I’ll bet you have heard most of your life that effective goal setting is essential for success.   Why then do so many of us fall short on this essential business and life skill?  The answer is complex and there are a variety of psychological reasons.

However rather than digging into the “why”, we will first quickly assess where you stand then use the following 10 tips for developing more powerful goals. Start by asking yourself these 3 questions:

1) Do I have clear, written and measurable goals for my business and personal growth?

2) Have I created specific action steps required to achieve each goal?

3) Do I regularly track and measure the progress of each of my goals?

If your answer is no the ten keys below will help you to become more effective with your goal setting efforts and achieve more measurable results in your business.

People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine. Brian Tracy

In my 2005 book Success Secrets of The Online Marketing Superstars I interviewed legendary author, Mark Victor Hansen about goals.  He is the co-author of the best selling series in history Chicken Soul For The Soul knows quite a lot about developing BIG goals.   Here are his tips about goal setting:

1) Your most important goals must be yours.

Not your spouse’s. Not your child’s. Not your employer’s. Yours. When you let other people determine your definition of success, you’re sabotaging your own future.

2)  Your goals must mean something to you.

When you write your goals, you must ask yourself, “What’s really important to me?” “What am I prepared to give up to make this happen?” Your reasons for charting a new course of action give you the drive and energy to get up every morning.

3) Your goals must be specific and measurable.

Vague generalizations and wishy-washy statements aren’t good enough.  Be very specific!

4) Your goals must be flexible.

A flexible plan keeps you from feeling suffocated and allows you to take advantage of genuine opportunities that walk in your future door.

5) Your goals must be challenging, exciting.

Force yourself to jump out of your comfort zone to acquire that energy and edge.

6) Your goals must be in alignment with your values.

Pay attention to your intuition, your gut. When you set a goal that contradicts your values, something inside will twinge. Pay attention.

7) Your goals must be well-balanced.

Make sure you include areas that allow time to relax, have fun and enjoy people in your closest circle.

8) Your goals must be realistic.

Be expansive but don’t be ridiculous. If you’re four feet tall, you will probably never play in the NBA. Also, be sure to allow yourself time to get there.

9) Your goals must include contribution.

Unfortunately, many people get so wrapped up in pursuing their goals that they don’t have time in their lives to give something back to society. Build this into your goals program.

10) Your goals need to be supported.

Either selectivity share a few of your dreams with a number of people, or share all of your dreams with a select few people. In either case, you’re creating a web of support and accountability for yourself.

Open your mind to all the possibilities. Start each goal with “I am” or “I will.” Don’t even think about restricting yourself!

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Your Coaching Action Step: Review the list above and write 5-7 specific 3 month goals (e.g. 10 new clients, 1000 new subscribers to my mailing list) then write the specific steps you will take to get there and track your progress every day!

by Mitch Meyerson

Many folks erroneously believe that being an exceptional “craftsman” (e.g. financial advisor, quilt maker, therapist, fund raiser, speaker, etc.) makes them qualified to operate a business that specializes in that work.

They spend most of their time performing “the work” of the business rather than leading, planning, organizing, systematizing and/or marketing their business!

Most of us know people like these: They must be at work everyday in order to conduct businesses. They do it all: pack boxes, write invoices, make sales calls, answer the phone, fix equipment, design their own web sites, write their own ad copy, troubleshoot problems, empty the trash, meet personally with every client, and so on.

They have no written procedures, documented processes or automated systems for doing anything. Rather, their valuable knowledge, innovative ideas and sound methodologies remain only in their heads.

You also won’t find them outsourcing work, forming beneficial strategic alliances, delegating tasks to employees or seeking wise counsel from other professionals. Why? Because many entrepreneurs believe they already know what they need to know – AND they don’t want to know what they don’t know! They are “unconsciously incompetent” and if they remain that way, their business will most certainly fail.

“If they don’t fail outright, most businesses fail to fully achieve their potential. That’s because the person who owns the business doesn’t truly know how to build a company that works without him or her… which is the key.”
Michael Gerber

So what happens? They try to go it alone. They get sick. They get sick and tired. They spend half a day at the Department of Motor Vehicles. They get stretched too thin. They feel rushed and overwhelmed. They worry that they can’t do it all. They worry that others won’t do “it” right. They know that they should let go, but can’t. They worry about what it might cost them to let go. They fail to fix serious flaws. They ignore their customers. They have a short term, “put-out-the-latest –fire” mentality. They miss golden opportunities. They feel like they need to get away. They take a much-needed vacation. Their businesses come to a screeching halt…

And when they return they discover that the work has piled up and they’ve lost money, frustrated customers and missed golden opportunities. What can be done about this?

Tips for fixing…

• Realize that being a good at “something” does not mean you’ll succeed at running a business that does that work.

• Objectively assess your business skills and knowledge.

• Play to your strengths, passions and skills. Do what you do best and let others help you.  Build a team of people – employees, consultants, strategic partners, and the like – who are more skilled that you in key areas.

• Seek, and offer, support from others outside of work… family, friends and colleagues. Take advantage of the vast resources available on the internet.

• Automate!  With all of the affordable technology available today – software, phone systems, web-based programs, etc. – there’s no excuse for going it alone.  It’s never been easier to communicate with prospects, troubleshoot problems, and stay in contact with customers and the like, even when you’re not there.

The preceding post was adapted from Mastering Online Marketing by Mitch Meyerson and Mary Eule Scarborough.  Get your copy here:  Mastering Online Marketing

by Craig Valentine, 1999 World Champion Of Public Speaking. He is the co creator of the World Class Speaking book and Certification Program. Get Your Free World Class Speakers Audio Toolkit

If you want to drastically improve your very next presentation, it is important to understand 4 of the pitfalls that keep most speakers in a ditch out of which they can never seem to climb. If you see where these traps are, you can easily avoid them. As a result, you will clear your pathway to a powerful and persuasive speech.

Here are the 4 costly mistakes:

They close their speech with the question and answer session

Never close your speech with the Q&A session, because people remember best what they hear first and what they hear last. If you end with the Q&A, you lose control over the last message your audience receives and much of your hard work is undone. It is still a good idea to have a Q&A session, but it is not a good idea to end your presentation with it. Instead, hold the session about 80-90% into your speech and then close the speech in your own powerful way.

They open their speech with a whimper

Most speakers open with statements like, “I’m so glad to be here. Thank you for inviting me to speak at this prestigious occasion. First I’d like to thank Bob…” What is wrong with that kind of opening? Frankly, it’s boring. It’s boring because it’s expected. Instead, come out in an unexpected way by jumping right into your message. Take the “sitcom” approach and start the show first and then transition to the opening theme song.

One good way to do this is to immediately dive into a story. That will catch your audience off guard and you will have their attention. Another effective way is to ask a question. For example, I start some speeches with the following question: “What do you think is the number one thing that stands in the way of most people living their dreams?” This immediately gets my audience’s attention and prompts them to think and to get involved with the speech. Questions work extremely well because they take your audience members from passive spectators to active participants and that definitely raises the energy. Once you finish your planned opening, it is then fine to go back and thank the people who brought you there.

They lip-synch

I once had a CFO of a biotech company say, “Craig, we need you to coach us with our presentation. We already have the presentation, but we just need to know what to say.” That might seem confusing but I knew exactly what he meant. He meant that the company already had a slide presentation but they needed to know what to say between those slides. Once I worked with them, they came to realize that they had to look at their major points first and then determine if slides were even needed to reinforce them.

Most presenters who use slides simply verbalize the same points that are made on the slide. The key to understand is this; if you say the same thing as your slides, then one of you is not needed! You are doing the equivalent of lip-synching your presentation. The best time to use slides is for real visuals such as charts, graphs, and diagrams that help clarify what you say verbally.

They don’t master the essence of public speaking

Bill Gove, the first President of the National Speakers Association, once said that public speaking is being able to “tell a story and make a point.” That indeed is the essence of public speaking. If you want to become the kind of speaker others line up and sign up to see, then make an effort to master storytelling. People make decisions with their emotions backed up by logic. Stories reach those emotions and get people in a frame of mind to take action. When you become a master storyteller, you help other people see new stories unfold for their own lives. Like the old saying goes, “Facts tell and stories sell.”

If you avoid the 4 pitfalls that trap most speakers and you work on the suggestions above, you will find yourself far ahead of most of the people who ever stood up to say anything.

Craig Valentine is starting a brand new Coach Certification Program for Speakers and Entrepreneurs September 21 For the Full Story–> World Class Speaking Coach Certification Progran

In this 3 minute video I will explain the guiding principles that allowed me to become the featured expert on the Oprah Winfrey Show and how you can use them to create bigger results in your life.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For more info on my books and programs visit:

www.MitchMeyerson.com