Jul 18 2010
Are You a Success?
“Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal,” a definition coined by motivational speaker and author Earl Nightingale, which is widely used today in coaching and development programs. While most people agree that goals are important, less than five percent write down goals or have action plans to attain them, according to OPEN Small Business NetworkSM.
Your business and your life are going to be pretty much the same a year from now unless you expand your thinking to attain something greater.
If you are a small businessman, perhaps your goal is a large new client that matches your ideal client profile. You don’t have an ideal client profile? Make that your first goal.
If you provide skilled services, your goal might be to add another, or improve on one at which you already excel.
Goals must be specific, measureable and have a time component.
Like any businessman, I’d like to see my business grow, because only a growing business can survive. But that is not specific enough. Our goal is to add one new client per quarter. It is specific, measureable and within a time frame.
Goals also must be realistic. I wouldn’t want a new client every month, because we couldn’t provide the level of service with existing staff, and wouldn’t have time to properly train and integrate new employees into the agency.
If you’ve ever worked with goals, you know they can take on a life of their own, just by committing them to paper. One self-help teacher advocates writing down your top ten desires on a sheet of paper, then checking back a year later to see how many have been achieved. Participants are often astounded at what transpires with little or no effort. A colleague remarked how his wife, who had never flown in an airplane, wrote down that desire on her “wish list.” Within six months, she was on an expense-paid visit to relatives, and remarked to her husband in the airplane, “Wow, that really works.”
We’re all in the business of turning creative ideas into something tangible, like a printed piece, television commercial, website, or special event. Those things evolve by committing ideas to paper, or electronic file, and nurturing them into reality. They follow the goal process.
When was the last time you used your creative process to benefit your business or yourself, rather than your client? It merely takes an idea shaped into a goal.
If you want to achieve more success in your business or your personal life, remember the admonition of Max Depree, “We cannot become what we need to be, remaining what we are.”
Set some worthwhile goals. You’ll likely be surprised at your progressive success.
Continue the blog and share how goal-setting has impacted your career or personal life.
Ralph W. Yearick is CEO of Yearick-Millea, a Pittsburgh-based public relations agency specializing in business-to-business marketing communications. Contact him at ryearick@yearick-millea.com
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