That’s the word you hear the announcer yell every time a soccer player scores a goal. But when it comes down to it, it is not really just about goal setting, it’s all about goal achievement.

Every January I can count on my health club being overrun by the New Year resolution folks that have a goal to get in shape or to lose weight. The parking places are all full, along with all the lockers and getting on a machine is next to impossible. If I give it until around the end of the month things are back to normal.

The large majority of the “resolutionists” have given it up and called it quits. They ache, they’re tired and they weren’t seeing the immediate results they wanted. It isn’t that they didn’t want to achieve their health improvement goals; they just did not have a good process in place to achieve their goals.

And make no mistake goal achievement is a process.

And SMART goal setting is the basis for guiding you through setting and achieving your goals. The first documented use of the term SMART is attributed to George T. Doran, in the November 1981 issue of Management Review.

S – Specific. Your goal cannot be a nebulous blob, such as you need to sell more. How much more? How many more customers? How many more target markets? How many sales calls need to be made in a day, a week, a month?

M – Measurable. It you can measure it, you can manage it. See above.

A – Attainable. Why set a goal that you can’t achieve? You’re half way there if you know you can achieve it, if you work smart and hard.

R – Realistic. (But I like Realistically High.) You have to be stretching yourself in order to grow. Set your goals too low and you won’t get where you really want to be.

T – Time-bound. By when? You must have a deadline for when you plan on achieving your goal.

A few additional details regarding goal setting and achievement:
• Goals must be written. This helps to clarify and clearly state what is to be accomplished.
• Goals must be harmonious with the overall Vision of your entrepreneurial venture.
• Goals must be yours. If they’re not yours, you’ll never own them.

Goal setting is the foundation for your direction and your actions. Accomplishing your goals is the ultimate GOAL. Good luck!

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It’s Election Day, November 2, 2010, and I wonder where have all the leaders gone?
The leaders that we can look up to, the leaders we can support, the leaders we can point to as role models, without the caveats that we, as the electorate, have to employ these days.
Which candidate is less of a liar? Which candidate is trustworthy? Which candidate will really look out for the people who elected them, versus voting for their own self interests or that of their misguided political party affiliation? Which candidate will finally do what they say, instead of saying what we want to hear, while they do the opposite?
When will the true leaders return to help move our great country forward, instead of lining their own pockets or consolidating their power base for their own good? When will the true leaders start to tackle the hard issues and make decisions based on long-term good, not just the short-term buying of votes?
When will the voters get their heads out of their collective backsides and throw the bums out of office? We do have term limits – they’re called elections.
If we get more of the same, we’re to blame.
Get out and vote. Vote your conscious, vote your gut.

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Talking with a prospective client he said he was disappointed because his employees didn’t understand where he was trying to take the company.

My inquiry regarding just what his vision was for his company prompted a response and then he added “OR.” I rushed to stop the additional vision before he could complete the thought. That was a main challenge for him – identifying his vision, his one and only vision. There is no “or “in Vision.

Your company vision has to be crystal clear in order to align your efforts and the efforts of everyone in your company. When the Vision is clear your employees know where the company bus is going, which seat is theirs and what they’re responsible for.
Open communication regarding their progress in helping the company achieve its vision is how you tie it all together.

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“With the right hat, nothing else matters.” (LaPaloma Hats)
What does matter is which hat you’re wearing and why. Ever notice, in the course of a day, how many times we have to change hats?
Spouse hat, parent hat, friend hat, manager hat, worker hat, business person hat, hard hat, you get the idea. The challenge isn’t wearing all those different hats; it’s knowing when to wear them.
A constant challenge that I find my clients facing is the hat challenge. Which one when, for how long, when do I change hats, when do I get to wear the hat I want to wear, etc.?
It’s figuring out that not only do you have to wear many hats in the course of the day, but you can easily do just that and you should want to. Face it – wearing the same hat all day long would be quite boring.
The solution comes with knowing when you need to wear a specific hat and along with that, why. With all that we need to juggle on a daily basis, wearing different hats should be something we look forward to. It’s the opportunity to let different parts of ourselves out of the box to expand and exercise, so to speak.
Wouldn’t you want to improve your level of performance in all those different roles you get to play in the course of the day? Of course you would – that’s where the personal growth comes from. Getting better at each one; continuous improvement and moving ever closer to mastering each and every hat we have to wear.
Don’t get comfortable wearing just a handful of hats. Expand your collection and think in terms of the Kentucky Derby and all those wonderful hats you’ll see on that festive day. Instead of trying to limit your hat assortment, see how many hats you can add to your collection and wear well.
Let me know how many hats you wear and how well you wear them. Or let me know if you need a bit of help getting all your hats to fit.
Thanks.

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“It is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.” – W. Somerset Maugham

Of course the opposite of the above statement is just as true.
Assess the balance (or imbalance) in your life. Look at the individual aspects of your relationship with your family, your social, mental, physical and financial health. Examine the strength and dedication of your ethics and beliefs. Now, who are you? How well balanced are you?
What aspects of your life need reinforcement? What aspects need development? How do you tell the difference?
Have you evaluated yourself on all of the above components of your life? Have you actually written your self-evaluation down? On paper? In ink and large enough to read….?
What do you want to do with the rest of your life? Where is the written list of your dreams, hopes and aspirations? What do you want life to deliver to you?
Now is the time to take a full inventory of who you are, what you are, what you want to be and where you are going.
Often, people fail to realize just how much control they actually have over their lives and its outcomes. We are free to choose the actions that will either move us forward or keep us wallowing in a perpetual state of mediocrity.
In order to achieve the best for yourself and your family, you have to define exactly what “best” means to you. Then you’ve got to want those things badly enough to be willing to do whatever it takes (within the legal confines, of course) to achieve them. Your motivation is within that equation for attaining the best that life has to offer.
Motivation is that inner voice that drives you into action, to move you ever closer to achieving your goals. How is that incentive developed? By having strong, clearly defined beliefs in yourself and the deep rooted desire to achieve what you put your mind to. The clearer your goals, dreams and desires, the greater your motivation.
So, what are you willing to accept for your life? Need a bit of direction getting started? Let’s chat.

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A coach is someone who tells you what you don’t want to hear, makes you see what you don’t want to see, so you can become who you always knew you could become.
-Tom Landry –

We all strive to be in a better place, with improved results and to get the most out of life. There are times however, that we get stuck and just can’t seem to feel the magic or find the “zone” that was so instrumental to our past growth and success.
Coaching is the process that allows you to open up and explore where you are in your quest for what you thought your life would be like or should have been by now. It’s also the opportunity to search for the missing components that makes for a good life balance. Working with a coach, you’re committing to dig deep within yourself to tap into your unrealized potential and to begin to define the direction you really want your life to take.
Coaching creates a safe environment that allows you to confront your fears, openly discuss your doubts and to talk about the obstacles in your way. Once we begin to open these doors and find out what’s really behind them, then we can begin to define the path forward and help you create a road map that will guide you to achieving what you want life to deliver.
Knowing how to dive deep into one’s own true thoughts and desires often requires help and guidance from the outside. A second set of eyes, without the emotional attachment to issues, situations, history or problems can guide the person being coached to answers that are lodged deep and often, sheltered. This process is akin to peeling back the multiple layers of an onion. Slowly, layer by layer, eventually you get to the heart.

Once the real obstacles begin to surface, those barriers can be identified. You can then make conscious decisions what action you want to pursue to overcome those obstructions to your forward progress. Depending on the rewards to be realized or the pain of the consequences, you can identify the wisest path.
We’re all capable of improved performance and attaining more successful results in all aspects of our lives. None of us is fully using anything close to our full potential. Yet, we let obstacles hold us back or paralyze us from advancing towards our goals. Without these introspective explorations, we will never get close to the full realization of being the positive, successful and well-balanced people we know we can and want to become.
So, who’s ready for a little coaching?

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“Success is never final!” – Sir Winston Churchill
That’s what attitude is all about. It’s your outlook, your focus and your raison d’être. Your attitude can carry you further than any other element that’s critical to success. Yet why do we find it so difficult to stay on the positive side of the attitude ledger? I ask this in all seriousness.
People consistently declare that they have a positive attitude, but listen carefully to what people really say and equally important, watch what they do. We are a surprisingly negative people. Sometimes we appear to be a nation of whiners.
Not surprising really, since we’re reared in a basically negative environment, with our parents and society telling us, from a very early age, No and what not to do. If we take that as our base and then fast forward to today, where the 24/7 media is constantly bombarding us with negative news, it’s no wonder many people have a negative attitude.
How does one avoid falling into the trap of negativity? First, we must understand what we want life to deliver to us. If we’ve planned properly and then made those plans actionable, then we should be on the road to achieving the dreams and desires that motivate us. The accomplishing of our goals and realizing of our dreams and desires are the reinforcement of that positive attitude.
Creating an environment that fosters achievement and reinforces positive behaviors, fuels our motivation and our positive attitude.
But as Sir Winston points out, it’s a life long journey, as success doesn’t have an end. How are you doing on your journey? Let me know – thanks.

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10,15, 20, 25 years with the same company or in the same industry and now you have been downsized, right sized or capsized. Who are you now? It’s funny how we identify much of ourselves with our careers and jobs. You need to re-identify and redefine yourself – Now.
Let’s start with: What’s Important? Who are you, really? Spouse, parent, friend? What else? More importantly, now that you have the opportunity to redefine yourself, who do you want the new you to become?
Not that easy to answer, is it? I know, I’ve been there. Redefining yourself doesn’t happen in an afternoon or over a cup of coffee either. It’s a process that needs time to ferment and percolate. It takes asking tough questions and then even tougher….answering them. A few questions you should consider:
What would success look like? What’s important in your life, right now? What one thing will make a difference? What does your ideal life look like? Do you have a dream you’ve given up on?
Leading yourself through this maze is a process. It will take time and effort for you to clarify the vision of what you want your life to deliver to you. Defining what really makes you happy and what fulfillment means to you. Your progress from this point on will take a comprehensive planning process, exploring the varied aspects of life and the satisfaction you derive from each of those life components.
For some, this will be their first real attempt at navigating a life plan. It will be hard work and make no mistake; it is not the easiest thing you will ever attempt. It will also be rewarding and inspiring. This process will also change your life. And for the better!
Go ahead, try it. There is light at the end of that tunnel. Push yourself, be honest. The quicker you get there, the faster you’ll be on to your new career. And greater satisfaction.
Let me know if you can see the light.

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