READY–FIRE–AIM and written goals…

Low motivational levels, the feeling of a need to take action, compulsive financial decisions, and failed goals combine to create what experts call “Blue Mondays.”

These are days when individuals, teams, or organizations face the music for poor goal setting, lack of strategic planning, lack of preparation, and little - if any - attention to significant details.

Blue Mondays are the direct result of the “Ready, Fire, Aim” goal-setting process in which the competitive desire of an individual or organization to be first on the scene or first out of the box is often traded for proven, rock-solid, goal-setting and strategic planning techniques.

Blue Mondays, more often than not, are avoidable with a firm understanding of 10 fundamental core principles for individual, team, or organizational goal setting.

As I wrote in the previous blog, leaders “set the pace.” So, I want to invite you to explore rule number one of setting goals and realizing achievement.

First and foremost know this, if you want to achieve a goal, it must be written down.

During the last few decades countless research projects have been built around goals and achievement. One overriding common thread that points to success in virtually all of the research is that people who achieve goals have committed their desired outcomes to writing.

For me, this is true on both the personal and professional level. Why do I believe this to be true? Simple, once a goal is put into writing in the form of a commitment, then my integrity and personal accountability are on the line. In essence, I have something at stake to achieve that goal.

Monday Challenge...

Ask yourself the following questions:

What are my top three personal or life goals?

What are my top three professional goals?

What are the top three goals of the people or team I lead?

If they are not in writing, I invite you to commit them to paper.

Happy Monday!