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Setting Goals

October 13, 2009 in Leadership with 13 Comments

Setting Goals is a Key to Success 200x300 Setting GoalsIt’s incredible to see so many people out their achieving their goals in times like this. The clock is ticking and so many of us are doing things that we’ve only dreamed of.

There are five frogs and they’re all sitting on a log. Four of them decide to jump off.  How many are sitting on the log???  The answer is five.  Why?  Because their is a difference between deciding and doing.  You have to make a decision that do it!  You have to see it through to the end.  So many times we get started in things and then we just stop.  We meet an obstacle and instead of going “You know what?  I am going to find a way through this, I am going to learn it..I’m not sure how I am going to change but I am going to get together with my mentor and we are going to talk about it and figure this out!”.

We all dislike correction, don’t we?  Understanding that correction is constructive criticism is a way to take a step back and put things in perspective, because we are in the middle of it and we can’t see what we are doing wrong all the time.  When we are setting goals, we need to always remember to apply the “M.A.S.T.” (Meaningful, Achievement, Specific, and Time) equation to it.  Meaningful.  Is it going to benefit you and others.  Is it going to be something that I can make a difference in somebody else’s life too?  Achievement.  Ask yourself if the goal is achievable because sometimes we set are goals so far out there that when we get into it, we get to a point where we say to ourselves “What was I thinking, I can never do that”.  Well, then you’ve set your goal so high that in your own mind, you can’t achieve it.  SO ask yourself, “Is it achievable?”  Specific.  Is your goal defined, is it specific?  Sometimes we get out there and we are all pumped up and we’re like “whoo hoo…this is what it is and….”  What exactly is it?  We always have to know what we’re running for.  Then there is Time.  Do we have time on it?  Do we have a time limit?  If not, then it will be forever and we will keep running after this goal forever.

After we put a MAST on our goal, we then need to ask “How much is this going to cost?  What price is it that I’m going to have to pay for this goal?”  We ask ourselves this because we are going to have to determine what the price is that we are going to pay…if we don’t set the goal!  Understanding that there is a price for everything.  Check and Adjust.

Are you hanging around toxic people, or hanging around the people that inspire you!

A Recent Feedback Lesson

October 12, 2009 in Leadership with 6 Comments

group discussion thumb4476421 A Recent Feedback Lesson

As part of a workshop, fifteen people who regularly observe my work were asked to give an assessment of how I was doing.  After receiving both quantitative data and some verbatim comments on my strengths and areas of improvement, this is what I found:

It is hard to get good feedback.  The default position in our cultures is: fear.  Fear of honest feedback and probably even more fear of giving it.  Fear of retribution.  Fear of hurting someone’s feelings.  Face it; authorities didn’t used to ask for feedback.  Parents didn’t want to hear it.  Siblings sure as heck didn’t.  Teachers hardly did.  There just aren’t a lot of people who model seeking and giving constructive feedback.  So, in our normal lives at work, people who could be helping us understand how to help them be more effective, and how to lead in ways that work, just don’t tell us.

Chris Brady’s “Rascal Manifesto”

October 12, 2009 in Leadership with 5 Comments

The manifesto below is a contribution from leadership guru, Chris Brady.  Chris is one of the top leaders of our lifetime.  I hope you enjoy this as much I do.  God Bless

“I was born free and I intend to live like it.

This means that I will live my life while I’m alive.

No one owns me except my Creator.

No one can put me in a box, a category, a social group, a voting block, or a classification.

I am fiercely independent (interdependent).

I know that with my freedom comes responsibility.

I take responsibility for my own actions, and I hold the bar high on myself.

I am not afraid to struggle, because it’s the struggle that makes me great.

I know that excellence always lies on the other side of inconvenience.

I am a learning machine.

I read, I confront brutal reality, I grow.

Long term, no one and nothing can defeat me, because I will keep coming back, stronger and better than before.

I will educate myself about the true principles of freedom,

and I will strive mightily to preserve freedom for the next generation.

I rely on no man and no government to provide for me.

I will not follow the herd of mediocrity and victim-thinking.

I don’t follow herds, instead I run with a pack – a pack of Rascals.

Let others bask in their privileges, as for me, I will invest them in my purpose.

I will defy description.

I will charge the hill.

I will make a difference.

I’m a Rascal!”

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