But, does this mean that this form of goal-setting used by the “Top 5%” is the only one way to achieve success?
No! (Don’t get me wrong. I think that there is absolutely nothing
wrong at all with wanting or having
any of these things – if YOU want them).
Though, let’s face it, would anyone continue running a
business where only 5% of the products made actually worked? Would customers
continue to buy if the products failed 95% of the time? Would you want to fly
with a pilot who had failed 95% of their course, or face surgery with a doctor
who had a 5% success rate? Of course you wouldn’t – not unless you are the
ultimate risk taker.
There is hope for
the 95% of people neglected by the Win/Lose, Succeed/Fail methods. 16 years ago
I started working with people who wanted to make changes in their life with a
slightly different approach to modern goal setting, which I call “The Process
of Achievement” (POA).
The whole aim of “The Process of Achievement” is to give
people a way that allows them to target the things in life that are important
to them and work towards those targets without fear of failure and in a way that recognises their achievements.
Now, there are some very subtle differences in the way POA and goal-setting both work. Those
differences are as subtle, and just as important, as the one degree difference
in water temperature that changes plain old hot water into steam which can be,
and has been, used to build industries and nations. You can do a lot with hot
water, just as you can with goal-setting, but you can do so much more and on a
bigger scale with steam. Subtle, but powerful!
Try the very term “Goal Setting” for instance.
In sport the purpose of a goal is to give each of the
competitors something to aim at in order to beat each other. It’s a way to keep
score. If one competitor scores more goals than the other then they win. And so,
with goal-setting, winning and losing form an automatic association, in the
mind, to the need to beat others, of keeping score one against another. It
makes “keeping up with the Jones’” a national pastime.
The trouble with using goals as a measure of success in life,
is that you can play the very best game of your life and miss the goal by the
smallest of margins and at the end of the day, by the standards of the
Win/Lose, Succeed/Fail mentality, have nothing to show for it. You simply
didn’t score. And, under that philosophy, that makes you a big, fat, zero,
nothing loser!
With POA, I prefer the term “targets” to goals. Why?
In sports like Archery, where you have targets instead of
goals, you receive recognition for getting close to your main aiming point. You
can miss the “bulls-eye”, the main aiming point, and still score points.
Theoretically you could even win a competition without ever hitting the
bulls-eye once; simply by being consistent and constantly getting close to the
main aiming point time-after-time.
Of course, you are aiming to hot the “bulls-eye”, it gives
you the best result. But it also recognises that we can’t always score maximum
points.
Miss a goal – you lose. Hit the target area, get close to
what your main aiming point is and you achieve a result and receive recognition
for that result. And POA is all about results, achievements and recognition.
Changing our language, can be a powerful tool towards
changing our life. It’s like the way in which the words we tell ourselves have
a way of becoming that self-fulfilling prophesy. There isn’t much difference in
the spelling of the words “can” and “can’t”. Not much difference in spelling
but a whole lot of difference in meaning.
By setting targets, you are giving yourself something to aim
for, without the pressure of having to get the maximum score in order to
achieve a positive result.
What targets do you want to set for you in the next 12
months?
Make Your Dreams A Reality
Colin
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