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I have never been able to understand why some people can only
see as far ahead as the end of the current day. Instead of
aiming for long-term goals, they just wallow in their everyday
problems. Sure, the job of running a business, selling, and
hanging on to your clients day-to-day can be a full-time job.
But a crucial part of that job - any job - is to look far ahead,
to anticipate change and new challenges, and be prepared for
them.
If you know what you are trying to accomplish over the long
haul, that often provides sufficient motivation for doing the
day-to-day "grunt" work to get you there. What difference does
it make on a daily basis what you have to do, if each day gets
you closer and closer to the end result? What difference does it
make if you are turned down or turned out by a close-minded
prospect? What sense is there in spending today pouting over
what happened yesterday or, even worse, what might happen
tomorrow? If your goals are clear, and you understand the path
to achieve them, then it's simple arithmetic: Do this plus that
to arrive at your goals.
But it's not always that easy to stay motivated over time.
Imagine bricklaying. It's easy to look at each brick as
identical to the last, and look at bricklaying as drudgery,
meanwhile forgetting that - together, one by one - those bricks
are building a great edifice. By establishing a goals program,
we help ourselves to look beyond the day-to-day "bricklaying,"
to see our progress in relation to the overall goal.
After all, even an eagle must build its nest one twig at a time.
Only then can its nest become its launching pad!
By keeping our goals in sight, and our daily grind in
perspective, we keep ourselves motivated through the dark days
when we feel like we're slipping backwards. And, by establishing
intermediate goals, or milestones, we provide ourselves with
opportunities to enjoy an occasional high, days when we can look
back and see that we are making significant progress, moments
when we can look ahead and see that we are on course. These
moments of celebration give us renewed enthusiasm for moving
through obstacles, and not around them. They answer the
question, "Why?"
Goals do not have to be glamorous or earthshaking. They do not
have to reach into the next decade. They just have to be ours -
small goals. Goals that take us through tomorrow into next week,
next month, and as far into the future as we dare to dream.
But, they must exist if we are to be motivated to achieve. We
can't borrow goals from our neighbors. We can't order them out
of a catalog. So where do we obtain goals? They are in our
minds, intimately woven into the fabric of our personalities.
You can do it - if you dare to dream, dare to plan, and dare to
build, brick by brick.
© Sandler Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
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