Today is Wednesday, so this post is on performance.
Recently, I came across an article entitled A Blueprint for Goal Achievement: Strategies to Reach Any Goal by Mike Kramer. In the article, Mr. Kramer says that building a coffee table “taught me how to succeed at anything in life. I’m now confident that I can achieve any goal I set my mind to”. He says this is true “because in the process of making this end table, I underwent a textbook case of how goal achievement is supposed to work. The whole project was full of lessons that can be applied to any goal”.
Read on for Mr. Kramer’s perspective on what it takes to accomplish any goal…
Mike Kramer on the necessary ingredients for accomplishing any goal
A Vision
As Steven Covey would say, “begin with the end in mind”. Before you begin work on any important goal know exactly what success will look like.
A Plan – Complete With Milestones and a Timetable
Develop a detailed step by step plan for accomplishing your goal before you do any work. Your plan should include significant milestones and the date by which you will accomplish them.
Action Steps
Each milestone should have a few highly focused action steps. If you complete the action steps necessary for each milestone, you’ll stay on target for meeting your overall goal.
Motivation
Make sure that the goal is important enough to keep you motivated and moving forward when, as inevitably happens, you hit setbacks.
Lots of Help
Know where to go to get the help you need. It’s good to have a range of people with different specialties – technical, motivational etc. – to whom you can turn when you need assistance.
The Right Tools and Resources
Make sure you have the tools (technology, information etc.) you need to complete your goal.
Persistence
When something doesn’t turn out exactly as you hope, move around it and adapt. Don’t let one step back stop you from moving forward.
Learning Curve
In the beginning, you might have no idea of what you are doing. But, if you take things one step at a time, you’ll learn what you need and grow more confident.
Mr. Kramer concludes his article with the following words, “all of these strategies combined gave me a sense of invincibility. I became convinced that as long as I took my time, followed my plan, and used the right tools, there was no way I could fail. Now I’m also convinced that I can follow the same strategy with other goals in the future.
And I thought I was just making a coffee table!”
I like the way Mr. Kramer was able to take his experience in building a coffee table and expand it to a set of general, common sense principles on goal achievement. I’m also convinced. If you apply these principles, you’ll be able to accomplish the goals you set for yourself.
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense. Check out my other blog: www.CommonSenseGuy.com for common sense advice on leading people and running a small business.
I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.
Bud
PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open. Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.
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