Every year we have high hopes for achieving our goals, making our lives better, and improving ourselves in some way. Here are the top 10 goals set for the year.
Commandment #1: Thou Shall Be Decisive!
The difference between what one person and another achieves depends more on goal choices than on abilities. The profound differences between successful people and others are the goals they choose to pursue. Individuals with similar talents, intelligence, and abilities will achieve different results because they select and pursue different goals.
Commandment #2: Thou Shall Stay Focused!
Focus creates a powerful force: goal power. The moment you focus on a goal, your goal becomes a magnet, pulling you and your resources toward it. The more focused your energies, the more power you generate. There is a seismic shift in performance that takes place when you move from decisiveness to focus.
Commandment #3: Thou Shall Write Down Thy Goals!
Writing challenges thought. When you write a goal, you actually see what you’re thinking. You have a target to aim for… something that takes shape and grows legs. By writing your goals, you take a step toward achieving them. Goals not written down fall victim to the “out of sight… out of mind” phenomenon!
Commandment #4: Thou Shall Plan Thoroughly!
You can virtually guarantee your success in any endeavor if you know who you are, what you want, where you are going, how you will get there, and what you will do once you arrive. Planning before you act helps you to do things better, faster, and cheaper!
Commandment #5: Thou Shall Involve Others!
It is your prime responsibility to acquire useful knowledge from others and to apply it appropriately. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. It behooves you to do your homework, to read, and to converse with others who have first-hand knowledge based on actual experience. Shortening your learning curve saves buckets of blood, sweat, tears, time, and money.
Commandment #6: Thou Shall Welcome Failure!
People are naive about the benefits of failure. Wrongly founded assumptions about failure replace potentially accurate assessments of what is necessary to achieve success. Failure, which spends much of its life in the gulag of public perception, is, by all measures, essential to success.
Commandment #7: Thou Shall Take Purposeful Action!
In real estate, it’s location, location, location. In goal-setting its action, action, action! You can’t just stick out your thumb and hitchhike your way to success. You’ve got to roll up your sleeves and do the work that needs to be done. The acid test of goal setting is purposeful action.
Commandment #8: Thou Shall Inspect What Thou Expect!
The purpose of measuring performance and inspecting expectations is to improve performance. You must know how you are performing the “must do” actions necessary to achieve your goals. Inspecting expectations allows you to know what you are looking for before youactually see it!
Commandment #9: Thou Shall Reward Thyself!
A goal, once achieved, symbolizes commitment, concentration, and courage, and it deserves to be rewarded. A reward provides an effective but uncomplicated means of reinforcing the actions most important to success. Rewards are reminders of our potential for achievement. We should reward ourselves daily for small accomplishments; this simple act becomes fuel for future achievement.
Commandment #10: Thou Shall Maintain Personal Integrity!
Personal integrity is the countdown clock of your goal. It starts ticking the second you begin and stops when you achieve the goal or quit. The “Promised Land” is for those who exercise personal integrity. Personal integrity means maintaining a commitment to your commitment. It’s about setting goals and keeping your promise to achieve it…end of story!