The power of clarity

[Teacher]

In a television interview, HL Hunt, a man who, by the time of his death in 1974, had grown from a bankrupt farmer in the 1930s to a multibillionaire, was asked what advice he could give to people who want to be financially successful. He replied that only two things are needed. First, you need to decide exactly what you want to achieve. Most people never do this in their entire life. Second, you must determine what price you have to pay to get what you want, and then decide to pay that price.

Clear goals are vital

Clear goals and objectives are vital to success in any endeavor, including such a demanding endeavor as building your own career. If you don't take the time to be clear about what you really want to achieve, you're doomed to waste your time and energy for life pursuing other people's goals. Without a clear and clear direction in your life, you will either wallow aimlessly in the routine, or build a career that you personally do not need. You can, of course, make some money and do some pretty interesting work. But the end result will not be what you want to consciously build. And, in the end, you will not leave the feeling that somewhere on the road of life you have turned the wrong way. Have you ever wondered, looking at what you are doing: "How did I get here?"

If goal setting is so important, why do so few people take the time to be clear about where they want to go? Part of the answer to this question is a lack of knowledge about how to set clear goals. You've been studying for years, but you don't get a hint of how to set goals correctly. There is also widespread reluctance to understand the immense importance of setting clear goals. But the one who really knows what he wants is often far superior to everyone else.

One of the most common obstacles to goal setting is the fear of making a mistake. Theodore Roosevelt once said: "When you make a decision, the best thing to do is to make the right decision, worse to make the wrong decision, but the worst option is not to make a decision at all." Setting any goal is much better than floundering aimlessly without even having a direction. I know that the surest path leading to failure is to avoid making clear decisions to which you are wholeheartedly committed. If you don't know where you are going, then every day you live is wasted. You probably spend most of your time pursuing other people's goals. This situation is more than satisfying for local fast food owners, TV advertisers, company owners whose products you are addicted to. If you yourself do not decide what you really want - you give control over your future at the mercy of the whims of other people. This is mistake. By deciding where to go and keeping control in your hands, you get a tremendous sense of control that most people have never experienced in their entire life.

Many people assume that if they have an idea of the direction of travel, then they automatically have goals. But this is not the case. In this case, the appearance of progress is created. "Making more money", "building a business" are not goals. The goal should be specific, clearly defined and measurable. The difference between direction and purpose can be illustrated by the following example. What is the difference between the northeast direction indicated by the compass needle and the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris? The first is just a direction, and the last is a specific location.

Objectives must be ambiguous

Another of the most important points in setting goals is their dual nature. Simply put, at any moment in time, whenever you are asked whether you have achieved your goal, you must give an unequivocal answer "yes" or "no", "maybe" is not an option. You will never say with absolute certainty whether you have fully achieved the goal of "making more money", but you will always unambiguously answer the question: are you now at the top of the Eiffel Tower. Here's an example of a clear business goal: Total income for April this year is $ 5,000 or more. You will be able to accurately calculate this and at the end of the month unambiguously answer the question whether you have managed to achieve your goal. It is this level of clarity that is required in order to formulate your goal in a way that

Detail the goal

When setting goals, detail them as much as possible. Use specific amounts and dates. Make sure that each of your goals is measurable, that you can confidently answer the question of whether you have achieved it or not at any given time. Formulate your goals as if you know how the circumstances should work out. As they say, the best way to predict the future is to create it.

Write down your goals

Goals need to be written down. They should be formulated in the present tense in the first person. An unwritten goal is just a fantasy. When setting goals, keep in mind what you want, not what you don't want. Your subconscious mind can only perceive a clearly stated goal, formulated in an affirmative form. If instead of focusing on what you want, you put your focus on what you don't want, then chances are you will get what you want to avoid. Formulate your goals as if they have already been achieved. Instead of "I will be making $ 30,000 this year," write "I am making $ 30,000 this year." If you formulate a goal in the future tense, then by doing so you form a message for your subconscious mind to forever leave its fulfillment in the future, which will never come. Formulating a goal, avoid faceless, expressionless words such as “maybe”, “maybe”, “it would be nice”, “try”, “try”. Such words raise doubts as to whether you can achieve anything at all. Finally, formulate goals that are specific to you. You cannot decide for other people. For example, replace the goal that says “software replication and marketing organization will launch my software by the end of the year” with “this year I am signing a contract with a well-known software company that brings me at least $ 50,000 by the end of the year. ". You cannot decide for other people. For example, replace the goal that says “software replication and marketing organization will launch my software by the end of the year” with “this year I am signing a contract with a well-known software company that brings me at least $ 50,000 by the end of the year. ". You cannot decide for other people. For example, replace the goal that says “software replication and marketing organization will launch my software by the end of the year” with “this year I am signing a contract with a well-known software company that brings me at least $ 50,000 by the end of the year. ".

Try to give abstract goals concrete shape

But what if you need to set a goal that cannot be measured, such as increasing the level of self-discipline? How can we make the statement of this goal binary? To solve this problem, I use a scale from 1 to 10. For example, if you want to improve the level of self-discipline, then ask yourself, at what level on the scale of self-discipline from 1 to 10 I am at the moment? Then set a goal to reach a specific milestone by a specific date. This will allow you to measure your progress and answer the question with a high degree of confidence whether you have achieved your goal or not.

Goal setting is a deliberate activity

Setting clear goals is not a passive process that goes on by itself. In order to set and clarify goals, it is necessary to make a conscious and focused effort. There are no trifles and something insignificant here. You move either towards achieving your goals, or in the opposite direction. There is no third. If you don't do anything or act without clarity, then you are most likely a victim of aimlessness syndrome. In other words, you are working diligently to achieve other people's goals without even knowing it. You successfully fill the pockets of your landlord, business owners, advertisers, etc. Every day without feeling clear about where you are going is a step back. After all, if you do not take care of the garden, then it will automatically overgrow with weeds. Weeds do not need watering or fertilization. They simply grow unless destroyed by the hand of a caring, attentive gardener. Likewise, in the absence of awareness and purposeful action, your life and work are filled with empty and unnecessary. And you don't have to do anything to let this happen. Therefore, the first thing, when you decide to take a serious look at where you are now and where you want to go, give up the unnecessary and empty.

Reading this article will not do you any good unless action is followed. Unfortunately, even the most outstanding reflections yield zero results. Indeed, in real life you will not be paid a dime for thoughts. You may be the owner of the most brilliant idea in the world, but in itself it is worthless. It is not the idea that you have that leads to results, but the actions you take to implement it. And in order to get some tangible benefit from an idea, you need to take specific steps to translate it into reality. Namely, to voice it, to give it a finished form and to ensure its execution.

Clarity is a choice

If you still continue to build your career without focus, just going with the flow, it is vital for you to take the time to accurately decide and write down what you want to achieve. How long are you going to climb the ladder of success, so that one day, when it's too late, you realize that it is assigned to the wrong building? Pick a specific short period of time in the future, be it in 6 months or in 5 years. Take paper and pencil and within a few hours, write an accurate description of where you want to be at that moment. I know many people who are unsure of where they want to be, so they avoid writing down their goals and plans in order to "not lose their freedom of choice." What do you think the consequences of such an attitude will lead? If you continually reserve the right to choose, without finally stopping at one option and without making unambiguous decisions, then you will never move up the career ladder, you will not start your own business, you will not get married, you will not start a family, you will not move to a new house, etc. And if this does happen, then only if someone makes the decision for you.

A friend of mine behaved in a similar way. His life depended on other people, and he did not even understand this. This was simply because, out of fear of making the wrong choice, he did not want to take the time to clarify his vision of his own life. His life was ruled by other people, imposing their goals on him. He took it for granted. Ask yourself: Are you behaving the same way? For example, you have a friend who, well, sooo wants you to simply “have nothing to do” change something in your life - your career, living conditions, etc. Will he be able to persuade you just because he thinks this is ideal for you? Or, your business partner might accept someone else's offer that radically changes your plans for the week without you even bothering to think. Is this proposal consistent with your goals? People suffer from these problems because they refuse to set their own clear goals. There is a huge difference between realizing an opportunity, using it, and following the wrong course without making a single conscious (conscious?) Attempt to correct it.

It is naive to expect inspiration from outside and hope that the perfect result will somehow miraculously overtake you. Making clear decisions doesn't happen by itself. You will have to devote time and energy to this process. If you don't have clear goals simply because you don't know what you want, sit down, think, and finally decide. Awareness of one's desires does not come in the form of divine revelation. Clarity is a conscious choice, not an accident or a gift from heaven. She herself will not come to you. You will have to move your legs on the way to her. If you do not set goals for yourself, then you are no different from a person who has decided to obediently serve the whims of other people.

Clear goals make it easier to make day-to-day decisions

Reality is not always exactly the same as our vision. But it's not that. The fact is that vision makes it possible to make informed decisions that allow you to move towards a goal. When a plane is on a charter flight from one point to another, it spends 90% of the flight time off course. But he flies in the right direction and constantly checks against the set course, correcting it. Goal setting works in a similar way. Keep a list of clear goals in front of your eyes, not because everything should ultimately happen exactly as you wrote, but because it gives tremendous clarity when deciding what needs to be done at the moment. Now, when someone appears in front of you like a bolt from the blue and offers you a "unique chance", you will be able to determine if this is really an opportunity. which is worth using, or you will simply waste time by getting involved in another adventure. A clear strategic vision enables more informed tactical decisions.

On the way to your goals, you will learn something new and adjust your plans. You can even completely change your views by walking part of the way and realizing that this is not really what you really want. It is much better to set a goal incorrectly and correctly than not to set it at all.

Once someone recommended to me to end the day by deleting it from the calendar and saying clearly at the same time: “Here is another day of my life. He will never be again. "Try this trick. You will immediately notice how your focus becomes clearer. When you end the day confident that you would have lived it the same way, even if you had the chance to change something, you gain a sense of gratitude that helps you focus on what really matters. If the day ends with a feeling of regret or loss, then you understand that tomorrow you need to take a different approach.

From the very first day, when you set clear and inspiring goals, you will find significant changes in your life, even if the first steps towards achieving them are not entirely successful. You will be able to make decisions much faster, understanding whether they contribute to the movement towards the goal, or, conversely, remove you from it. On the eve of Walt Disney's death, a reporter sneaked into his bedroom. Walt Disney shared with him his vision of what Disney World looks like, although there were still six years to go until completion. When Disney World opened, one of the journalists expressed regret that Walt himself could not see it. To which Walt Disney's brother, Roy, replied: "Walt saw Disney World first, so now we can see him too." Clear goals are the first part of Harold Hunt's formula for success.