“Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I’ll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I’ll give you a stock clerk.” – J.C. Penney
There’s not a single doubt in my mind that everyone who’s reading this is a hard worker. I don’t question that. Wherever I turn, I see people putting in the man hours to feed themselves and their families. Everyone is committed to something. The only difference is – some people know what they’re working for, others don’t.
Although they bust their backs every single day, most people don’t seem to get anywhere worthwhile in life.
Why? – Well, because, more often than not, they don’t set any real goals for themselves. They just do their jobs and hope that faith will somehow help them become successful. Although they all dream about this and that, most people never ever actually come up with a solid and practical plan on how to excel at their careers and become what they’ve always wanted to be.
Knowing how to set up clear and reachable goals is extremely important in business, and in life as well. Goals give us purpose and the motivation to overcome all obstacles on the road to success.
Every single person on this planet has at least some dreams and ambition. Whether it’s a new car, a new career, big and shinny office, a big family, peace of mind, a new job, a flat or even a new laptop – It doesn’t really matter. Everyone has something that keeps them moving forward in life.
When I was just a kid, I watched a video documentary about a guy who started his own business from his mom’s garage. I don’t remember all the details, but I do remember that the guy seemed happy and fulfilled.
I was only 6-7 years old when I watched that film. And, right there and then, I knew what I wanted to achieve in my life – I wanted to own a company some day.
To a starry-eyed kid, who had all hand-me-down clothes and all the other essentials that someone that age needs – this seemed like a pretty big deal. For a while, I kept this a secret. I didn’t tell a single soul about my plans.
17 years later, I finally got a chance to make my dream come true. I remember sitting with my family one day and, just out of the blue, I decided to tell them everything. I announced to them that I was thinking about starting up my own web hosting company.
All of them instantly told me that I was insane to even think about owning a business in this economy. They knew I didn’t have any money, nor any significant prior experience within this field of work.
I heard everything they were saying, but I decided to go with my plan anyway. It was my dream – not theirs. I had to see it through.
Although the odds were against me, somehow I managed to make my dream become reality. As you know, my company, AltusHost, is considered today to be one of the leading web hosting providers in Europe. Unlike most other hosting companies out there, AltusHost has its own Hardware and Network infrastructure, located in Amsterdam, Netherlands and Stockholm, Sweden. We don’t rent or resell from a larger provider. We use our very own gear.
My company has been part of the international web hosting scene since 2008. That’s seven years and counting. Wow, how time flies, huh? Apart from a few minor setbacks, I have experienced nothing but success within this field of work. How come? – Well, because I kept setting real goals and fully committing myself to making them real.
In order to truly progress in life, you cannot just dream about the future. You cannot just sit around, wasting your days, thinking about things that you like, but feel they’re unreachable to you. No. You need to create some formal goals and go out there and make the impossible happen.
As Tony Robbins once said: “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.“
Top-athletes, leaders from the entertainment industry, insanely rich businessman – they all set goals for themselves. These goals help them create a clear vision in their heads on how to organize their time and resource in order to achieve what they set to achieve.
The Definition of Goal Setting
The definition is quite simple – figure out what you want to achieve, put a timeline to it and start working towards making it happen. Goal setting means framing your dreams within 2-3 lines (1 line is more preferable). Your goals have to be achievable but, at the same time, they have to require investing some real effort into making them real.
Apart from that, goals need to be clear and specific, if we want to have any chance of accomplishing them.
The first and essential requirement for getting whatever you want is to know what it is exactly that you want. There’s no room for nonsense here. You need to have a clear picture in your head of your target. What it is and how to reach it.
What you want is your destination. The main reason why people do not succeed in life is because they do not know what they want.
There are a few questions which define how successful you are going to be at this. The answer to these question lies in the answers to the WHY, WHAT and HOW!
A goal may be further subdivided into sub-goals with each having its time limit.
Being part of this online business game since 2008, I have set and accomplished a lot of goals. Although I tried all sorts of different tactics and techniques, I came to an understanding that to finish what you set to do, you need to make sure that your goals are:
1. Performance, Not Outcome Driven
There is no reason for setting goals that depend on thing far beyond your reach. There is nothing more dispiriting than failing to achieve a personal or a business goal for reasons beyond your control. Bad business environments, poor judging, bad weather, injury, or just plain bad luck – These are just some of the factors that you don’t want to see come into play when you’re pursuing something that’s important to you.
When designing your goals and thinking about how you’re gonna make them real, my advice here to you is to try to eliminate these above mentioned elements from your equation.
If you base your goals on personal performance, then you can keep control over the achievement of your goals and draw satisfaction from them.
2. Divided By Priorities
When you have several goals, it’s quite important that you first prioritize them, before you even start to think of them in a more practical manner.
By dividing your goals based on urgency and importance, you’re avoiding potential overload. You never want to feel overwhelmed by too many goals. Always do your best to direct your attention to the most important tasks on your list.
3. Realistic and Achievable
It is important to set goals that you can achieve. All sorts of people (employers, parents, media and society) can set unrealistic goals for you. They will often do this in ignorance of your own desires and ambitions. Alternatively you may set goals that are too high, because you may not appreciate the obstacles in the way or understand quite how much skill you need to develop to achieve a particular level of performance.
4. Operational
Keep the low-level goals you are working towards small and achievable. If a goal is too large, then it can be seen that you are not making progress towards it. Keeping goals small and incremental gives more opportunities for reward. Derive today’s goals from larger ones.
Thank you for reading this post. If you have anything to add on this subject, feel free to write your thoughts in the comments sections below.
That’s it for now,
See you soon again.
Goran @ AltusHost B.V.
The author is highly qualified and writes blog posts weekly.
