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GOALS
FROM ZIG ZIGLER’S “OVER THE TOP”
A Goals Program: The Key to a Balanced Success
“All men dream, but not equally. Those men who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their mind wake in the morning to find it was but vanity, but those men who dream by day - these are dangerous men, for they dream with open eyes to make their dreams come true.” (T.E. Lawrence)
• Over the past thirty years, results have shown unequivocally that those who set goals perform better in a variety of tasks.
• It seems universally true that people who have direction in their lives go farther and faster and get more done in all areas of their lives.
• Most people have only a vague idea of what they want, and very few people consistently act on vague ideas.
“No steam or gas ever drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled. No life ever grows until it is focused, dedicated and disciplined.”
• Your goals determine what you are going to be.
SPECIFICS TO GOAL SETTING
IMPORTANT: “Until you commit your goals to paper you have intentions that are seeds without soil”. (Anonymous)
STEP 1: On a Wild Idea Sheet let your imagination run wild, and print everything you want to be, do or have. (estimated time - one hour)
STEP 2: Wait 24 to 48 hours. During this time you will expand your list. Then answer WHY? for each item on your Wild Idea Sheet. If you can’t articulate in one sentence why you want to be, do or have, eliminate it as a current goal.
STEP 3: Answer these five questions, all of which must have a yes answer:
1. Is it really my goal? (If you have a family at home, are an employee or a team member, some of your goals will be set by others).
2. Is it morally right and fair to everyone concerned?
3. Will reaching this goal take me closer to or farther from my major objective in life?
4. Can I emotionally commit myself to start and finish this goal?
5. Can I see myself reaching this goal?
STEP 4: After each remaining goal, ask yourself these questions:
1. Will reaching this goal make me happier, healthier, more
prosperous, win friends, give me peace of mind, make me
more secure, improve family relationships, give me hope?
2. Most important, will reaching this goal contribute to a more
balanced success?
STEP 5: Divide the remaining goals into three categories:
Short Range (one month or less; Intermediate (one month to
one year); Long Range (one year or more).
GENERAL GOALS PROCEDURE CHART
STEP #1: IDENTIFY YOUR GOALS (be specific)
STEP #2: MY BENEFITS FROM REACHING THIS GOAL
STEP #3: MAJOR MOUNTAINS AND OBSTACLES TO CLIMB TO REACH THIS GOAL
STEP #4: SKILLS OR KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED TO REACH THIS GOAL
STEP #5: INDIVIDUALS, GROUPS, COMPANIES AND ORGANIZATIONS TO WORK WITH TO REACH THIS GOAL (your support system)
STEP #6: PLAN OF ACTION TO REACH THIS GOAL
STEP #7: COMPLETION DATE
NOTES FOLLOWING GOALS PROCEDURE CHART
• A goals program will include a wide range of individual ideas, but the formula or process is the same for all of them whether the goal is physical, mental, spiritual, social, family, career or financial.
• You may invest considerable time (one to two hours) working some of your individual goals through the process only to discover that at this time it is not a goal you should pursue. For the moment, eliminate the goal.
Example: Ten years after graduating from college, over 80% of the graduates earn their living in a field unrelated to their major field of study.
• IMPORTANT: Ask yourself, Will what I could lose or have to give up in the process of reaching this goal be worth the end result of reaching this goal! (Identify what you are willing to give up)
• If you are a spiritual person, pray for guidance as you choose your goals.
• Giving up always seems logical for those who are filled with self-doubt and have not made the commitment.
REACHING YOUR GOALS
“The man who succeeds has a program. He fixes his course and adheres to it. He lays his plans and executes them. He goes straight to his goal. He knows where he wants to go and he knows that he’s going to get there. He loves what he is doing and loves the journey that is taking him to the object of his desires. He is bubbling over with enthusiasm and he is filled with zeal. This is the man who succeeds.” (Anonymous)
THE SPECIFIC STEPS TO REACHING YOUR GOALS
1. Make the commitment that you are going to reach the goal.
If the goal is still in your Performance Planner, I’m assuming that you have already made that commitment.
2. Commit yourself to daily detailed accountability.
Most of us suffer a fairly serious reality gap between what we tell others we do and what we really do. In short, we kid ourselves, and this negatively affects our performance, puts ceilings on our potential, and unnecessarily limits our future.
3. Small daily goals to reach big, long-range ones.
You reach those significant goals by breaking them into small segments. You build a successful career by the dozens of little things you do on and off the job.
4. Get in shape physically, mentally, spiritually.
We are physical, mental and spiritual and we need to deal with all of these natures. There is a connection between spiritual health and peace of mind. “There comes a time in everyone’s life when we need help that goes beyond what any person can render.” (Mary Crowley)
5. Make your liabilities your assets.
6. Learn to respond to disappointment.
It’s not what happens to you but what you make of what happens to you that will ultimately determine your success in all areas of life.
7. Discipline yourself.
There will be times when you will become discouraged and lose heart. There will be some days when you simply will not feel like getting up and going to your job or pursuing your goals. When that happens, character and commitment take over. The point is that motivation follows action and not vice versa.
When you do the things you need to do when you need to do them, the time will come when you cando the things you want to do when you want to do them.
8. Change direction, not decisions.
To reach your goals, you need to understand that when setbacks and disappointments do occur, you do not change your decision to go for that goal, you simply change your direction in order to get there.
9. Get all the help you can: share give-up goals freely and go-up goals carefully.
The people with whom you share your goals will play a major part in whether or not you reach the goals. If your goal is a go-up goal, you need to be very careful with whom you share it. This is especially true if it’s a big one. If you plan on being the starting quarterback, writing a book, being the number one salesperson, or finishing first in your class, you need to share that goal only with those, who by their nature or their relationship with you, will be inclined to be encouragers. There’s nothing more discouraging than to share a goal about which you’re excited and enthusiastic with someone who should be supportive only to have him or her dump cold water on the project.
10. Become a team player!
11. Paint a positive picture.
12. Paint that picture in your mind of what you want to be, do or have.
Most people flow with the tide and permit their minds to dwell on the negative because negative news, negative people, and a negative environment are so much in evidence. Because of this input, it’s easy to drift into the habit of imagining bad things instead of good things. The mind works to complete whatever picture we paint, so it is important that we learn to paint the picture of what we want instead of the picture of what we don’t want. If you want to reach your goals, you must see yourself as already being there. You must paint that picture in your mind of what you want to be, do, or have. You must vividly dream or imagine.
13. Your dreams can come true.
Attitude plays a vital part in reaching your goals. When you’re emotionally down you are under a shadow and things get distorted; little nicks become serious injuries. A slight, misunderstood word becomes a gross insult; a short step backward turns into a catastrophe. The problem becomes distorted out of all proportion and, for that reason, we need to get out of the doldrums as quickly as possible.
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