Change Your Career With One Word

As Brian Tracy famously said,

“The simple act of writing down a goal and making a plan for its accomplishment moves you in the top 3%.”

These two actions will determine whether you want something or you are just wishing.

Several years ago I read an email from Dr. Benjamin Hardy with his recommended monthly journal prompts. This monthly practice has helped me focus on what’s important, where I am currently, and where I want to be. It’s nothing fancy, simply five prompts that put me in a proper frame of mind, motivated and focused.

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1. Describe my life in 5 to 10 bullet points
2. List of wins for the past month
3. List of goals for this month – circle top 3
4. List of goals for the next 12 months – circle top 3
5. List of goals for next 3 years – circle top 3

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Two of my recommended daily habits for career success are also embedded here:

1.??????? write three wins at the end of each day

2.??????? review your 30-day goals.

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Get started by reviewing your wins on a daily basis, then look at your wins over the past month. Keep going for an eye-opening boost – look at the past six months, one year, two years, even five years. When you see how much your life has changed and how much you have created in the positive column, you will be amazed. Also another reason to keep a journal, to review the past and mine for lessons.

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Writing wins is related to but different than journaling gratitude. Wins keep you in a positive frame of mind, not focusing on what you haven’t done. Sometimes wins are big, like closing a new real estate deal, and sometimes waking up is a win.? Whatever makes you feel like you’re in the positive column counts as a win.

Gratitude is also important and both are excellent daily practices.

When I’m making my plan, I’m looking at the next 30 days, as well as quarter-by-quarter. At the beginning of each quarter I also create big goals, impossible goals that will transform my future.

Welcome to the second quarter of 2024! I just created my April journal entries based on March 2024, and will spend some time diving deeper into my Q1 results.

What’s the one word that can change your career?

The word is unless.

When I say impossible goals, I mean a goal or goals that feel like they are impossible for you, not something that is literally impossible. For example, it’s literally impossible for you to flap your arms and fly across the city. But a goal that feels impossible for you is something that someone else has likely accomplished, yet based on your current situation (experience, skills, finances, relationships, etc.) feels impossible.

This is when you use the magic word. Unless.

This word helps you create a plan, action steps, next steps, how and where to focus, and just as important, where not to focus.

Let’s look at an example.

My impossible goal is getting promoted into a brand-new position I created based on my best skills and performance for my clients and company. I looked at the past few years and where I’ve done my best work and received the most accolades from my clients and management. This is also the work I enjoy most.

Add the magic word: unless

My goal of getting promoted to this new position is impossible unless:

• I create a formal job description
• I create a document with examples of my best work, client and management kudos
• My document includes the benefits of the new position and why I am the best fit
• I research other companies to see other versions of this position
• I research the compensation so I am prepared
• I create a plan for work that I will no longer be doing
• How can it be trained?
• How much can be eliminated or outsourced?
• Who could take over this work?
• Can this work be delegated and trained now?
• I create the timeline transforming my current position in alignment with my promotion
• I begin focusing primarily on this new job description first, and determine what else needs to happen to be successful (still doing 100% of job)
• I review my resume and other job description sources to see if additional training will benefit me

You get the idea. Even the act of writing this is exciting! I was getting really inspired at the thought of this particular process. I hope you are also.

Focus on What’s Important

“The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.”?Michelangelo

?The beauty is that by really raising the bar to something that feels impossible to you, your goals are automatically bigger. More transformational. Then you create your own plan by adding the word unless.

?Another benefit is when you focus solely on this impossible goal, it’s much easier to let other things go. Anything that isn’t getting you to this goal can be eliminated, including entertainment options, social media scrolling, late nights or other habits that aren’t supporting you.

Change Your Life

This practice is effective for any part of your life. From health and financial goals to vacation and bucket-list goals, you can start with your “impossible” statement and add the word unless.

Some of my recent impossible goals I’ve created and accomplished were:

1. ?Spending a week by myself in London
2. Hiking 50 miles in December 2023
3. Creating two ongoing non-work days during the week to relax and refuel

?Life isn’t simply about the accomplishments. The times we spend with family, friends, all the joyful moments are the memories we cherish. Too often though, we let time slip through our fingers and these moments are too few.

When you figure out how you want your life to look, use this process to map out how you can get there.

The life I want is impossible, unless:

The rest is up to you.

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