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3 Words to Start Your New Year Right

Dec 27, 2022 | Business Growth, Goal Setting, Leadership, Leadership Development, Motivation, Productivity, Strategic Planning, Success, Uncategorized

 

3 Words to Start Your New Year Right

Here in the hustle at the end of one year and the beginning of a new, it seems like everyone is talking about resolutions. The Oxford Dictionary defines resolution as “a firm decision to do or not to do something.” Success does depend on deciding to do a thing; but there is more to achievement than deciding and leaving the results to chance.

If you want to achieve remarkable things in 2023, take the next few days to get Clarity around what you want to do, clear the distractions to Focus, and strategize to get those Results.

Paul J. Meyer, founder of Success Motivation Institute, said “If you aren’t making the progress you would like to make and are capable of making, it is simply because your goals aren’t clearly defined.” Over the years this has proven so true in my life and the lives of my clients.

Clarity – Do you have extreme clarity on your goals for 2023? Far too many people have clarity around what they don’t want in business and in their personal life rather than what they really want their future to look like. What matters most in your life and business? Hazy goals produce hazy results. SMART goals produce tangible results – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely.

Focus – Goals are meant to supply direction. This means you should have just a few significant goals. The more goals you have, the less focus is available. You will only achieve those goals to which you are fully committed.

Meyer also said, “Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon must inevitably come to pass.” Everything in that statement will exponentially take your power to focus to a new level.

Results – Results are tied to your system. A goal is the end-result you want to achieve personally and professionally. To really achieve an important goal, it is critical to have a system- a strategy.

You can’t keep doing what you’ve always done and expect different results. John Dryden said, “We first make our habits and then our habits make us.”  Your daily routine and rituals, daily huddles with team members and focus on high payoff activities are the keystone of your personal and professional life. Putting these systems in place will earn you the desired results.

Now, find a little time over the next week to sit down with your notetaking app of choice and get some clarity, focus and results to guide you through 2023.

Asking the Right Questions to Lead Your Team to Success

Nov 20, 2022 | Business Growth, Business Owners, Goal Setting, Leadership, Strategic Planning, Success, Uncategorized

Are you asking the right question to lead your team to success?

What Really Matters Most in life, leadership, and organizational development?

As we prepare to move into the coming year, let’s take a deep dive into this question. Essentially is it a question? Or is it a matter of focus? I believe it’s both.

In order to focus on your life, leadership, and organization, you must first address “What Really Matters Most?” as a question. To transform it from a question to a focus, you must assess where you are now compared with where you want to be.

Rather than reacting to past results and current circumstances, focus on “what really matters most” requires an awareness of and commitment to your vision and purpose. As the saying from Proverbs goes “without a vision, people perish.” There is no pragmatic way to determine how to spend our time, effort, energy and resources without answering this question.

Without focus, you become a victim of current achievements, constantly reworking to compensate for unintended outcomes. We must do some deep work to design our vision.

Today’s leaders face unprecedented positive and negative forces on organizational management. These forces of change present special challenges to leadership and to the workforce. To become a results-driven team, you need extreme clarity on your vision, purpose, and strategy communicated to all involved in supporting its execution. Organizational performance measurably improves as everyone develops an absolute focus on results. This companywide focus on ‘what really matters most’ allows all members to consistently create, develop, and track the results in tandem.

You also need to develop your leadership team, creating programs that give them tools to change their thinking and behavior to achieve sustainable results, growth, and profitability. By developing your people into self-leaders, they will grow and move forward to answer “What Really Matters Most” for your business.

Future looking leaders will use the competitive edge found in developing self-leadership in employees at all levels of the company. Your people are the ones to make it happen. Hence the need for clarity, focus, and a real understanding of “What Really Matters Most” at all levels. Do you have a winning strategy to get you to What Really Matters Most?  

Take your Resolutions from Goal to Reality

Nov 14, 2022 | Goal Setting, Motivation, Strategic Planning, Success

Three Game Changing Words to take Resolutions from Goals to Reality

 

It is time for New Year Goal Setting and people are taking their resolutions much more seriously than in years past. This is no surprise for leaders in the field of business strategy, productivity, and leadership because we know the critical importance and power of goal setting. 

 

There is a lot of optimism that this coming year will be better.  You will see realization of your hopes and dreams with a rigorous planning process to kick off the new year.  There is no doubt that life and business will continue to change because change is the only constant. Management guru Peter Drucker wisely said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” 

  

Setting goals or resolutions is not enough.  Studies continue to show that less than 10% of people who make resolutions succeed. How can you beat the odds?  These three areas are key to success in every endeavor: Clarity, Focus, and System.

 

Clarity.  Far too many people have clarity around what they don’t want rather than what they truly want their future to be. Hazy goals produce hazy results, but SMART goals get you to the finish line. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Tangible goals.  Paul J. Meyer, founder of Success Motivation Institute, said, “Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon must inevitably come to pass.” A crystal-clear strategy and a daily routine of habits will drive you toward your goals.  Your goals must be in alignment with your core values; people never make difficult changes for goals that don’t support their most important values

   

Focus. Goals provide focus and direction.  You should only have a few significant goals at a time. The more goals you have, the less resources you can commit to them.  “If you aren’t making the progress you would like to make and are capable of making, it is simply because your goals aren’t clearly defined,” explains Paul J Meyer. Focus is so important because you will only achieve goals you are fully committed to.

 

System. To achieve an important goal, it is critical to have a system. John Dryden said, “We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.”  Your daily routine, daily huddles and focus on high payoff activities are the backbone of your personal and professional life.  You will never achieve your goals until you change your daily habits and routines.   

 

At Achievement Unlimited, we have the tools, systems, and software to make your New Year goals a reality.  

 

10 Secrets to Creating Your Best Year Yet

Nov 4, 2022 | Goal Setting, Motivation, Strategic Planning

10 Secrets to Creating Your Best Year Yet 

 

Step 1.  Get clarity about what your best year would look like.

Know what outcomes you want and what you don’t want. Start with “what matters most” so that you can say yes to that and no to everything else. We will always have more goals, wants, and desires than time to reach them. The key to success is making choices about which goals to commit to – and then making a 100% commitment to those. Get the pen to the paper before January and start mapping out your future.   

 

Step 2.  Goal setting is essential for success and achievement.   

Goal setting is the bridge between where you are now and where you want to go. Nothing will improve performance and success more than a clearly written goal, a plan to get there, and a deadline. Goal setting forces you to focus on what is most important. 

 

Step 3. Review & execute. After you identify your goals, schedule a weekly appointment with yourself to check in on progress.  Focus on what matters most by setting up ironclad boundaries so you are not interrupted by the tyranny of the urgent.

 

Step 4. Review your successes and failures. Build on your successes and learn from your failures. “What Worked, What Didn’t, What’s Next?” The key is to evaluate often- objectively- and then move on. Looking at what happened with a healthy degree of detachment allows us to make better decisions.

 

Step 5. Focus on the present. Remember, input equals output so be sure you’re putting plenty of good stuff in. Life is lived out one moment at a time; it is critical to develop the habit of living in the present moment with an upward view of your bigger future.  

 

Step 6. Stop living out of your inbox. Plan to work on your highest payoff activities and cut or delegate your low payoff activities. Start to live your life by design and not by default and see how your motivation grows. 

 

Step 7.  Invest in yourself. What do you want to learn, do, or become? Be specific and put these activities on your calendar to make sure they happen. Start to journal.  Ask yourself daily: “What went well today? Why?” and “What did not go well today? What did you learn?”  Journal about how you can change your actions to do better the next time.

 

Step 8. Create a Mastermind Group. Establish a personal board of directors, people whose wisdom, knowledge, and character you respect, to encourage you. Enlist the help of an experienced mentor and/or coach to help you identify where you can improve, refine your process, and focus for success. They should hold you accountable, keeping you on track and moving forward. 

 

Step 9. Take ownership of your attitude. You choose to have a positive or negative attitude about life. Develop an attitude of gratitude.

 

Step 10. Create a morning routine. The first hour of the day should be a power hour for you to center yourself before rushing into the day.

 

Goal setting is ongoing experience. Each daily goal should serve to help you realize your corresponding monthly goals. I challenge you to pause and consider how today’s goals will help you realize your life’s legacy and overall purpose. 

 

We can help you to get started creating your goals, find your stumbling blocks, and set up an accountability plan to keep you working on your plan all the way to success.

Clarity, Focus and Results are Three Keys to Success

Jan 12, 2021 | Business Growth, Business Owners, CEOs, Goal Setting, Strategic Planning

As I mentioned last week, I always talk about 3 words being the key to success in any endeavor in life. The 3 words are clarity, focus and results.  

Clarity – Do you have extreme clarity on your goals for 2021?  I find far too many people have clarity around what they don’t want in business and in their personal life rather than what they really want or would like their future to look like. Do you really know exactly what you want to achieve? What really matters most in your life and business?  Hazy goals produce hazy results at best. SMART goals produce the results you want.  

Focus– Goals are meant to provide focus and direction.  This also means you should only have a few really important and significant goals.  How many things can you actually focus on at one time?  The more goals you have, the less focus you have.  My favorite quote from Paul J. Meyer, founder of Success Motivation Institute, is, “If you aren’t making the progress you would like to make and are capable of making, it is simply because your goals aren’t clearly defined.” Over the years this has proven so true in my life and the lives of my clients. Focus is so important because you will only achieve those goals on which you are committed to take action.

Paul J. Meyer also said, “Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon must inevitably come to pass.” Everything in that statement will exponentially take your power to focus to a new level.

What this means is you will have a crystal-clear strategy, a system and action steps to execute your goals. You will have a daily routine and daily habits to drive you toward your goals.  

Results – Results are all about your system.  The goal is the end-result you want to achieve personally and professionally.  Goal setting is easy – ask anybody! To really achieve an important goal; however, it is critical to have a system.  This is why you need software and  systems to drive your strategy and your goals program into the future.

You can’t keep doing what you’ve always done and expect different results.  You must identify the changes you will make in the future to achieve your goals.  John Dryden said, “We first make our habits and then our habits make us.”  Your daily routine and rituals, your daily huddles with team members and extreme focus on high payoff activities are the keystone building blocks of your personal and professional life. Putting these systems in place will give you the results you want.

I hope these ideas and concepts will spark some interest in you having your best year yet in 2021. We have the tools, systems and software to make your 2021 goals a reality. Let us know how we can help you by emailing me at michael@achievable.com.

 

 

How to Make Next Year Your Best Year Ever

Nov 18, 2020 | Business Growth, Business Owners, CEOs, Goal Setting, Strategic Planning

First, you need to define what “Best Year Ever” means to you; you have to know what you want in order to achieve it. Your ability to get crystal clear about what a successful year looks like will help you make the leap towards that ideal year.

What is your personal strategic plan for your life next year? You can follow these three simple steps to make sure you have the best year ever in 2021.

Step 1 – Be Extremely Clear On What You What. Know what you really want in life and in your business. Know what goals and outcomes you would like to achieve by the end of next year and know exactly what you don’t want. Create a list of personal goals and business goals for the next 12 months. The fact of life is none of us is going to live forever and we don’t know when our number is up so it is so important to get clarity around what is most important for us to achieve. We need to remember to create goals for personal health and well-being and spend more time on our most important relationships. You should also pursue that special hobby or interest you have been putting off. Take time out of your busy schedule before January rolls in to recharge, relax, and reenergize with powerful and meaningful goals for next year. Get the pen to the paper right now and start mapping out your future.

Step 2. Review & Execute. After you create your goals schedule an appointment with yourself every week to work on the action steps to move your goals forward. Our lives are built on the foundation of these six major areas of our wheel of life: Family & Home, Financial & Career, Mental & Educational, Physical & Health, Social & Cultural, and Spiritual & Ethical. These areas are the pillars that you will build a totally integrated life on. Make sure you are spending at least one hour a week in your plan of action. Your personal plan of action is the master plan for the rest of your life. Your planner should contain a master list of priority business and personal goals. The world is infested with distractions and noise designed to take us off our goals program and put us on someone else’s goals program which is why we have to continue to be intentional about setting aside time to work in our plan of action on a weekly basis.

Step 3. Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing. Develop a relentless focus on what really matters most, what is most important and significant in your personal and professional life by setting up ironclad boundaries so you are not interrupted with the tyranny of the urgent which usually isn’t really important. Focus on what you want and not on what you don’t want. For everything that is not a high payoff activity for you – figure out a way to simplify, eliminate, delegate or outsource the activity. Take massive action on your goals – make this a daily habit.

Remember, “It’s hard by the yard, but it’s a cinch by the inch.” Concentrate daily upon doing the little things that eventually will help you accomplish the big things. You create and maintain an environment that is conducive to ongoing motivation. Create a work environment that energizes you and always surround yourself with positive, goal-directed, self-motivated people. It is true what they say – you are the company you keep.