Have some Coccoa

Most people have heard of SMART Goals, in that Goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely. That all sounds great and has been rolled out in Personal Development seminars for years as if it was some magical cure all for success.

The truth is this. There is only one Letter that means anything other than a pipe dream, the absence of which makes all the other four letters redundant. It is significant that that letter is central to the acronym. You see you can be as Specific as you like and have the ability to Measure success. It could be Relevant to your situation and Timely because you need it … the key is of course IS YOUR GOAL ATTAINABLE? Because if it is not, you have wasted time and paper in planning your dream.

As I was walking on a Gold Course the other day I saw the photo attached of an enlarged golf green hole. I thought to myself, “That would increase the success of golfers, if the goal was more attainable.”

So how do you make your goal more attainable, how do you increase your changes of success? Let me give you another acronym to increase your ability to Attain your goals. Perhaps this may be a more valuable training than all the Smart ones you’ve learned about. Let’s sit you down and give you a cup of COCCOA. Every aspect of COCCOA is likely to increase the Attainability of your goals. You may not be able to increase in all areas but any that you do will make a difference. COCCOA is Cash, Options, Contacts, Credit, Opportunities and Advantages.

Cash.

They say that ‘Cash is King’. Most challenges in life can be solved with an influx of cash. Clearly some things cannot be bought, but cash is a universally accepted medium of exchange giving to access to services, goods and in some cases the interest and influence of people. Cash comes in the form of earnings, gifts and loans. The only limits to cash is that cash is limited and once spent, it is gone and unavailable further.

Options

The Law of Requisite Variety dictates that the person who has the most options available to them will inevitably win the conflict, negotiation or the deal. Options are avenues of opportunity that can lead to winning or escaping. Options cut down on your opponents’ ability to respond to your plans. Options give you new paths, should your desired plans become problematic or unavailable further. Keeping options open gives a sense of freedom from constrictions and increases the amount of successful possibilities.

Contacts

Most of the time it is ‘Not what you know, but who you know.’ Solid reliable and respected contacts are a person’s true gold in life. It is why businesses and authors seek validation from trusted sources in the form of testimonials. Contacts provide open doors to opportunities you lack yourself. Your influence, profile and standing in the community is enhanced by the glory reflected upon you by trusted persons that know, like and trust you. No amount of advertising or marketing is as precious as a well-formed referral. Not all contacts are good and should be vetted before you add them to your team. A bad contact or one that lacks integrity can do more harm than good. Contacts extend your reach and increase your influence.

Credit

Credit comes in two forms here but both underline a certain trust in you and your talent. A Credit score indicates a relationship that others have upon your reliability. A Credit Line is extended to you on the belief that you can deliver. Credit is given to someone as a part value to something bigger and of course Credit is given as an accolade of achievement emphasizing a person’s input or talent as part of a project. The more Credit available to you, the more overall value you have as perceived by others and that is the significant thing. If you give yourself credit no one cares and actually it works against you. True credit is afforded by others and amplifies trust. Such a powerful concept raises your social capital and gets you closer to success.

Opportunities

Opportunities are choices and we know that choices create more possible responses. Once the opportunities are stacked up a person can then match them to all of the other available parts of COCCOA. Each will have a different matrix of potential success as you fill in the gaps to attainment. In business some undertake a ‘Gap Analysis’ whereby the key elements to success are evaluated as being present or absent in the plan. If you know that which is missing the only question that remains is ‘can we fill the gap and how?’ Opportunities are omnipresent and most people are blind to them. Ever buy a new car and then ‘all of a sudden’ see them all around you, empowering your great decision to buy one? The truth is they were always there, only now you have calibrated your brain to recognize them. Such are opportunities and will reveal themselves when you are ready.

Advantages

An advantage is a feature or a benefit that is superior in contrast to something that can be reasonably compared to it. It makes sense then that any and all advantages are to be identified and communicated, as every advantage that is agreed by others makes whatever you are offering more desirable. Also advantages tend to inoculate against challenges or weaknesses in any plan or project.

Advantages give extra value to anything that are attached to them so it is obvious that the more that are present the closer the goal to be achieved is.

In conclusion, when you are planning any project, by all means briefly specify what it is, how you will identify its success and when and why it is important to you; a fairly quick exercise. You should then apply COCCOA in detail, which will determine if your project or plan needs further attention or emotional power. Once you have explored all parts of COCCOA you will see how much closer that goal is and just how ATTAINABLE it really is. If is not then you have not failed, you have simply made a choice not to proceed, your ego and emotions are intact. If COCCOA supports your plan it gives you massive confidence to push onwards and brings the inevitable success closer.