Fundamentals Provide Direction
I love to officiate football. Yes football at all levels: LL, Middle School, High School, and Post Grad. Working with all of the different levels I recognize the importance of fundamentals. Being a pastor, it is important to build your faith on a solid foundation, on fundamentals. It is no different when you start a business.
The fundamental practices of business will provide us direction for our business. I have taught Business Principls at my local community college for the last several years. It always amazes me how many people come to the class with no direction or goals for their business or their lives.
Goals are the essence of living out our promise, our abiilty, our talents. Goals help us to identify where we have been, where we are currently and where we want to be. Goals are one of the fundamentals that provide us direction.
The other issue I often encounter is that many individuals will set goals that are ambiguous at best. They have something down but they offer no tangible target. I am reminded of the island green at the 17th hole of the TPC Sawgrass Course. You have to hit and hold the green our you will get your ball wet. In business, you have to have a tangible target, tangible goals.
So how do we make our goals tangible? The acronym SMART is one way of setting goals.
S stands for Specific.- The more specific our goal the better.
M stands for Measurable - Goals which are measurable allow us to see where we are and what changes or tweeks need to be made to our plan
A stands for Attainable - One of the greatest reasons for people quitting is that the goals they set are not attainable. Yes dream, but give yourself reasons to celebrate along the way as you attain your secondary goals.
R stands for Realistic - This goes hand in hand with measurable and attainable. Realistic goals allow you to experience the victories necessary to move forward
T stands for Time Sensitive - Set a period of time to reach your goals...Goals are not meant to be Static. They are dynamic. By setting a time period, you are giving yourself the opportunity to reassess, reset, and grow quicker.
Fundamentals allow the strong foundation to be built. Without the fundamentals we will do the wrong things when we find ourselves at the crossroad of success and failure.
Recent Comments
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Thanks for sharing, Kent. We both have the same fundamentals in goal setting. This is such an important key to success in any endeavor that we pursue. Hope that everyone can follow through the goals that they set for themselves.
Thank you for sharing. I try not to set too lofty of goals but make them realistic. We need to get track of our goals and as we meet them make others. When you run out of goals you run out of life. I wish you all the best.