2 Research Studies that Changed my Life
J.C. Penney once stated, "Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I’ll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I’ll give you a stock clerk."
The first positive habit and I believe most important in my 12 month journey is the organized setting of goals. I have always had goals but have never written them down. Many of these goals had been obtained due to a plan that was implemented for me not by me for example; the completion of my college degree. My goal was to of course graduate, but the course was set by my advisor, so I basically just had to show up. To past test basically I just had to show up to class and study covered material. Now of course the above takes discipline to achieve, but the path was planned for me.
Reflecting back over my life, I now notice that most of the goals in which I have failed were due to a lack of planning/strategy. For instance, I have been over weight most of my adult life due to no consistent plan of action. I have never been able to grow a large net worth, simply due to no plan.
While reading Brian Tracy’s book, "The Power of Discipline," two studies he mentioned really inspired me to implement goal setting as part of my everyday life:
- The USA Today had written an article about the study of New Year’s Resolutions. Researchers interviewed two groups of people who had made New Year’s resolutions for that given year. One group did not write down their resolutions while the second group had. When twelve months had passed the researcher followed up and found that the first group who had not written down their resolutions, only 4% were successful with their resolutions. The second group who had written down their resolutions had a 44% success rate. What a dramatic difference! "Only three percent of adults have written goals, and everyone else works for them." Brian Tracy
- In 1979 Harvard conducted a study to inquire why 3% of their MBA Graduates made on average 10 times the income as the other 97% combined. Recent MBA grads were interviewed and it was found that 84% had no specific goals, 13% had non-written goals while only 3% had specific, written goals with plans to accomplish them.
In 1989 the researchers interviewed these MBA graduates again. They found that the 13% who had non-written goals on average made twice the income as the 84% who had no specific goals. What really excited me was that the 3% who had written specific goals with plans to accomplish these goals made ten times the other 97% combined.
You see, it is not merely writing down goals, but developing plans of action for each goal. Mr. Tracy recommends writing several plans of action for each goal.
Due to the results as indicated above, I have decided to implement a specific list of written goals with at least 20 actions I can implement to accomplish each one. The successful outcome of "Operations U-Turn" is completely dependent on this ACTION.
"Action expresses priorities." Mahatma Gandhi
"Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit." Conrad Hilton
I have written a list of goals that cover all aspects of my life which include being happy, healthy, financially independent, successful and being responsible for my actions. The plans of action include steps to resolve issues that I struggle with daily including: being overweight and unhealthy, frequent procrastinating, lack of patience, short temper, poor listener (need to be of few words and think before I speak), being easily distracted (by texting, gaming, internet, T.V.) from the ones whom I love, slow to forgive, frequently negative by complaining, condemning and criticizing, needing to be more mindful and thankful for my numerous blessings, the need of being more frugal and dealing with episodes of decreased confidence.
I have completed a list of goals/task which include:
I know what I want to accomplish in five years. I know what I want to accomplish in one year. I know I will accomplish them by completing the monthly, weekly and daily task which always include the listed actions needed to reach each long term goal. The monthly, weekly and daily goals/task serve as my compass always pointing True North and guiding me back to the path when I may stumble and fall.
I have my one year and five year goals taped to the inside cover of my daily journal, I also have a copy in my wallet. This makes it easy for me to remember to review my major goals daily. I have my monthly and weekly goals written in a note pad that I keep in my computer bag which I carry everywhere. I write my daily goals/task on index cards which I fold in half and keep in my wallet. I realize that there are smart phone/tablet apps out there that make to do list easy, but this currently works best for me.
It feels great as I cross off completed goals/task off my list. What a mood and confidence booster!!!! Feeling organized and in control just feels awesome. It is also visual proof that I am successfully moving in a positive direction in the completion of my major goals. Buildings are made one brick at a time, each completed task, no matter how small is a brick in the making of my success.
Do you have goals? If so, are they written down? If they are written down, how often do you review them? If you don’t have specific goals, would you consider making some?
Recent Comments
3
One thing that I have learned about goal setting over the years is that it is very easy to set goals, much more difficult to actually achieve them.
We create a list of our goals, but often times will pick at the low hanging fruit first. The easy stuff. In particular when it comes to daily tasks, if we continue to do this we will only end up doing the stuff that is mindless, or in other words, become the stock clerk.
Go after the tough goals and when you build a list of goals, grind these out until you complete them before adding anything new to your list. It will force you to do the stuff you don't want to.. which typically means that you will be forced to learn new stuff and become great at things you are either horrible at or mediocre at.
That is just some insight from the goal setting world i have learned over the years. Often times I will sit down in the morning first thing and do the things I don't want to do first before I do the things that are second nature.
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond!!!! I am really learning alot from you videos. Yes, I am also trying to make the habit of doing things that I don't want to do first.
No problem and I am really glad you are enjoying the training Larry!