Archive for August, 2009

Sunday Browsing: Life Coaching, Energizing Your Team, and Maintaining a Positive Attitude

Autumn_Country_Road_5

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Every second Sunday, I share some of the best articles that I have come across in the past two weeks.  Here are some great articles that I hope will be helpful to you:

1. Tim Brownson has a guest post on AlexShalman.com detailing “12 Transformational Life Coaching Tricks“.

2. Read about “Six Ways to be More Followable” on Twitter, from the Hello My Name is Blog!

3. Gary Vaynerchuk has a great video post reminding us to spend time with people we know and want to do business with.

4. Michael Hyatt shares “Five Ways to Energize Your Team“.

5. Finally, Mark & Angel Hack Life shares “40 Modern Non Fiction Books Everyone Should Read.

Elsewhere on the web:

A guest post I wrote at DUMB LITTLE MAN, “Top 10 Tips for Maintaining a Positive Attitude“, is getting a lot of attention.

On my other blog, I just finished a series on Leadership Lessons from the Life of Joseph (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).
I hope you have a great week!

Danny Gamache – The Success Professor

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Posted on August 30th, 2009 by The Success Professor  |  1 Comment »

6 Steps to Defeating Self-Doubt

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Photo by yourdon

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Self-doubt is one of the things that most holds people back from achieving more success in their life and business. It is something that everyone, even people who appear very successful may battle with self-doubt. The further ahead you are towards reaching your goals the more you will have conquered self-doubt. With more success comes more confidence and less self-doubt, but you need to eliminate some of that self-doubt before you can succeed in the first place. There are several ways to help defeat the demons of self-doubt from your life.

1. Make Small Promises and Keep Them

One of the best ways of fighting self-doubt is by making small promises. These may be promises to yourself or to others. This can be an effective technique in creating momentum in your life. What is a task that you need to accomplish? Set a plan for completing that task, give yourself a deadline and then promise yourself that you will do that task. Once you have made a promise to yourself in this manner, make sure you do everything within your power to keep your promise.

Making yourself promises has the opportunity to build fantastic momentum but if you make promises you do not keep it will result in increased self-doubt not diminished. That is why you should make small steps in your promises. The promise needs to be something that is easy and manageable for you. It might be as simple as making one sales call each day, or writing one blog post each week.

After you have completed what you have promised yourself you will build on that success by making another small promise to yourself and keeping that. Keeping one small promise after another eventually leads to momentum and big success in your business.

2. Turn the Promises Into Small Achievable Goals

Once you are comfortable choosing tasks, promising yourself that you will complete them and then finishing them by the deadline you have set, it is time to move towards setting goals. Make sure that you focus on setting small achievable goals. Nothing helps to erase your self-doubt than reaching a worthwhile goal. Start with small goals, achieve them and then slowly increase the challenge of the types of goals you set. As you progress you will build momentum and confidence in life.

3. Put Others First

Another way of getting rid of self-doubt is to take the focus off of yourself and place your focus on others. Instead of focusing on what you can do for your own business or to achieve your own goals, focus on how you can help others. One of Zig Ziglar’s most famous quotes is that,

“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

Notice here that the focus is on other people, not on you. Further, by focusing on others there is no time to dwell on your own limitations and concerns.

4. Focus on the Positive

Many times the reasons for our self-doubt is that we are focusing on the negative things of life. You may be focusing on everything that is going wrong rather than what is going right. We are focusing on our weaknesses rather than on our strengths.  Simply reversing this process can go a long way to eliminating much of the self-doubt from your life. You need to train your mind to only remember the positive. Focus on your success not on your failure. You need to learn from you failures and move on.

Successful people face rejection everyday. You face rejection when seeking financial funding for a business, you may face rejection when trying to make a sale, or you may face rejection from a boss or coworker. The reason for your success is your ability to completely forget about most of this rejection. Successful people learn from all of their mistakes but focus on their victories. After all if you dwell on the negative things that have happened to you in the past, you will never be willing to move forward. This same principle applies throughout life. If you focus on all the car accidents that happen in the world there is no way you’ll be able to drive your car – instead you focus on the fact that most times you go for a drive nothing happens.

5. Focus on Your Strengths

Make sure you are focusing on your strengths not your weaknesses. During periods of self-doubt you will likely find that you are irrationally focusing on all your weaknesses and ignoring your strengths. Chances are you have you have many more strengths than you realize. Work on continually thinking about how your strengths can be contributing to the growth of your business or achievement of your goals. If you have trouble with this take some time and meditate on all the strengths you bring to the table. Write these down. Take this even one step forward by having people around you tell you about the strengths they see in you.  You can also use this technique to lower the self-doubt in those around you. Many times you will see strengths in others that they do not see in themselves. You can make a big difference by helping them see the strengths that they might not see easily.

6. Attitude

Although the above ways of defeating self-doubt all are to some extent or another reliant on your attitude, it is important enough that it deserves attention on its own. One of my favorite sayings in business is that “attitude is everything.” Nothing affects your self-doubt more than your attitude. In fact self-doubt is an attitude of its own. It is a very limiting attitude that you place on yourself.

Thankfully attitude is a CHOICE. Each day you can choose what attitude you are going to follow. Make sure you start each day with a positive, “I can do it” attitude. Always believe that you can achieve your goals. Always believe the best in people, and always focus on the positives. Learn from the struggles and focus on the victories.

Always be working on your attitude. Manage your attitude by reading positive material, listening to motivating audio tapes and choosing to make it a daily goal, become the leader in attitude for your team. (See my article 10 Tips for Maintaining a Positive Attitude)

By making and keeping small promises, setting and achieving worthwhile goals, putting others first, focusing on the positive, focusing on your strengths and managing your attitude you can greatly diminish the effect of self-doubt in your life. Now take the focus off yourself for a minute and think about ways you can help eliminate the self-doubt you see in those around you. Encourage them to take these steps towards eliminating self-doubt.

Written by:
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
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Posted on August 26th, 2009 by The Success Professor  |  4 Comments »

8 Productive Tasks to do on a Long Day of Flying

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As the number of miles that people fly continues to increase, understanding how to make the most of your travel days is becoming increasingly important.  It is possible to be very productive, even on a long day of flying. Last week, I had two very long days of flying.  I flew from my home in Saskatchewan, Canada to Orlando, Florida and back.  Each trip involved two flights totaling over five hours in the plane plus layover in between.  By doing many of the activities below, I was able to productively use my time.

Some things to remember:

  • you have time after security but before you get on the plane
  • once you are on the plane you have time before and during takeoff where some electronic tools are not available (same during landing)
  • you have time during a layover, but be prepared to spend some time finding the correct gate
  • things change and flights get delayed, if you are prepared you can still use time wisely, even when delayed
  • you are not in control – understand that unless you are the President flying on Air Force One you don’t determine when a plane can or can’t fly.  Don’t get mad or upset over things you can’t control

Plan your work:

Just like any day in the office, the first step to being productive on a travel day is to plan out your work. Know what your priorities and goals are. Without planning your work, you won’t get as much value out of your trip as you could. Don’t go overboard, instead list three or four things that you hope to get done on the trip, and put them in order of importance.

Now, here are some things you can do that will keep you productive on a long day of flying:

1. Catch up on Emails - Catching up on your email and aiming for “inbox zero” can be a great use of traveling time.  Gary Vaynerchuk often mentions using his flights to respond to all of his emails.  Many email readers are full accessible offline, and now even online email browsers such as Gmail are now available to be used in offline mode.

photo by: dreemreeper

photo by: dreemreeper

2. Read - Another valuable and popular thing to do on a flight or in airports is to read.  I love taking a book that I can read quickly and easily while flying. On overseas flights I often set a goal of reading an entire book before the end of the flight.  In fact many times I have started a book after going through security at my departure airport and finished before landing.  It is very rewarding to complete a book, front to back, in that time frame. (My top 10 books are here). You can also read magazine articles.  I have found it useful to rip out the articles from a magazine that I want to read.  I then put them in a folder and take only the articles that I’m going to read with me, instead of the full magazine.

3. Meet people – It is amazing how connecting with a few people over the course of a day of travel can help you grow your network and possibly get you some referrals for your business.  You don’t have to spend all flight talking to someone to build a connection.  I look to visit with the person sitting next to me for a few minutes during takeoff – small talk – and a few minutes as we land and are taxing to the gate.  I use the landing time to see if there is a potential business relationship, or if they can give me any referrals.

4. Listen to podcasts – Traveling is a great time to listen to podcasts. I often put several of my favorite podcasts on my iPod for the day.  While you can certainly listen after takeoff, I usually listen to podcasts in the airport as I move between gates or wait for my flight to leave.

5. Exercise – People don’t often think about being able to exercise on a travel day, however there are opportunities to do so.  Obviously during the flight you are pretty restricted, but if you have any layovers then you have an exercise opportunity. The concourses of airports often are expansive and have a long way between gates.  These are a great place to go for a walk; instead of standing on the moving sidewalk take the time to walk.  Even if your gate is close you can go further and walk around the airport (perhaps listening to a podcast while you do it).

6. Write blog posts or articles – If you have a blog or some other communication outlet you may want to use the time to write a post or article.  You can brainstorm and outline on paper and then pull out your laptop to write the post.  I will often try to write an article on days where I am flying.

7. Think – Travel days provide a great opportunity to spend some time thinking.  You may want to dream about your goals or think through a problem you are working on.  You may want to brainstorm ideas for you business, or consider some of your next projects that are coming up.  Make sure you have a notebook and pen so you can write down thoughts as they come to you. You may also want to put your headphones on, even without any music so that people are less likely to interrupt you.

8. Relax - You may also chose to use the travel day as a time to relax.  You are away from interruptions of the workplace, away from family, out of cell phone range, and simply have time by yourself.  Feel the freedom to use some of this time to relax; watch an in-flight movie or do a crossword or Soduko.  Give yourself some time to relax and recharge as you prepare for what is next on your agenda.

If you have a long day of travel with a long flight or multiple flights, you can be productive.  Plan your activities and use your time well.  You can get more done than you may think and put yourself ahead of the game for the rest of the week. It is worth it.

Written by:

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache

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Posted on August 24th, 2009 by The Success Professor  |  3 Comments »

Review of Seth Godin’s “Tribes”

Tribes
Seth Godin is a powerful voice in the field of marketing.  The contribution Godin has made to the field over the past decade is substantial.  In particularly Godin has been a leader in thinking about the implications of the web and social media on marketing.  His previous books include Permission Marketing, Purple CowThe Dip and Meatball Sundae.  Each of these books brought to light an important concept for marketing or entrepreneurship.

In his most recent book “Tribes”, Godin adds to our understanding of the world today by explaining that the world needs tribes. He says,

“A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea….  A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.”

Naturally today’s increasingly flat world and the technology that makes it run allow tribes to form and function more easily than ever before.  What is missing, Godin argues, is leadership.

That is the crux of this book.  Unlike his previous books, the focus of Tribes is not marketing or entrepreneurship.  The focus is on leadership. The book would fit much better into the “leadership” category of the bookstore than the “marketing” category.  Of course both marketing and entrepreneurship involve leadership, and as such people with both types of interest would benefit.  However, because leadership is a broader target, the number of people who should read this book increases.

Within the umbrella of leadership Godin touches on topics such as:

  • why the fear of failure is overrated
  • a brief history of the factory
  • the connection and difference between faith, fear and religion
  • watching the music industry die
  • what is sheepwalking

Who should read this book?  Everyone who wants to make a difference in the world! People who want to make a difference in the world need to lead, and leading today is different than leading yesterday.  Yesterday was made up of local tribes, today while tribes may start local, but they all have the potential for global reach.

“Before the Internet, coordinating and leading a tribe was difficult.  It was difficult to get the word out, difficult to coordinate action, difficult to grow quickly.  Today, of course, instant communication makes things taut, not squishy.”

If you want to make a difference in the world, you need to become a leader – even if you don’t think you want to.  “Tribes” will encourage you, challenge you, and teach you how to make a difference and to lead a tribe.

“Tribes” is also about breaking out of the mold that we are put into, whether it is by our boss or our habits. It is about working against the grain:

“Heretics are the new leaders. The ones who challenge the status quo, who get out in front of their tribes, who create movements. The marketplace now rewards (and embraces) the heretics.  It’s clearly more fun to make the rules than to follow them, and for the first time, it’s also profitable, powerful and productive to do just that.”

As all of Godin’s books, “Tribes” is easy to read.  It is short and filled with section after section of advice.  The book is filled with examples of how tribes are formed and how they are making a difference around the world.  The book is encouraging because it is through and through a call to action: a call to lead a tribe.

I’ll leave you with some other quotes from “Tribes”:

“The market wants you to be remarkable. The most important tribes are bored with yesterday and demand tomorrow.”

“Life’s too short to fight the forces of change.  Life’s too short to hate what you do all day.  Life’s way to short to make mediocre stuff.  And almost everything that’s standard is now viewed as mediocre.”

“If the only side effect of the criticism is that you will feel bad about the criticism, then you have to compare that bad feeling with the benefits you’ll get from actually doing something worth doing.  Being remarkable is exciting, fun, profitable and great for your career.  Feeling bad wears off.”

“Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead.”

“Change isn’t made by asking permission.  Change is made by asking forgiveness, later.”

“Leadership almost always involves thinking and acting like the underdog.  That’s because leaders work to change things, and the people who are winning rarely do.”

Review Written by:  Danny Gamache – The Success Professor

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Posted on August 20th, 2009 by The Success Professor  |  4 Comments »

Mid-month Report – 31 Day Challenge & Participant Feature!

31 Day Challenge

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At the start of August, many readers of this blog joined me as we launched the Success Professor’s 31 Day Challenge. The basic premise of the challenge is that you can do a lot in 31 days by focusing in on one area of your life that you want to improve.  As we have moved past the mid-point of this challenge it is a great time to revisit the challenge, renew our focus, and to report on progress.

What are you working on?

Did you decide to make a change in this 31 day challenge? If so, what are you working on? Are you improving your website? Learning a new skill or ability? Or making specific steps to grow your business? The first step in a 31 day challenge is to know what you want to work on and be specific. If you have been working on something, use the comments of this post to report your progress.

You can start today!

If you didn’t join us on the 31 day challenge at the start of August, you can start today.  Each set of 31 days can be perfect for you to grow in some area. Read the original post to give you an understanding of the purpose, and then pick something you want to improve and start today.

This excellent e-book helps you build a better blog.

This excellent e-book helps you build a better blog.

Personal progress:

My 31 day challenge focused on improving this blog.  I have been using ProBlogger Darren Rowse’s ebook “31 Days to Build a Better Blog” as a guideline.

A sample of my accomplishments this month include:

  • regular posting schedule set and followed – this is the first time in several months that I have kept a regular posting schedule
  • two guest post written and submitted – one published and one accepted for future publication.
  • added “Stumble It” button to the bottom of each post
  • increased participation on Twitter

The difficult part for me has been keeping up with the daily schedule in Rowse’s ebook. The activities are great, but some times take more time than I have available.  Add into that a couple of business trips and I am a little behind.  I will continue to progress through the activities both for the rest of the 31 days of August and beyond as needed.  The ideas in the book are great.

Participant Profile – Kyle Durand – www.entrepreneurialadvocate.com

Question #1 – Tell us about yourself: Who are you? What do you do?

If you asked me this three years ago, I would have told you I was a career U.S. military officer and an attorney.  I joined the U.S. Navy when I was 17 and rose through the ranks by doing all the “right” things. I qualified as a nuclear power technician, I graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, I led troops in combat situations at sea and on land, I graduated near the top of my law school class, etc.

To the outside observer, I appeared to have a “successful” career, but inside, I felt unsatisfied and longing for more.  As I moved up the ranks, I moved increasingly further away from working with people in a personal capacity and more towards becoming a cog in a huge bureaucratic machine.

kp durandI also became increasingly dissatisfied with the lack of flexibility I was accorded to pursue my interests and enjoy life with my wife, Cynthia.  I started taking a close look at my interests and skill sets and was struck by how incongruent they were with my career at the time.  I truly enjoyed starting businesses and helping people start and run their businesses more effectively. I launched my first business when I was seven years old and had used my legal training again and again to help others do the same while in the military.

After my last deployment to Iraq, I made the decision to leave the military and follow my passion of assisting entrepreneurs in reaching their business dreams.

I now run Precept Law Group, a full service business and legal consulting firm in the Seattle area. We work closely with entrepreneurs to plan and launch their businesses and to educate new and seasoned business owners on the management and implications of business operations.

In my spare time, I explore the outdoor adventures available in the Northwest United States and travel around the country participating in long distance cycling events and triathlons.

Question #2 – What made you decide to join the Success Professor 31 day challenge? What is your goal for the challenge?

My goal for the challenge is to re-design, improve and grow my blog, The Entrepreneurial Advocate (www.entrepreneurialadvocate.com).  I enjoy blogging and connecting with other small business owners online (via twitter, facebook, etc), but the blog has fallen off my radar over the past few months.  I want to reinvigorate it with a new design, a new logo and new content.

Question #3 – How is it going? What benefits have you received?
The re-design is going great.  I hired a graphic artist to produce a new logo, and I created a new blog layout myself using the Thesis theme as a foundation.  There are still a number of elements that need work, but I’m happy with the progress.

As for the content, I purchased the ProBlogger workbook prior to August 1st and have been working to stay up with the tasks assigned for each day.  Content production has been the most difficult part of this 31 day challenge for me.

The ProBlogger workbook has been an outstanding resource for learning the nuts and bolts of creating content, promoting a blog and connecting with other bloggers. When this challenge is over, I will have to go back through the book several times in an effort to more fully absorb all of the information it contains.  But, I have learned a great deal about what it takes to build and operate a blog and have even more respect for those who put in the time and effort required to create a successful web presence.

Question #4 – What does success mean to you?

Success to me is living life to its fullest while contributing to society by doing work that really matters.  I have a personal mantra that I try to follow every day, “Seize Life’s Adventures.”

I truly believe that if you follow your passion and give more than you expect to get, success will necessarily find you.

After all, what more “success” can you obtain in life than feeling that you’ve made your best, most worthwhile contribution to the world, and that other people’s lives have been enhanced by your presence?

Thank you for creating the 31 day challenge and inspiring me to improve my blog!  It has been a great learning experience and a fun undertaking.  Now, to figure out what I’ll work on improving next month…

Thank you for your time and support, Kyle.

Written by:

Danny Gamache – The Success Professor

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Posted on August 18th, 2009 by The Success Professor  |  1 Comment »

Sunday Browsing: Crushing It, Staying Young, and Living Without the Clock

road swiss

Every second Sunday, I share wome of the best articles that I have come across in the past two weeks.  Here are some great articles for you:

1. John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing asks “How Does Gary Vaynerchuck Crush It?

2. Tim Brownson shares why “Social Networking is Good For You“.

3. Zen Habits discusses “How to Live Without the Clock“.

4. “10 Reasons Why Today Doesn’t Suck” at Getting Unstuck.

5. Finally, Ivan Campuzano shares great tips on “How to Stay Young“.

BONUS:

From the Archives:  “How to Create a Reading Plan”

Have a great week! Go reach your goals!

Danny Gamache – The Success Professor

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Posted on August 16th, 2009 by The Success Professor  |  No Comments »

7 Life Lessons Gained From Taking the GMAT

studyingEarlier this week I took the GMAT. The GMAT is an exam similar to the SAT or GRE. It is designed for students about to enter business school, often for MBA studies, or in my case PhD studies. Preparing for the GMAT has been a primary focus in my life over the past month and the completion of it is an exciting accomplishment for me. In reflecting on the experience there are many life lessons that can be learned from how to be successful on the GMAT. Each of these life lessons can be applied as you look for success in any area of life.

1. Set A Goal – I am convinced that all successful endeavors start with a goal. Your goal should be clear, specific, and dated. For me, the goal was to score over 700 on the GMAT. This would put me in a high ranking and make me competitive for most PhD programs. Do you have a clear goal set for what you are pursuing?

2. Revise Your Goal as Needed – As the exam date approached, it became obvious that I could exceed my goal. On some practice exams I was scoring over 700. I revised my goal to 730. I knew that this would open up even more doors. In the end I scored a 750, putting my effort in the 98th percentile. Should you raise a previous goal because it is too easy for you?

3. Have a Plan – Based on my goal I established a clear plan. My plan involved one month where I would take three hours each day studying. I would focus on my areas of weakness while still giving some attention to my strengths. Early on I would do a few practice exams, but by the last week I would be doing practice exams every other day. Do you have a plan in place to achieve your goals?

4. Have a Support Team – My achievement would not have been possible without a sport team. This started with the support my wife gave me. She was an encouragement at all times, often believing in me more than I believed in myself. Beyond that, I enlisted a group of friends who encouraged me and spent time praying for me on the exam day. Who is your support team? How can you encourage them to help you achieve your goals?

5. Have a Fixed Deadline – After I booked my exam date I knew there was no going back. I had “burned the ships.” I had talked about taking the test for a while, but until I booked a date and established the deadline I never got serious. As soon as the date was fixed I got to work. There was no more wasting time. It would cost $250 to change the date and I wasn’t willing to do that. My deadline was fixed and so I got to work. Do you have a fixed deadline for achieving your goals? If not, set one now, and provide an external source of accountability so you can’t change your deadline.

6. Use all the Resources at Your Disposal – In my preparation I used many study resources. I purchased a study guide that had a CD-Rom to accompany it. I download free software and practice exams, and I went to free discussion forums online. I took every practice exam that I could get my hands on. Do you use all of the resources around you to reach your goals?

7. Don’t Neglect Other Areas of Your Life – Sometimes singular pursuit of a goal can result in dropping the ball in other areas of your life. In preparing for the GMAT it was important that I didn’t neglect things like my health and fitness. I worked out consistently, making sure that I would be physically prepared for the four hour exam. Many times different areas of your life are more connected than you think. I also continually pursued my other life goals, making some major achievements during this same time. My weekly goal setting program helps to keep a handle on all of these areas of your life. Are there areas of your life that you are neglecting?

Written by:

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
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Posted on August 12th, 2009 by The Success Professor  |  No Comments »

How Clear is the Target?

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Imagine that you take the top archery expert in the world out to the archery range. This person has won Olympic gold medals and countless other competitions. You get out to the range and you take this expert to the firing line. You then pull out a blindfold and place it on the expert, spin the expert around several times, and have him take his shot. You don’t point him towards the target, or offer any guidance. How likely is he to hit the target, not to mention the bulls-eye? He is not very likely to hit anything, of course.

Now imagine that instead of blindfolding the archery expert, you take him out to the range on a very foggy day. It is impossible to see the targets in the distance. In fact you can only see a few feet forward. This time the expert is able to stand at the shooting line and aim in the direction that the targets are. He is not able to see exactly where they are, or how far away they are. How likely is he to hit the target? The bulls-eye? Certainly he is more likely to hit something than when he shot in a random direction, now at least he is aiming the right way. Of course, it is still very unlikely that he will hit the target or bulls-eye; at least not very often. He might get lucky once in a while, but that is all it would be – luck.

A third time you take this archery gold medalist to the range. This time there is fog, but not as thick. In the distance you can see the stand that the target is on. You can’t see the target exactly, but you know where it is. You certainly can’t see any of the circles on the target, or the bulls-eye. The archery expert steps up to the shooting line and fires. What would you expect this time? Likely the expert would find the target with most of his shots. He may even hit the bulls-eye once or twice, but for the most part he would just be somewhere on the target. Overall, he is getting closer.

A fourth and final time you take the archery champion to the shooting range. This time it is a clear sunny day. There is no fog, and there are no clouds. You did not bring a blindfold along or anything to impede the view of the archer. He takes his time setting up, moves to the line and fires. What would expect now? Naturally he hits the bulls-eye. He fires several arrows all of them hitting the bulls-eye or just off. He is the champion after all!

“You will me 100% of the shots you don’t take” – Wayne Gretzky

This story represents how people pursue and achieve goals. The first example of the blindfolded archer represents the person who has no goals. This person does not have any clear purpose or direction in life. They don’t know where the target is, or what they are really aiming for. Like the archer, they are unlikely to hit anything. They are unlikely to achieve what they really want in life. At some point in life they likely will remove their blindfold and realize that there was a target all along. They just didn’t know where it is. There was something they wanted to achieve in life, they just didn’t know it.

shoot2In the second situation the archer was in a deep fog. He knew the direction to the target but that is all. This is the person who has an idea about what they would like in life but have no clarity around the situation. They have not taken the time to think through what their goal or dream really looks like. Like the archer, this person may hit the target once in a while, but when they do it is simply because they got lucky.

The third story is a big step forward. In this case the archer was able to see the outline of the target stand, but target itself was still not clear because of the fog. This represents the person who has a goal, knows their goal, but has never written it down and clarified it. Their goal is only in their mind. As such, they may likely get close to their goal – getting on the target board many times – but they are unlikely to hit the bulls-eye, at least not very often.

The final story then represents the person who has crystal clear clarity about their goal. They know exactly what they want to achieve. Their goals are written, dated and specific. They have a plan in place for achieving it. This person will hit their goals most of the time. Sure, sometimes they will miss by a little, but even then they are at least close to what they were aiming for. They had a clear picture of their goals.

One final part of the story is the archery champion. What does it take to become a champion? To become someone who hits the bulls-eye most of the time? It takes hours and hours of practice, a support team and a motivation to be the best. The same is true for you. If you want to be a champion at reaching your goals, you need to practice. You need to surround yourself with a support team and have the persistence and motivation to keep going even when you face challenges. Then take the shot, and keep on shooting.

“The difference between a big shot and a little shot is that a big shot’s just a little shot that kept on shooting. “- Zig Ziglar

So how clear are your goals? Are you wearing a blindfold shooting aimlessly at a target you aren’t even sure is out there? Are you in a deep fog, only knowing the direction you want to go, but having no real clarity about what you want in life? Are you in a light fog, able to see the goal in your mind, but the clarity that comes from writing it down? Or are you out in the sunlight clearly looking at your target?

If you are anything other than the last person, today is the time to change that. Write down your goals, put a date on them, make them specific, and develop a plan for achieving them. Remove the blindfold, get rid of the fog, and stare down your goals in the bright sunlight that comes with perfect clarity.

Written by
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
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Posted on August 10th, 2009 by The Success Professor  |  2 Comments »