610-793-6609 michael@achievable.com

The Shopping List

Jan 25, 2023 | Leadership, Leadership Development, Uncategorized

The Shopping List

Last week, I asked you to do a Vocation search and think about what you are talented at and what your options could be. What did you learn about yourself? Were there any careers that you had never considered?

By now, you should be convinced that you really can be and do anything that you set your heart on. (Remember that you should not take this as a license to trample on others’ rights).

Your mission now becomes just like a domestic shopping list. The rules and procedures for turning a simple shopping list into its material equivalent are the same for your life goals.

Let’s get started.

Grab some paper or your favorite notes app and start writing out all the things that are missing in your life, both tangible and intangible. It doesn’t matter what order they come in, don’t stop to think, just keep writing and writing and writing until you’ve exhausted all the possibilities – you will sort them out later.

Some people find this difficult because nobody ever gave them permission to think and dream this expansively. Stay with it.

It’s your turn now to be just a little bit selfish and express – exactly- what it is that you want for your life. If you are prepared to give your gift to the world in large quantities, you are entitled to receive on the same scale.

I know of at least one man who undertook this procedure and sat and wrote for almost four hours, without stopping. At the end of that time, he examined his notes and discovered something he described as a ‘revelation’. It even included the answers to some challenges that had plagued him for years. It had been a healing process too.

When you have the finished notes, still in their rough form, keep them handy and refer to them often. You may finally be introduced to someone you never met before – The real YOU.

Next week, I want to talk to you about how to analyze this information along with the work you did last week. Be prepared to do the work and have your hopes and dreams list ready!

About those New Years Resolutions You Just Set…

Jan 17, 2023 | Goal Setting, Uncategorized

About Those 2023 Goals You Just Set-

All goals are purposeful, but are they meaningful?

A meaningful goal is one that ‘makes a difference.’ Jacking up your income by a few percentage points, while desirable, does not qualify as a meaningful goal. So, what does?

You may wish to make scientific breakthroughs, set new standards at Wimbledon, save a rain forest, or a whale. You might even aspire to raising the level of education on the African sub-continent or at home. Whatever it is, find it – it’s waiting out there for you.

Your special set of skills, talents and abilities make you a square peg looking for a square hole. Until, or unless, you find it you will never do your very best work, enjoy total job satisfaction, or fulfill your destiny – so find it!

Of course, there are elements to all professions that require us to do stuff we don’t particularly like, that’s life. I personally don’t enjoy some of the more technical aspects of being a writer, trainer, speaker and publisher, but those aspects don’t take up all my time and the parts I do enjoy more than make up for it in job satisfaction.

The first step then, is to find out what your personal make up really is and how your share of skills, talents and abilities stack up in the overall scheme of things, and the marketplace.

Until you find out exactly what tools you’ve got to work with you cannot decide, with any degree of accuracy, exactly what purpose you should put them to.

In your heart of hearts, you already “know” what the answer is, but you may be afraid to admit it to yourself and others because of what they may think or say. You may need a little help.

Don’t make life more difficult for yourself. Before you start setting down ‘meaningful goals’ you need first to show what it is that you are best at, in order that you can excel at it easily and naturally.

If you have any problems at all finding what you need, just punch “Vocational Guidance” into your favorite search engine and something will turn up.

What new things did you discover about yourself during your vocational guidance analysis? Perhaps you discovered nothing new but were able to confirm some deeply seated suspicions about just what you should be doing with your life. If that’s the case the effort will have been worthwhile.

If you really did go through the vocational guidance procedures as instructed, you now know what you should be concentrating your energies on. Now that you recognize what it is that you enjoy the most and can really excel at – here comes the fun part.

Next week, we will talk more about what to do with this revelation and how to get started on making meaningful goals for your personal and professional lives.

5 Life Changing Books to Start Your Year Off Right

Jan 3, 2023 | Business Growth, Business Owners, Goal Setting, Leadership, Motivation, Productivity, Strategic Planning, Success, Uncategorized

5 Books to Launch Your Success This New Year

If you are like 38 percent of Americans, you set some goals this past weekend. Only 39 percent of those will make it through the first month. If you want to be in the winner’s circle next December, now is the time to lay the groundwork for success! Here are my top 5 books to get (and keep) you on track this year.

Mindset, Carol S. Dweck, PhD.

In this groundbreaking book, Stanford researcher Carol S. Dweck makes a case that all people fall into two categories- Fixed Mindset or Growth Mindset. People with a Fixed Mindset are limited by what they believe they have talent for while those with a Growth Mindset think about themselves as capable of change and growth. Important for individuals looking to break out of a rut and parents, educators, and business leaders. A must read for anyone looking to make changes in the new year.

Change Your Questions, Change Your Life, Marilee Adams

Written as an engaging fable, Marilee Adams shows how the questions you ask about your life and circumstances affect your outcomes and experiences. Rather than seeking to shift blame, she coaches us to ask the right questions leading to greater understanding of ourselves and others.

The Gap and The Gain: The high achievers guide to happiness, confidence, and success, Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy

This book takes the wealth of information previously known only to the followers of Dan Sullivan’s Strategic Coach clients regarding mindset and breaks it down for the rest of us. The premise of the work is that we can either compare ourselves to an ever-changing goal or to our former selves. Those who keep their sights set on an elusive goal will never be satisfied and often feel unhappy and ungrateful. Conversely, when people compare themselves to their former selves, they will see progress and experience happiness and gratitude. This is an important read as you embark on the journey of new year goals.

Triggers: Creating behavior that lasts and becoming the person you want to be, Marshall Goldsmith

This book explores the way decisions are made in the moment and how they are influenced by our past experiences and habits. By taking stock of what your triggers are and how they affect your reactions, you can choose to change, becoming the person that you really want to be. Useful for both business leaders and daily life.

Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankle

Having spent time in Nazi concentration camps, Viktor Frankle established the well-known thought school Logotherapy. In his groundbreaking book, Frankle explains that man’s main motivator is the search for meaning. When people lose sight of their purpose for living, they descend into hopelessness. He explains that there are two types of people, decent human beings, and indecent human beings. Regardless of your life circumstances, it is your daily choices which determine your mindset and character.

This year, you have the power and the tools to make real growth and change a reality.

Do You Have What It Takes To Achieve New Years Goals?

Jan 2, 2023 | Uncategorized

Do You Have What It Takes to Achieve New Year’s Goals?

Too often, business leaders go into a new year or season with ideas of what they think things ‘should’ look like. It is great to think of the potential, but they often lack what carries them to that new height. They have no plan or strategy, no foundation on which to stand.

The most important thing you can do for your business right now is to build or review a business plan. Who are you? Why are you in business? And what do you want to achieve in the long term? Your plan should include vision, core values, culture, and purpose.

Driven by the tyranny of the urgent, everyday operations, and countless interruptions, it sometimes feels impossible to get traction. To grow your business, you need to have a leadership team that can execute the plan. Effective leadership is the key component driving execution.

Alan Mulally, former CEO of Ford Motor Company, said “Leadership is having a compelling vision, a comprehensive plan, relentless implementation, and talented people working together. Talented people are the critical success factor to implement the plan relentlessly.” Alan Mulally turned the company around by implementing one team, one plan, and one goal that was clear to everyone.

The long-term key to success is daily execution by a team of committed leaders. Success or failure is decided by leadership.

Your leaders have a dramatic impact on your company culture, employee engagement, and overall performance of their business. The leaders must be able to supply direction and focus on the major goals and strategy for the future. The principal role of the leader is to set the compass, as we said earlier – vision, core values and core purpose – and to chart the course.

When everyone in the company is following the same vision, values, and core purpose, it creates meaning and positive momentum. Instead of people feeling like they are on the fringe, they become active, engaged, and willing participants to help your business to thrive.

Developing leaders is what we do here at Achievement Unlimited, reach out to Michael@achievable.com to discuss how we can help your business develop or update your strategic plan for the new year.