"Success is goals, and all else is commentary."
A goal automatically engages every mental law (attraction, correspondence, belief, expectation, concentration, substitution). The 1953 Yale study: only 3% of seniors had written goals with plans; 20 years later that 3% was worth more than the other 97% combined. "Those who do not have goals are condemned forever to work for those who do."
H.L. Hunt's two-part formula: (1) decide exactly what you want; (2) determine the price you'll have to pay — then resolve to pay it.
Why people don't set goals (in increasing importance)
- They don't realize their importance.
- They don't know how — "12 to 15 years of school and never one hour on goal setting."
- Fear of rejection — childhood ridicule taught us to hide dreams. Remedy: keep goals confidential; share only with people who have goals of their own or whose help you need.
- Fear of failure — the #1 reason for underachievement. Antidote: failure is indispensable to success. Edison failed 11,000+ times on the light bulb filament ("I've just successfully discovered 5,000 ways that will not work"); Watson (IBM): "Double your failure rate"; Colonel Sanders pitched 1,000+ restaurants at 66.
The five keys
- Change — scary unless goal-directed; goals let you control the direction of change.
- Area of Excellence — everyone has genius somewhere; find it via three indicators: attention, interest, absorption.
- Acres of Diamonds — your opportunity lies under your own feet, in your existing talents and contacts. But "diamonds don't look like diamonds — opportunities always come disguised as hard work."
- Balance — 3–5 goals in each of three areas: personal/family (the why), business/career (the what), self-improvement (the means). Never sacrifice the why for the what.
- Major Definite Purpose — one goal bigger than all the others: measurable, specific, tangible, under your own control. Short-term ~90 days; long-term 2–3 years broken into 90-day periods.
Exercise — the seven questions (30–60 seconds each, retake monthly)
- What are your five basic values, ranked by priority?
- Your three most important goals right now (first three that pop out)?
- How would you spend your time with only 6 months to live?
- What would you do differently with $1 million? (If you'd quit your job, you're in the wrong job.)
- What have you always wanted to do but been afraid to attempt? (Reveals your limiting belief.)
- What activities give you your greatest feeling of importance? (Points to your area of excellence.)
- What one great thing would you dare to dream if you knew you could not fail? (The key to your major definite purpose.)