Your Goals Suck

Let me take a wild guess what your goals process looks like. It is very simple. You take your production from last year/month and multiply it by 1.20.

DONE.

That is not uncommon. I have done it too, more than I like to admit.

Now let me make another wild guess. You probably only hit that goal 10-30% of the time. If you were a Major League player they would have sent you back to the minors months ago.

So why do we keep setting goals we don’t really expect to hit? The answer is simple. WE ARE NOT DRIVEN BY NUMBERS!!!

Think about it like this, how many customer jumped for joy when you told them the statistics about your product? How many were excited about the charts and data tables? Probably not too many.

Now what about the times you appealed to your client’s emotions? What creates more action on the part of your customers, the heart wrenching story or the appendixes of the Consumer Report Study? Were they excited when you told them the 0-60 speed or when you had them put their foot on the gas pedals themselves?

The question is why do you think we are any different? Why do we want to believe, despite all the evidence, that we are the only rational people in the world. We aren’t.

So how do you hit your goals? You need to put REALLY CONSEQUENCES BEHIND THEM. Set up a tier system for yourself.

100% of Goal: Island Vacation

95% of Goal: Lake Vacation

90% of Goal: Day trip to a free museum.

85% of Goal: You get to stay home for a day and put new mulch down.

Put something like this in place and STICK TO IT. No excuses. No “But if they didn’t cancel” excuses. Hard lines, set up ahead of time.

That is how you drive yourself to hit your goals.