You are a business unit

I've been reading David Schwartz's book The Magic of Thinking Big, and I'm currently going through a chapter about goals. We all should approach our lives the way businesses do when it comes to setting goals. Here's an excerpt from the chapter I'm reading:

Like the progressive corporation, plan ahead. You are in a sense a business unit. Your talent, skills, and abilities are your 'products.' You want to develop your products, so they command the highest possible price. Forward planning will do it.

Here are two steps which will help:

First, visualize your future in terms of three departments: work, home, and social. Dividing your life this way keeps you from becoming confused, prevents conflicts, helps you look at the whole picture.

Second, demand of yourself clear, precise answers to these questions:

1. What do I want to accomplish with my life?
2. What do I want to be?
3. What does it take to satisfy me?

Just like in any business unit, there is sure to be integration among the departments, but this example really has me thinking about my own life. I have been reluctant to set goals in the past because I've had a low self-confidence. Now that it's gotten much better, I'm thinking BIG and ready to set goals.

How about you? What do you think of all this?

Related tags: getthatjob get+that+job job+hunt job+search career+advice networking professional+development daniel+johnson+jr goals

Effectiveness Tip of the Week via email from the folks at FranklinCovey

On the Road Again

Whoops, I think we took the wrong road. I turn left, right? Where is your roadmap to your destiny in life taking you? Take some time out to seriously identify what really matters most in your life and what you really want to be and do. To really begin your journey with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you're going so you better understand where you are now so that the steps you take are always in the right direction.

• Find your passion. What do you care about most? Allow your passion to take more priority in life.
• Follow the big picture of your life. Allocate your time more efficiently and don't waste time on things that aren't important to the big picture.
• Spell out to yourself a dream version of your passion. How does it feel? What does it look like? Where would it take you?
• Get a move on. Don't wait until a better time to move toward what you want. There is no better time. The time is now.
• Stay open to changes. Just because things aren't going exactly to plan doesn't mean they are not in alignment. Trust the process.

Effectiveness Tip of the Week via email from the folks at FranklinCovey:

The Productivity Pyramid

Four servings of values, six servings of goals, a healthy dose of weekly planning, and a big bite of daily planning. Sounds like a lot to chew when it comes to a nutritious productivity pyramid, right? However, spending time in each of the four pyramid steps will keep your life at a healthy balance. A few tips:

• Identify Values: What do you value? Loyalty, adventure, freedom?
• Set Goals: Write it down, give it a deadline, make it doable, commit.
• Plan Weekly: Review roles, choose areas of focus, schedule the week.
• Plan Daily: Check today's appointments, make a realistic list, prioritize (ABC, 123)

Now, if you'll excuse me. I've got some planning to do myself.

Effectiveness Tip of the Week via an email from the good folks at FranklinCovey:

Resolve to Real Productivity

On January 1, millions of Americans took part in the annual ritual of setting New Year's resolutions. According to a recent FranklinCovey survey, statistics show that by February 1, most of these resolutions will have failed and the people who set them will have fallen back into the same habits they tried to eliminate just one month earlier. However, statistics also show that setting realistic goals, adopting a plan of action and sticking to that plan can be the deciding factor in the ability to successfully achieve a goal.

According to the study:

• 78% of successfully achieved goals had plans.
• 84% of goals were successfully achieved within the original plan

Effectiveness Tip of the Week from the folks at FranklinCovey:

What is Your Plan for 2003?

Come on, we all make New Year's resolutions. But come February, most of us say, "Ah, forget it. Maybe next year!" Ringing in the New Year means ringing in 365 new days that are full of possibilities. Make the most of the next twelve months by effectively setting goals and proactively acting upon them. Tear up those traditional New Year's resolutions and try these tips:

• Re-evaluate your New Year's resolutions: Do yourself a favor and rewrite them. If they aren't related to a principle or a value you believe strongly in, take them off your list.
• Don't lose control: Don't let your goals control your life by making you feel guilty or overwhelmed. Turn them into a framework to explore your own creativity.
• Measure up: Set clear and definite goals with quantifiable standards to measure them against.
• Aim to Achieve: A new planner, a motivational training course, and software to keep it all together... arm yourself with the tools needed to achieve your goals.

365 days to achieve your goals-- how's that for no excuses?

USA Today - Entertainment | Resolution No. 1: Start with a workable plan

Karen S. Peterson reports that we shouldn't "dismiss New Year's resolutions as trivial." According to psychologist John Norcross, a pioneering change researcher at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, the key is that "You need to know how to execute a plan, how to form the specific skills to keep you there."

William Knaus of the Center for Creative Change in Longmeadow, Mass., and co-author of Overcoming Procrastination, offers suggestions for a plan for change. Read more...

Interesting Quote found at The Job Hunter's Bible:

"Know then thyself; presume not the Web to scan, until you know what you love to do, and have evolved a plan." - Richard Nelson Bolles (with apologies to Alexander Pope)

also posted to QuotesBlog