Gooooooaaaaaaaallllllllllll!

Thanks B. Mays and Google for this image

There's a popular study on goal-setting you may have read/seen/heard about and it's got me thinking. Here's an excerpt from the book "What They Don't Teach You in the Harvard Business School" by Mark McCormack:

'In 1979 a study was conducted with students in the Harvard MBA program.

 In that year, the students were asked,  

"Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?" 

 Only three percent of the graduates had written goals and plans; 13 percent had goals, but they were not in writing; and a whopping 84 percent had no specific goals at all. 

Ten years later, the members of the class were interviewed again, and the findings, while somewhat predictable, were nonetheless astonishing. The 13 percent of the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 percent who had no goals at all. And what about the three percent who had clear, written goals? They were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97 percent put together.  In spite of such proof of success, most people don't have clear, measurable, time-bounded goals that they work toward. '

 The big take-away here, of course is that it's not only important to HAVE goals, but to articulate them and to put them in writing. As a big believer of goal-setting, I find this is absolutely the case.

I have lots and lots (and lots) of goals but I know which ones are most important to me because they are the ones I THINK about and the ones I WRITE down. 

Putting pen to paper and SEEING my goals in written form make them more real. They make them not just an idea or a hope, but a DECLARATION.  

I believe that goals worth writing should be equal parts INSPIRING & SCARY.

If I articulate a goal in writing and it doesn't give me pause and cause a flip-flop in my stomach, I know it's not BIG enough. My goals scare me. They are BIG. They are daunting. I know that I have NOT written them down before for one reason and one reason alone: Fear of Failure.

Failing hurts. It's disappointing, discouraging and even painful. "But what is better?" I ask myself, "the risk or the reward?" 

Because just as much as failure HURTS, success - reaching that goal - feels 10x BETTER than the failure feeling does. So is it worth it? Hell to the yes. 

It's been said that success if getting up just one more time after you've fallen. It's called "failing forward" and I do this all.the.time. - in my family life, in my business, in my triathlon training. 

Check out this video via you tube that illustrates this point. What if these people hadn't gotten up one more time? Talk about failing forward....geesh! Click here to watch!

My people. Thanks, Google.

I am so inspired by these people and those who try new things, start new ventures and raise their hands to be first.  I LOVE "GO BIG OR GO HOME" people. It's not easy to be that person taking the risk or to be that person failing, especially with an audience. But while the others are sitting on the sidelines watching or even heckling, know deep down that their heckling comes from a place of fear and insecurity. 

Naysayers don't have the courage to 

"go for it" and their commentary just may be coming from a quiet hope that you won't "go for it" either. That way, they will feel validated in the belief that failure hurts and isn't worth the effort.  

But I am not that person and I hope, dear friends, you aren't either.

Got a goal? write it down. share it. ASK FOR SUPPORT. work for it. 

Know I will be rooting for you the whole way...especially if you are "going big or going home".

 Shout out:

1. What are your current goals? (Do you dare to share?)
   
2. Have you "failed forward" recently?
3. What inspires your goals?

High five,

Steph

PS - Here are some of my favorite pics from my personal goal-achieving victories

My first big goal: 1998 Chicago Marahon. My Dad jumped in and ran me 6 miles.

 

My son greeting me at the finish line of the DC Int'l Dist. Tri -  My goal in 2011

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My R+F business pals celebrating our reward trip to Napa Valley. We all worked hard for this goal!