
Even more astonishing – Of the 3% who had clear cut, written goals were earning, on average, 10 times as much as the other 97% put together.
Amazing what committing your goals to paper will do.
How to Create an Action Plan to Achieve Your Goals?
We’ve all heard that we need to make sure our goals are SMART.
SMART goals give you clarity and also help you create a deadline for achieving them. Here’s the words for the Acronym SMART
Specific: Your goal needs to be clearly defined. To just say “I want to make more money,” is too vague but, to say “I want to make $5,000 per month,” is a lot more specific. Work hard to make your goals as specific as possible.
Measurable: We need to make goals that can be measured. How else would you know you achieved it? This is where being specific also helps. To just say “more money” is not measurable whereas a specific dollar amount is.
Attainable: It’s a great idea for us to set goals that make us stretch and challenge ourselves. Just make sure that you don’t set it so far out their that it seems impossible. As goals are attained new goals are set which allow for those once impossible goals but now you’re in a place that makes it attainable.
Relevant: Our goals need to fit in the overall plan for our life. They have to make sense in the grand scheme of things.
Time-Bound: We must set a date by which your goal will be achieved. Without the date, it’s harder to break it down into little chunks of achievement.
What Does It Take To Set Our Lifes Goals?
Most of us have a pretty good idea of what we want to do in life, we just have to take the time to write it down. We need to get away, have some quiet time, and do whatever we need to do to take the time and draw out the plan(s). Have you ever heard the saying “Most people spend more time planning a vacation than they doing planning their life”. Well that just ought not be. Let us get serious and take the time to do what we need to do to get our plans on paper. Then we just need to walk those plans out.
Here we go!