Small Idea #2: Goooaalllll!

"Goals are good to have because you learn that you have to go get it - goals won't come to you."

These are not the words of some great inspirational speaker. These are the words of my 12-year old daughter in an essay she wrote in school this year (she gets her smarts from my wife, thank goodness!) That essay has been posted on my refrigerator since September, and I think it will stay there a while.

We all have goal, but do we take the time to write them down? Writing them down and putting them in a place where you see them all the time (perhaps the screensaver on your phone?) is critical to making progress on those goals.

I was fortunate to see Tom Mendoza, the Vice Chairman of NetApp, speak a few years ago. He told the story of the goal-setting process he goes through, which is outlined in the following article. Take a few minutes to read it (after you finish this)!

At a high level, Tom creates two sets of goals every 90 days:

• 3 Personal Goals that he doesn't share with anyone
• 3 Professional Goals that he does share with others

His keys to achieving goals are simple:

• Write them down
• Set specific outcomes
• Make them time-bound (90 days)

Actionable Idea: As you head into the weekend and wrap up the first month of the new year, it's a great time to develop a methodology of setting goals and pushing yourself to achieve your goals. Simple stuff, just find the time to do it.

Remember my daughter's essay? She laid out 3 goals for the year. Her third goal was "Be the best person I can be."

That's a pretty good goal for all of us.

Photo by Angie Torres, license: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0