Identify and Attain Your Goals
A goal identified but never attained,
will never lead to the ultimate goal, success.
This chapter will focus on exposing you to methods on how to identify your goals and then methods on how to attain your goals. It is not enough just to have goals. To be a successful entrepreneur, you not only have to identify your goals, but the next critical, and most important, step is that you need to attain your goals. A goal is defined as “the object of person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result.” Be advised, however, that goals need to be attainable, purpose-driven, lead to a specific, tangible, and meaningful end. Setting and attaining the goal of belching the alphabet, while some may consider it impressive, does not qualify as a life-altering event. Make sure that the goals you set and seek to attain, fulfill, and satisfy a deeper cause. By contrast, setting a goal of ending world hunger, while a noble cause, may not be attainable or a productive use of your time. That is not to mean that you cannot set attainable goals that follow that same path. Perhaps, identifying a goal somewhere in between setting and attaining the goal of feeding one homeless person on the one hand versus ending world hunger on the other hand. Your goals need to make sense. To identify goals that make sense, you need to identify your ultimate goal, which is success. It also makes no sense to have dreams and goals in life if you do not chase them or follow where they lead due to fear or neglect. The same philosophy applies to life goals as applies to professional goals. Goals are no different than any other living thing, in the sense that they need attention and nourishment to blossom and thrive. Do not let your dreams and goals in life wilt and die for lack of attention. I believe it is our duty to live our lives to our fullest potential.
Goals provide you with a target, something to shoot for. They need to be specific and attainable. Goals help you narrow your focus on a specific task and obtain a specific result. There are many levels of goals in life and in your professional careers. Here, we are obviously focusing on your professional goals, with the ultimate goal being success, limited only by your imagination.
It is critical that you understand what you want out of life both personally and professionally. Your personal life will affect your professional life and vice-versa. It is hard to separate the two. For an entrepreneur, the ultimate goal is success, whatever that may be to them. The meaning of success can only be determined by yourself. It is, therefore, important to understand what your definition of success is. This will affect the quality and applicability of your goals and give them some sense. Your definition of success may be different than mine; it may even be different than your own at different points in your life. Hence, you must first define what success means for you, at this time in your life, and set your goals accordingly. Your definition of success, and therefore your goals, should form a symbiotic partnership. They should and will change together and accordingly.
There is a formula for success, but one that only you can cook up. It contains key ingredients and requires taking precise measures if you want to achieve your specific outcome. There is also a more general formula for success, which involves taking certain steps and embarking on a specific path to achieve success. It is as simple as A, B, C:
(a) Define success
(b) Identify your goals to achieve success
(c) Attain your goals and achieve success
(a) First, you must define success. Come up with your own unique definition. Find out what it means to you, currently, in your life. I cannot do this for you. No one can. But, I can help you by providing some potential ends and some potential targets. This of course will be done in the context of what this book is about, which is entrepreneurship. You should, however, also do this for your personal life because your personal life will affect your professional life and vice-versa. Does your definition of success mean starting your own firm? Arguing in front of the Supreme Court? Finding a cure for cancer? Does it mean taking your company public? Does it mean financial independence? Does it mean obtaining the means to allow you to travel the world? Does it mean leaving behind a legacy? Does it mean being considered an expert? Does it mean obtaining the means to allow you to give back to the community in a significant way? Does it mean changing the world through your professional endeavors? Whatever it means, you must identify the appropriate definition that applies to yourself, and only then can you set and identify goals by which to achieve that version of success.
(b) Second, once you have come up with your very own definition of success, you must identify the goals that will lead you to achieve success. Goals that will facilitate a path to that end. Write them down. Identifying goals, for some people, may prove elusive. Your goals should be specific, attainable, and be set to manageable deadlines. Start by identifying your ultimate goal, based on your definition of success, and work down to smaller, attainable subgoals, with each including actionable tasks with manageable deadlines.
(c) Third, you must attain your goals and achieve success. Once you have identified your goals and ensured that they align with your specific definition of success and separated them into smaller subgoals with actionable action items associated with each, you can then set steps to attain them. Some helpful ways to assist in this is by:
1. Writing them down and reviewing them at least once a month: By writing your goals down on a piece of paper, you create something that you can turn to for motivation and to check your progress. At the beginning of each month, you should think about what goals you want to attain and write them down on a piece of paper and date it. At the end of the month, you can then pull it out and review your progress and either check off or modify your goals.
2. Building a success box to store your goals: By creating and labeling a box in which to place your goals in it gives you something to draw attention to that cannot be lost or misplaced. Unlike with a piece of paper stuck inside a notebook, every time you see the box, it will remind you of your goals.
3. Rewarding yourself when you achieve a goal: By rewarding yourself when you achieve a goal, it creates a positive reinforcement. Rewarding yourself can create motivation and incentive to work harder to attain your goals.
4. Being ready to act when opportunities become available: By having identified your goals in advance, you should be well prepared to take advantage of any opportunities that may present themselves so that you can act quickly and decisively. Advanced preparation will mitigate the potential to miss out on such opportunities.
5. Being open minded to course corrections: By keeping an open mind, you put yourself in a position to best determine if the goals you have set for yourself are the most appropriate. You should always review your goals to make sure they make sense as you mature and grow. It makes no sense to strive for a goal that is no longer relevant. Your goals should change as your definition of success changes.
Planning for, and achieving, success is not that much different than writing a book. For those of you who have not written a book, the process can be summarized in five steps, as follows:
The book biography analogy The five steps to achieve success |
||
1 |
Identify your topic: |
Define success. |
2 |
Title it appropriately: |
Identify your ultimate goal. |
3 |
Develop an outline of chapters: |
Break it down into smaller goals. |
4 |
Fill in the substance of chapters: |
Accumulate knowledge. |
5 |
Publish your work: |
Put that knowledge to practice. |
Using the analogy of writing a book and following the outline of that book on how to achieve success, as an actual means to achieve success, is the best way I know of to teach you how to attain your goals. Consider it foreshadowing your future. As the author of your own life, you will have a lot of control, but you will be dependent on the editors (teachers) and publishers (partners) and contributors (friends and family) to achieve success and make it a bestseller. For this example, I have used the definition of success of becoming an entrepreneur, which after all, is the main premise of this book. However, feel free to substitute in your own definition of success and adjust accordingly. Start by:
1. Identifying your topic: Come up with your unique definition of success, what success means to you.
(a) Becoming an entrepreneur
2. Titling it appropriately: Identify your ultimate goal; the one that will get you to that end.
(a) Owning my own business
3. Developing an outline of chapters: Identify smaller attainable goals that will eventually lead to your ultimate goal, based on your unique definition of success.
(a) Chapter 1: Read a good book on entrepreneurship (hint, hint!).
(b) Chapter 2: Identify your specialty or niche and become an expert.
(c) Chapter 3: Find ways to fund your start-up costs.
(d) Chapter 4: Learn about company start-up logistics.
(e) Chapter 5: Incorporate your business.
(f) Chapter 6: Learn about office logistics.
(g) Chapter 7: Learn about marketing, communications, and networking.
(h) Chapter 8: Learn about business management.
(i) Chapter 9: Learn to grow your company.
(j) Chapter 10: Learn to give back.
Not coincidentally, I have taken much of the preceding outline straight out of my first book on entrepreneurship titled Engineer to Entrepreneur: Success Strategies to Manage You Your Career and Start Your Own Firm (e2E). I highly recommend you read it because it contains many of the actual chapters previously cited, with many of the concepts of how to prepare for, start, and manage your own firm, down to the details of tax implications, funding sources, incorporation, and so on. It is an excellent companion reference book to this one.
4. Filling in the substance of the chapters: Accumulate the necessary knowledge. Set the foundation for and path to attaining your goals and fulfilling your dreams. Follow the outline you set out for yourself. Begin accumulating all the knowledge and experience required. Draw on the information gathered based on life experiences and knowledge gained from research or available resources. Learn to tap into the collective subconscious. Find inspiration and utilize meditation techniques.
5. Publishing your work: Open your own business. This is where you put all your ideas to practice. At this point, you will have persevered, paid your dues, become an expert, and embarked on the voyage that is entrepreneurship. It makes no sense to have a great idea and not following up on it, for whatever reason, acting on it and putting it to practice. It would be considered a waste.
You can utilize this same method to identify your version of what success is in all aspects of your business or venture. Such as finding a specialty, improving a product or service, identifying needs, developing a new product, taking your company public, and an endless number of other goals. Coming up with unique ideas and goals requires foresight, creativity, and a knack for innovation. You should practice thinking and mediating on coming up with ideas and learning to tap into the collective subconscious, as explained in Chapter 2.
Do not be afraid to open your mind to the possibility of divine intervention in your life. This divine intervention may be able to steer you in a new direction or inspire a change in you. It might affect how, when, and what ideas come to you if you learn how to listen for, and to, them. I often think of my father’s influence after a particularly good result in a business venture or investment that I had no idea how I came to attain. Of course, it occurred based on research, hard work, and determination, nonetheless, I do believe his spirit is guiding and looking out or me. Perhaps, still influencing and inspiring me.
Some of the more specific goals that I have identified for myself and attained are listed next as are some that are still a work in progress:
1. Buying my first house…check
3. Investing in real estate…check
4. Selling my first photo art piece…check
5. Writing and getting my first article published...check
6. Writing a book…check
7. Becoming a public speaker…check
8. Becoming a mentor…check
9. Becoming an expert witness…check
10. Traveling to all 50 states…work in progress
11. Writing my second book…work in progress
12. Obtaining my Professional Engineer (P.E.) certification…. work in progress
Chapter 4: Identify and Attain Your Goals
Recommended Activities
1. Identify what makes you happy. See Chapter 14, section on self-awareness.
2. Define what success means to you based on your unique definition of happiness.
3. Identify your ultimate goal based on your definition of success.
4. Identify the subgoals that will lead you to attain your ultimate goal.
5. Develop a specific timeline with action items for each subgoal.
6. Write down your ultimate goal, along with your itemized subgoals, date them, and place them in a box.
7. Return to review and modify your timelines and/or goals every month or as often as needed.