Goal Setting - Planning For Success

This training represents a condensed version of Setting Personal Goals Guide by Paul Smithson
(page 5 of our EDC Diamond product line).

This will to help you plan for success in 2008 using Smithson’s SMART planning principles.
(download it here).

This is presentation is designed to give you some immediate direction in your goal setting for your
business. You'll need spend additional time to work on your dreams and goals. You might want to
think about what you want out of life. At the end of your life, what would you want your obituary to say
about you? You need to set long term goals as well (40, 20, 10, 5 and 1 year goals).

This seminar is designed to help you get started in goal setting and help you design an action plan
for the next 3 to 12 months.

In a Dallas convention I attended some time ago, some of the top entrepreneurs in the US were
invited speakers like Jim Rohn, Jeffery Combs, Mark Victor Hanson and many more. It was
fascinating that each leader seemed to reiterate the same truth - 80% of your success is your
WHY!

In other words, why are you driven to succeed? What motivates you at the deepest level? And it’s
got to be more than just money. What is it for you? Prestige? Loved ones? Respect? Peace of
mind security?

Many people begin a business saying that they want to quit their job, have a bigger house or just pay
the bills.
What is your why?

Everyone reading this is already a go-getter. That’s a given. But it’s important that you are honest
with yourself and find out what really motivates you at your core. Your why is going to be different
than mine.

What energizes you enough to make you get up every morning, put up with disappointment and
aggravation, overcome negativity and push forward? Why do you HAVE to succeed? Why is failure
not an option?

The I Beam Example:
My Test

Don’t be discouraged thinking you don’t really have a why. Again, you wouldn’t be in this business if
you didn’t have one. We already know you’re a winner. All you need to do is crystallize your WHY.

Great Goal Setting Quotes:

“The person who makes a

success of living is the one who

sees his goal steadily and

aims

for it

unswervingly.”

Cecil B. De Mille

‘We are all in the gutter, but some

of us are looking at the stars.’ —

Oscar Wilde

‘Obstacles cannot crush me.

Every obstacle yields to stern

resolve. He who is fixed to a

star

does not

change

his mind.’ —

Leonardo Da Vinci

‘Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.’ —

Henry Ford

‘You can’t rest unless you set goals that make you stretch.’ — Tom Hopkins

‘Aim at heaven and you get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.’ — C. S.

Lewis

‘Give yourself the freedom to explore the possibility of life without limits. Goals are

dreams with deadlines,

means to an end but not the ultimate purpose of life.’ — Glynis

Nunn

Goal setting is important for all areas of your life.

Spiritual Goals (like spending more time praying)

Home (Family Goals like being a better spouse or a better father)

Business Goals (like being able to replace your full time income)

Financial Goals (like becoming debt free)

Social Goals (like making some new friends)

Charity Goals (like giving more)

Health Goals (like loosing 20 lbs)

Other Important Goals (like having more balance)

If you’ve been to business school or read books on goal-setting, you might be familiar with the
acronym SMART, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Actionable (or Attributable), Realistic,
and Timed. Let me explain briefly what each letter of the SMART Goal formula entails.

S = Specific
Your goals mustn’t be vague...they must be as specific as they can be. For example, a goal to “Be
more successful in 2008” is too vague as it doesn’t define what success is. For one person
success might be to pass their exams, for another it might be to retire from their job, and yet for
another person it might be to earn over $75,000.

M = Measurable
As well as being specific your goals should be measurable. If your goal is related to money you
might set a goal to “Earn over $100,000” or maybe to “Increase your monthly income by 25%”. If your
goal was sports related you might say “To knock three seconds off my personal best time” or “To
win three major tournaments”.

A = Actionable or Attributable
There’s no point in setting goals that are not actionable or attributable, i.e. you have no direct control
over the outcome. For example it would be silly to set a goal for your favorite sporting team to win
the league if you cannot directly influence that outcome. The goal has to be something that you can
have an influence or control over.

R = Realistic
When setting goals you need to be realistic. Setting a goal such as “To be the world’s best-selling
singer” is not a realistic goal if you’ve never made a record, don’t have a recording contract and
sound like a cat being strangled. Even if that was your ultimate goal, it’s best to break it down and
take several smaller steps. For example, you might start off with a goal of taking singing lessons,
forming a band, writing a song, recording a song, or maybe getting a recording deal. If you’re just
starting, having a goal of being bigger than Madonna is not a great first step.

T = Timed
A well thought out goal must include a timescale and must not be open ended. For example “make
$5,000/mo ” is too vague. It would be far better to have a goal that said “Make $5,000/mo by
January 2010”.

How to set an action plan for sales:

To get an idea what you need to do to reach your goal, you can work backwards like this: