I recently was in the grocery store.  Looking for my favorite coffee.  When I found the isle I was presented with a wall of choices.  38 different varieties of coffee were on the racks with another set of choices as to the volume of coffee.  In a simple walk through the rest of the store, I began to realize that consumers are presented with a Tsunami of choices in all categories.

We all become overwhelmed with these choices and often then gravitate to the best known brand or make some other criteria that will provide the consumer with a method to make their purchase.  The lack of true analysis based on the choices translates into consumers sometimes buying the product that is not the highest quality or the best product, but the product that they know best.

This lesson of choice is important to each of us individually or as a corporation.  When given a choice, why would a consumer seek to choose you?  What makes you remarkable?  Are you packaged differently so that you and your product stand out?  What features of your product is extraordinary?  In service industries, it is close to impossible to change our products.  But our presentation of our products can provide the differentiation that will allow for us to stand out.  Design or experience or features, they all are ways to different products.   Apple computers uses a design and simplicity as the hallmark of their product.  They have the most elegant designs and the simplicity of their user interface is years ahead of the competition’s.   Bank of New York has long emphasized the ‘history’ and ‘experience’ of the bank and its bankers as their distinguishing marks.  They don’t sell checking or saving accounts, they sell the value of their advise in the financial arena.  It is what sets them apart.  Trader Joe’s, a grocery store, long ago determined that they could provide high quality private label products to their consumers.  They choose to eliminate the big national brands in lieu of their own labeled products.  Many grocery stores do this also, but Trader Joe’s did it with panache, a unique sales experience, and the quality of their products made them highly successful.

Commidization of products and services can negatively impact many industries and products.  If they fail to make their products and services extraordinary, they will die.   What can you do to set yourself apart in this tsunami of choices?

We are all looking for more time. We all claim that there is insufficient time in our days to accomplish anything, let alone something we actually want to accomplish. My solution to this is the biblical concept of tithing. Take 10 percent of anything you are currently doing and dedicate it towards your real goals, and aspirations.

If you are watching 3 hours of television a day, then take 30 minutes for yourself and your dreams. You still get 2 1/2 hours of television but you also get 30 minutes closer to achieving your dreams. That 30 minutes a day, over the course of a year is equal to 5.21 weeks of work. What could you accomplish if you had over 5 weeks of work to concentrate on a project? What could you achieve with that amount of time dedicated to your dreams.

Google allow for their people to work 1/2 of a day per week on projects that are interesting to them. Many of their ‘new’ products are directly related to that freedom of ideas, expression and the necessary time to develop those ideas.

Tithing of time, allow for you to accomplish so much with nominal loss of those habits we have created over a life time. So, what excuse do you have about not having sufficient time to work on your goals?

Napoleon Hill “A goal is a dream with a deadline.”

Zig Ziglar “Goals are dreams we convert to plans and take action to fulfill.”

Unknown author “Goals that are not written down are just wishes.”

Jim Rohn “Goals. There’s no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There’s no telling what you can do when you believe in them. There’s no telling what will happen when you act upon them.”

Mark Victor Hansen “Big goals get big results. No goals get no results or somebody else’s results.”

Seneca “If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.”

Norman Vincent Peale “All successful people have a goal. No one can get anywhere unless he knows where he wants to go and what he wants to be or do.”

Author unknown “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”

Milton Berle “I’d rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are; because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star. I’d rather be a has-been than a might-have-been, by far; for a might have-been has never been, but a has-been was once an are.”

One of the most important aspects to the process of goal settings is to first establish and define your goal. The truth of this evident in a statement made by Lee Iacocca: “The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.” For one reason or another, when we write something down it seems to be more permanent. It is rarely forgotten and we are constantly reminded of it.

To help illustrate this, think about why we write down a grocery list every week. We do this so nothing is forgotten or skipped over. We make this list so every necessary item and component is purchased. If you have ever gone grocery shopping without a list, you know how confusing of an experience it can be. You seem to be all over the store, only to get home and realize things you had forgotten to buy.

It is quite one thing to say you want to accomplish something, but without a clear and defined plan; few goal settings are rarely accomplished. It is too easy to get sidetracked without a plan to keep you on the path to your goal.

The first step in your goal settings plan to set a goal is to write the plan! Commit the goal and yourself to paper and you are more invested in the process and therefore much more likely to succeed.

If you’re like most, you have probably made a few resolutions for the upcoming year. And if you’re like most, you’re probably wondering what went wrong with all those wonderful intentions. You may be asking yourself, ‘Why can’t I stick to a diet,’ or ‘I just don’t understand it; I promised myself that I’d go to the gym,’ or “Why am I so weak.” It seems like such a puzzle to try to figure out why all of this different resolutions seemed to fail. Unfortunately, despite our best intentions, the ability to change our habits is only as good as your motivation to start to change yourself.

The main reason for failing to fulfill these objectives is an inability to realize the full benefit of a goal. When trying to get off the couch to go for a run, you may find it difficult and start to rationalize with yourself that, “loosing an extra 10 pounds won’t be that big of a difference,” or say ‘I am fine with my appearance just the way I am.’

Due to our inability to realize the full potential of our goal, we ultimately give up and fail. The same is true for goals in our professional life. Because we fail to realize the full potential of a goal in our professional life, we simple let opportunities fall by the way side.

However, with the help of Bryant Nielson and ‘Lengthen your Stride’ you will be able to better realize your long-term personal and professional goals by realizing your full potential. After realizing the full potential of all your goals, you will be increasingly motivated and extremely more likely to complete your goals and become more of a success in both personal and professional avenues of your life.

Every single interaction is an opportunity to do marketing, not a chance to cut costs.

There are three (3) things that are always included in the successful conclusion to a successful goal cycle. They are: commitment, completion and closure.

Commitment. Unless the person making the goal is committed to working on and towards a particular goal, it is at best nothing more than a wish. Commitment is the spark that ignites the fire that moves a person.

Completion. What is the use of working a on goal and stop when you are just feet from the finish line. Working towards 80-90 or even 95% of the objective is nothing more than falling short. We need to focus on completing the goal! 100% is only what can be acceptable.

Closure. When you first establish a goal, you set your destination. Our commitment to working on the goal is our vehicle that will take us towards that horizon. Completion is insuring that our vehicle has sufficient gas to reach our destination. Closure is our reviewing our goal and enjoying the achievement that we have done.

By employing the 3 C’s in every goal situation, we insure that our overall plan and actions are successful and our long-term direction is still where we are seeking.

I am not the originator of this list, but found it instructive as to the success and failure of companies and success.

1. A lost customer means lost feedback and the opportunity to improve.

2. A lost customer means lost sales and revenue that is lost forever!

3. A lost customer causes asking, “Why didn’t we recognize the problem before losing them?”

4. A lost customer means having lost a testimonial to use in selling to others.

5. A lost customer opens us up to potentially negative word-of-mouth that might affect our reputation with prospects, customers, suppliers and staff.

6. A lost customer means having lost all their possible future referrals.

7. A lost customer has a negative impact on the confidence of our entire staff.

8. A lost customer increases the urgency to prospect for new customers (and often at the worst time).

9. A lost customer and the resulting reduced revenue can slow or even halt plans to grow.

10. A lost customer means less money available for payroll, commissions and benefits for the work force.

11. A lost customer can demoralize the sales and marketing staff.

12. A lost customer may become an unexpected opportunity for the competition.

13. A lost customer means a distraction from other important issues.

14. A reputation for losing customers can hang a black cloud over the ability to find and hire the right personnel.

15. A lost customer can be the beginning of a reputation for losing customers that hangs like a black cloud over the ability to find and hire the right personnel.

16. A lost customer can degrade an image and reputation in the marketplace.

17. A lost customer forces undertaking tasks and changes that weren’t wanted or planned.

18. A lost customer can have a damaging impact on our sales projections, cash flow, receivables, and payables.

19. A lost customer can cut volume and prohibit meeting buying commitments with suppliers and vendors.

20. A lost customer can trigger the need to spend un-budgeted funds on marketing, research, new customer acquisition, etc.

21. A lost customer can disrupt inventory levels, inventory investments, ordering procedures and reorder frequency.

22. A lost customer may cause the need to refocus priorities and go in a totally different direction.

23. A lost customer can cause the need to focus attention on poor performance rather than growth opportunities.

24. A lost customer can cause doubt about the validity of service fulfillment and pricing strategies.

25. A lost customer causes hard work in an attempt to regain the business.

26. A lost customer can cause overreacting and even panic when confronted with similar situations with existing customers in the future.

27. A lost customer can discourage a prospective salesperson from ever trying the job.

28. A lost customer can lead to an accounting, collection or legal nightmare.

29. A lost customer can devalue the worth and saleability of a business.

I did not create this list, I don’t know its origin, but I find the value in the message, and I hope you do to.

Your bags are packed and you’re ready to go, your first overseas trip. From the Midwest town of Chicago to the rolling hills of Rome Italy, you’re going to see it all. You throw your bags into a cab and your off to the airport.

A little while into the trip you you encounter some huge public works program that had blocked all of the traditional routes to the airport. You ask the driver to check the map because you’ve reached an intersection you’re not familiar with. You panic for a moment because you realize he does not have a map.

But you say the heck with it because you know where you’re going. You take a right, change the radio station and keep on going. Unfortunately, you never reach the airport prior to your plane leaving!

Too many of us treat goal setting the same way. We dream about where we want to go, but we don’t have a map to get there. Or fail to plan for obstacles that we may encounter along the way.

What is a map? In essence, the written word.

What is the difference between a dream and a goal? Once again, the written word.

Goal setting however is more than simply scribbling down some ideas on a piece of paper. Our goals need to be complete and focused, much like a road map, and that is the purpose behind the rest of this article.

If you follow the 7 goal setting steps I’ve outlined in this article you will be well on your way to becoming an expert in building the road maps to your goals.

1. Make sure the goal you are working for is something you really want, not just something that sounds good.

When setting goals it is very important to remember that your goals must be consistent with your values. My 15 year old son has a goal to be a Ninga. He is unsure how that will help him in life, but he LOVES the sound of it.

2. A goal can not contradict any of your other goals.

Non-integrated thinking can also hamper your everyday thoughts as well. We should continually strive to eliminate contradictory ideas from our thinking.

3. Develop goals for balance in life:

Setting goals in all areas of life will ensure a more balanced life as you begin to examine and change the fundamentals of everyday living. Setting goals in each area of life also helps in eliminating the non-integrated thinking.

4. Write your goal in the positive instead of the negative.

Work for what you want, not for what you want to leave behind. Part of the reason why we write down and examine our goals is to create a set of instructions for our subconscious mind to carry out. Your subconscious mind is a very efficient tool, it can not determine right from wrong and it does not judge. It’s only function is to carry out its instructions. The more positive instructions you give it, the more positive results you will get.

Thinking positively in everyday life will also help in your growth as a human being. Don’t limit it to goal setting.

5. Write your goal out in complete detail.

Instead of writing something generically like: “A new home,” try to be more specific, something that you can visualize, such as: “A 4,000 square foot contemporary with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths and a view of the ocean.

Once again we are giving the subconscious mind a detailed set of instructions to work on. The more information you give it, the more clear the final outcome becomes. The more precise the outcome, the more efficient the subconscious mind can become.

Can you close your eyes and visualize the home I described above? Walk around the house. Stand on the porch off the master bedroom and see the fog lifting off the ocean. Look down at the garden full of flowers and other flora. And off to the right is the other garden full of a mums, carnations and roses. Can you see it? So can your subconscious mind.

6. By all means, make sure your goal is high enough.

Shoot for the moon, if you miss you’ll still be in the stars. Shoot for the moon!

7. Most importantly, write down your goals.

Writing down your goals creates the road-map to your success. Although just the act of writing them down can set the process in motion, it is also extremely important to review your goals frequently. Remember, the more focused you are on your goals the more likely you are to accomplish them.

Sometimes we realize we have to revise a goal as circumstances and other goals change, such as falling in love and starting a family. If you need to change a goal do not consider it a failure, consider it a victory as you had the insight to realize something was different.

So your goals are written down. Now what?

First of all, unless someone is critical to helping you achieve your goal(s), do not freely share your goals with others. The negative attitude from friends, family and neighbors can drag you down quickly. It’s very important that your self-talk (the thoughts in your head) are positive.

Reviewing your goals daily is a crucial part of your success and must become part of your routine. Each morning when you wake up read your list of goals that are written in the positive. Visualize the completed goal, see the new home, smell the leather seats in your new car, feel the cold hard cash in your hands. Then each night, right before you go to bed, repeat the process. This process will start both your subconscious and conscious mind on working towards the goal. This will also begin to replace any of the negative self-talk you may have and replace it with positive self-talk.

Every time you make a decision during the day, ask yourself this question, “Does it take me closer to, or further from my goal.” If the answer is “closer to,” then you’ve made the right decision. If the answer is “further from,” well, you know what to do.

If you follow this process everyday you will be on your way to achieving unlimited success in every aspect of your life.

The difference between a goal
and a dream is the written word.
-Gene Donohue

Too often we find that we blame others for issues that impact us and our lives. We suggest that our life is the result of what others have done or are doing and we eliminate our responsibility towards those events. My suggestion to any possible resolution is to take 100% responsibility.

Take responsibility for what you are contributing.

Take responsibility for what you are acting upon.

Take responsibility for what direction events are taking you.

This reminds me of a merry-go-round. As a child, the charm of the merry-go-round was that it did not go far, you could see your parents every 15 seconds or so and that there was reassurance in their support as you went round and round. The problem with the ride is that it did not do much else. Too often, we find our life, both personally and professionally, not much different than that merry-go-round. We just continue going in circles and are afraid to get off the ride.

Taking responsibility for everything is our first step towards getting off this ride. So, what are you doing to get off the ride? Are you happy with your life? Your marriage? Your family? Your spirituality? Your health? How about your professional life?

You cannot expect any other outcome without changing your ride!