(I preface this course with the following, the POWER system was designed by myself and has been of use to me, I have not plagiarised any of this material except where indicated and acknowledged. The SMART system has been used since 1981 and various excerpts from text will be indicated at the end of each lesson)

Please watch this video first - http://goo.gl/W6XSk7

Welcome to the POWER system of goal setting and achievement

"Oh no" I hear you crying already, not another person telling me that goals are important and to write them down. Yes, I agree with you, its how I felt for 20 years and its why I am sharing this with you now because after 20 years, maybe 25 I have realised that I never HAD and certainly never FOLLOWED goals.

I am sure you have heard the phrases, "I have climbed the ladder only to find that it is against the wrong wall" or "I have followed the river to the wrong ocean" or "if you keep banging your head against the wall - you will only get a bloody head" these phrases and countless others have been passed down to us because they are TRUE!. If we do not set and follow goals then we drift, we let life control us, we float down a river, not even THE river. We are a boat without a rudder, so on and so forth. How do you know where you are going if you have no destination and no map and no way of knowing where you are at a particular point?

We all know the age old definition of insanity — "doing the same thing over and over again expecting the different results" Old, cliche, yep and again its because it is true.

You are all in WA because you want to be successful but how many of you are following goals, I will safely predict under 10% and thats a high estimate.

I have owned a few businesses and yep, without goals, I admit. My old mentor used to say to me, "if you fail to plan then you plan to fail" and wow was he right! I never saw the importance of goals and thought it was all very boring. I remember finding it so dry to set up policies and systems and get them into a manual because I thought it was too restrictive. I realised that when systems are in place then it is actually liberating because I could then enjoy my business because I knew that in the background systems were running. This is the same with personal goals, the trouble is that people just do not have a system in place to set goals and follow through.

Now, a thought about humans and the human brain.

What does this mean?

A direct quote from 'psycho-cybernetics' by Maxwell Maltz...( a book you should all read by the way!)

"the mind is not 'a mind' at all but a mechanism - a goal striving 'servo-mechanism' consisting of the brain and nervous system, which is used by and directed by the mind.....a built in guidance system or goal striving device put their by its creator to help it achieve goals and allow it to live....This built in guidance mechanism automatically steers you in the right direction much like a torpedo in response to our goals and our stimuli" (*)

They knew this stuff back in 1969 so why dont we all have goals.

SIMPLE, IT'S BORING! and WE CAN'T BE BOTHERED!

Well, be bothered people, be very bothered because if we don't put the right stimuli in then the world will, and it does

Why do we fail — because we listen to our world and friends and use that stimulus

Why do we not succeed — because we are afraid of what we read and what we are told.

Why do we not live to our potential — because we don't know what our potential is

Why do we not get there — because we dont know where 'there' is.

So why do we not set goals — because we think it's boring and they dont work.

A quick test

I want you to think of something you have been putting off. It may be small, it may be larger.

Now write it down and give it 1 task or it may take 2 or 3 to get it completed.

Go to your calendar in the kitchen or get your diary

Set a date that this task will be done, this may just be a phone call

Reward yourself when you have done the task.

Goals are important, they are how we get to where we want or need to be.

The difference between successful people and the rest is not that they have more hours in a day, they are generally not smarter than you or better looking or luckier. They have figured out the secret - there is no secret. Its goals and hard work guys.

A quick example:-

John and Wendy just built a gorgeous house at the end of my road and i am a little envious actually, I work hard, always have done but I struggle and certainly dont have the money for that house.

John and Wendy's house started with a foundation and that foundation started with a hole. That hole started with a call to the people that ran the diggers. The diggers were recommended by the project manager who ran the construction site. That construction site was picked by the architect that was picked by John and Wendy. The plans for the architect were drawn up based on John and Wendy's rough drawings. Those rough drawings were from a plan they scribbled on a pad while at dinner at their favourite restaurant. It was John's idea to take Wendy to that restaurant that night to discuss his dream house 7 years ago. His decision came from a thought that he was tired of his 2 bed and he wanted a bigger house. That thought was planted into his 'servo-mechanism' we call a mind by a picture he saw on TV. It starts with a thought.

...and thats how it works people.

And we can't do it without goals and action plans.

Do you get it yet ! Do you see how important this is?

If you get it then please complete the tasks and lets get going!!

* Psycho cybernetics -M.Maltz (1969)