Category: Success Attitude

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

Have you been looking for ways to achieve newfound clarity and freedom in your business – and your life? If you have, one of the most important first steps you can take is to organize your goals.

As Forbes.com contributor Samantha Smith asserts, “Setting goals isn’t something you should do because it’s a new year. Goals should be continuously created as you think of them and revised quarterly if not after changes and other impactful moments.”

Let’s talk about why you need to organize your goals and what you can do to get started today.

Why Organize Your Goals?

If you’ve ever been in a disorganized, cluttered space, you might have found it a challenge to concentrate. Just as it’s tough to focus in disarray, the same can be said about your goals – if they lack organization and clarity, it can be near impossible to actually achieve them.

For instance, if your goal is to “eliminate stress and feel free again”, what does that really mean? It might translate into “I want to cut back on the number of hours I spend in the office so I can free up my time to be with my family more.” For you, it might mean something different, and that’s why it’s so important to be as specific as you can.

Once you figure out what it is that you want to achieve, it’s time to get your goals in order. For instance, is your goal a personal goal? Is it related to your career or business?

Don’t stop there – once you identify what area of your life your goal falls into, narrow down the category even more. Is it a goal related to your personal relationships…a financial goal you want to make happen in your business…a goal that is designed to increase your personal development?

Goal-Setting Mistakes to Watch Out For

In a Forbes.com article, author Ron Ashkenas talks about what he calls the “seven deadly sins of goal-setting” that leaders sometimes make. In truth, we all make these mistakes, so here are a few to watch out for:

1. The goal is unclear or distant. It’s hard to take a goal seriously – and even harder to actually work on achieving it – when we don’t define a time frame for completing it with measurable steps along the way to mark our progress. If you have a long-term goal that you want to complete within the next few years, you must organize the small steps along the way to give yourself the best chance at success.
2. There are too many goals to focus on. We all do this sometimes, especially at the beginning of the year when say we want to lose weight, run in a marathon, make more money, get more free time…you know how it goes. When we fill our plate with an overabundance of disorganized goals, the initial zest and motivation we feel to achieve them can quickly lead to frustration and overwhelm.
3. The goal isn’t authentic. Or, as Ashkenas says, “…the goal is just an exercise to convey the appearance of progress, but there’s no hope of achieving it.” When your goals aren’t aligned with who you really are – your core values – it’s a challenge to muster up the energy you need to organize them, and virtually impossible to ever actually achieve them.

Give yourself the greatest chance at success by organizing your goals first, making sure to watch out for these so-called “deadly sins” along the way!

A Blueprint for Greater Clarity

I want you to set aside some time to answer – and reflect upon – the five questions below:

1. As you think about all the goals you want to achieve, what are your top 3 for this year?
2. Why is it important for you to achieve these goals – in other words, what will it mean for your business and/or your life when you accomplish them?
3. What roadblocks do you see that have prevented or might prevent you from achieving these goals?
4. Now, think about the goals you’ve accomplished in the past. Write down some of your top achievements.
5. When you think about your previous successes, what did you learn – what did you do, specifically, to accomplish the goal?

The objective of this exercise is to help you deepen your insight – in your own words – about the goals you want to achieve.

True freedom in your business and in your life starts with a series of well-organized goals, so get started today on putting yours in order.

Article Contributed by Dr. Joey Faucette

You’re increasing your sales. Your team is more productive. You get out of the office earlier to do what you love with those you love…

…and yet there’s something missing. You struggle to keep all the business plates spinning simultaneously. It’s exhausting most days. Your family and friends ask, “Are you okay?”

The missing something is Gratitude.

Here are 3 Strategies to Grow Your Business with Gratitude:

Gratitude Focuses on the Positive

You see what you look for.

Is your default zoom set on what’s wrong with your business? That’s exhausting.

Of course all of our companies have room for improvement. Systems and strategies can be tweaked for greater efficiency. If that’s all you see when you look at your business, you completely miss what’s working positively.

Ask yourself, “What have we done that’s producing positive results?” and “What can we celebrate because it grew profits?”

Focus on this positive aspect. Be grateful. Experience happiness at your remarkable accomplishment. Write it down in your Gratitude Diary so you read and relive it later.

Gratitude that focuses on achievement instead of absence creates a Work Positive attitude that is your jet fuel to stratospheric future results.

Gratitude Finds Positive People

As you focus on the positive at work, you recall that people produced these most excellent outcomes. These people constitute your Work Positive Dream Team. Every extraordinary goal met involves ordinary people who went the extra mile.

Instead of worrying about how to please the negative people—Eeyore Vampires—at work, be grateful for these ordinary people. They could work anywhere. They could do business with your competitors. They chose you.

Go one step further. Express your gratitude to them in very specific ways, remarking on their positive qualities that contributed directly to the growth of the company.

Gratitude Finishes Positive Actions

Once your gratitude focuses you on positive results and finds positive people, you discover your energy level turbocharged, your attention riveted, and your time more productive.

Those unfinished to-do list items surrounded by road blocks get done, and you’re moving forward with ease.

How?

Gratitude redefined your reality.

You focus on positive results and know that if you did it then, you can do it now. What you have done and what you have are your default zoom settings.

You find positive people who contributed to those positive results. You discover that these ideal customers send their friends to do business with you, because they know you will appreciate them.

Instead of, “Are you okay?,” your family and friends say, “You look great! What’s going on?”

Your new-found gratitude propels your business upward on a profitability trajectory for which you say, “Thank you!” as you Work Positive and achieve your business dreams.

About the Author

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), Positive Success Coach, & speaker who helps business professionals increase sales with greater productivity so they get out of the office earlier to do what they love with those they love. Discover more at www.GetPositive.Today.

Article Contributed by Colleen Slaughter

When some people hear the term “leader”, prominent politicians or C-level execs come to mind. Yet, leaders are everywhere among us – in the boardroom and in politics, on the home front and in schools – and in small businesses around the globe.

There’s no doubt that being a leader is high-stress work, whether you’re the head of a sole proprietorship or managing an entire team. Below I’ve named five leadership qualities that strongly benefit entrepreneurs, no matter what field you’re in or how far along you are in your entrepreneurial journey.

1. Vision. As a leader, it isn’t enough simply to have a vision – you must achieve clarity with your vision to be able to articulate it well to others. Be willing and able to reevaluate your vision as needed to ensure that it’s still in alignment with your values and goals.

As an entrepreneur, you’ll likely be asked to communicate your vision to others just like any other leader, so think of the process as painting a picture with words, as Entrepreneur.com suggests. Get personal with it – bring some passion into your vision – voice it, write it, draw it, feel it.

2. Authenticity. Whether you’re just embarking on your entrepreneurial voyage or a seasoned professional, authenticity has everything to do with becoming a leader who stands out from the crowd. More than 1000 studies over a 50-year time-frame have not produced a single profile of the ideal leader. Why? Because such a profile does not exist.

Leadership emerges from people’s life stories and from their ability to develop self-awareness about their experiences. If you want to become more authentic, you must commit to discovering who you are. The benefits are profound: heightened efficiency, effectiveness and motivation, a greater balance in life, more empowered team members, and noticeably superior results over a sustained period of time.

3. Balance. Integrating our lives is one of the greatest challenges that all leaders face. To lead a balanced life, we need to bring together all of its essential elements—work, family, community, and friends—so that we can be the same person in each environment.

Remain ever-aware of the significance of staying grounded. Make time for family and friends, exercise regularly, engage in community service, and of course, set aside time just for you. All are essential to being an effective leader.

Achieving balance isn’t just an excellent way to enhance our leadership abilities – flexible workplaces are good for businesses and the economy.

4. Communication. This vital quality seems like a no-brainer, but it’s so important it deserves a mention on any list of strong leadership traits. Whether you communicate with someone in person or via another method like phone, email, or Skype, give that person the gift of your presence.

Be proactive. Listen to the other person. Give – and be willing to openly receive – feedback. Send a greeting card to acknowledge a holiday or birthday, organize an after-hours meet-up, or simply ask someone how they’re doing to show that you care. After all, as any smart business professional knows, good relationships drive careers.

5. Perseverance. When the going gets tough, the tough keep going. One of the hallmarks of any great leader is the ability to persevere in the face of adversity. Entrepreneurs in particular are all too familiar with hard times, and that’s why perseverance makes the list.

When met with an obstacle, an experienced leader remains committed to her mission. No matter what comes your way – criticism, unanticipated barriers, or other challenges – rise above – even if a solution isn’t immediately available.

About The Author
Colleen Slaughter, founder of Authentic Leadership International, is a proven coach with a remarkable ability to motivate women to cultivate greater authenticity and fulfillment at home and in the workplace. Colleen’s dynamic experience allows her to skillfully guide her clients to navigate roadblocks and develop practical solutions to accomplish both personal and professional goals

Article Contributed by Colleen Slaughter

During a recent conversation about all that I try to juggle, a friend suggested I might want to embrace resetting as a regular practice. This was after I belted out a list of the roles which were important for me to not only to play, but to also be darn good at (!): a present Mom, impactful Coach, thriving Business Owner, attentive Wife, Daughter, Friend, etc. etc.  etc. Whew!  Makes me exhausted just thinking about all I sometimes try to do.

A quick look in the dictionary told me that one definition of “reset” is “to change the reading of” like a clock.  I could go for that.  Pausing, taking stock, breathing deeply, and then determining the “right” next step also seem a propos to me.  Indeed, with these descriptors and given what I was trying to achieve, I could clearly see how resetting could be my ally.

Later that day, I went to a yoga class where the theme was, guess what?  Resetting.  Resetting the placement of my feet on the yoga mat so as to have a firm foundation.  Hmmm, resetting and a firm foundation.   So, does that mean that not taking the time to reset would cause my footing to be unsure?  It would seem so.

Given the conversation I had just had with my friend an hour earlier, I couldn’t help but make the connection between my postural repositioning and my friend’s suggestion of resetting throughout my daily challenges. Not allowing the time it takes to reset, from the ground up, the flow of my daily life and the place of all the people in it leads to a lot of needless stumbling.  

On the other hand, creating the space for myself to get used to new footing (in the form of all the surprises thrown at me throughout the day) allows for a natural unfolding of a flow that works – one with grace and solidity.

So many of us get out of bed still half-asleep and approach our day as we have every other one – making ourselves crazy getting as far as we can down the to-do list and collapsing in bed at night.  Only to start over again the next day.  Even the French, famous for their leisurely meals and long vacations, have a rhyme for this, “metro, boulot, dodo” [subway, work, sleep] .   We can do all this without once calling into question the motivation (the real one, not “because I have to”) behind our actions. Sound familiar?

Resetting can help us in other parts of our lives, too.  At the office, we are trained to look at what’s not working and to move to immediately fixing it.  More often than not, we make frantic attempts to find a solution, any solution. But, really, how good is the outcome when we are in constant motion, without even one check-in to see how our approach might (not) be working?  Most likely not very.   How much more effective would we be if we stood back and ensured our feet were in a good position, as it were, before acting?  My bet is that it would lead to more focused action, less expended energy, and much better results.

Resetting allows us to come back to ourselves, to back up and punt when things are getting out of hand or are feeling overwhelming for us.

Take a step back.  Breathe.  Make sure your footing is on firm foundation before proceeding.  Reset.

Then begin again. With renewed vigor.

About the Author

Colleen Slaughter, founder of Authentic Leadership International, is a proven coach with a remarkable ability to motivate women to cultivate greater authenticity and fulfillment at home and in the workplace. Colleen’s dynamic experience allows her to skillfully guide her clients to navigate roadblocks and develop practical solutions to accomplish both personal and professional goals.

Article Contributed by Colleen Slaughter

You might be tired of hearing how important it is to set goals, but stop and ask yourself if any of these statements sound familiar to you. Be honest!

• I try to achieve my goals, but it never seems to work out.
• I have big goals, but they seem so far out of reach.
• I really want to accomplish my goals, but I don’t know where to start.

Each of these statements hints at something deeper. Yes, we may have “goals” that we want to achieve, but if we lack clarity – if we’re fuzzy and vague in our goal-setting – how can we succeed?

In this post, I’m going to provide you with some tips to get your goals organized. But let’s start with some inspiring stats first!

How Women are Rockin It in Business

The numbers are in. The Womenable report commissioned by American Express “OPEN State of Women-Owned Businesses 2014” says:

• As of the year 2014, there were almost 9.1 million women-owned enterprises.
• From 1997 to 2014, the number of women-owned firms grew at 1.5 times the national average.
• Revenue and employment growth among women-owned firms exceeds that of all other firms except the largest, publicly traded corporations.
• Women of color now account for 1 in 3 (or 32%) women-owned firms in the US, up from 17% 17 years prior.
• Over the 1997-2014 period, there has been an average net increase of 591 women-owned firms each day.

“This current publication reinforces trends we have been seeing in this and other research – that the number of women-owned firms continues to increase at rates exceeding the national average,” the report authors declare.

Joining the Ranks of Successful Women

You might be wondering what these statistics have to do with goal-setting. Well, if you want to join the ranks of successful women business owners, you have to start somewhere, right?

And one of the best places to start is with an evaluation of your goals. Few of us actually have clear, measurable goals to work with – and fewer still have these important goals written down.

If you’re not sure any of this will make a difference, the results of a study conducted on the 1979 Harvard MBA program should be enough to convince you…

Grad students were asked a simple question: Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?

Just 3% said they had written goals and plans; 13% had goals but they didn’t write them down. 84% had no goals at all.

Ten years later, that same group was interviewed once more. The results were astonishing: Remember that 13% who had goals, but just didn’t write them down? They were earning twice the amount of the 84% who had no goals.

It gets better. The miniscule 3% who had goals and wrote them down were earning an average of 10x more than the other 97% of the class combined!

Get Clear on Your Goals Today

Follow these simple steps to get you on the right path to success:

1. Start with a vision. Establish what you really want. If you don’t even know what you’re truly looking for, you’ll have a tough time mustering up the motivation to achieve anything. Ask yourself questions like “What does a day in my ideal life look like?” and “What do I want to create in my life?”
2. Write down your goals. In the first step, you hopefully gave yourself the chance to think big. Now start working on a list of measurable goals. Include clear details that will help you determine how to best achieve them.
3. Set milestones. Depending on what your goals are, some may take a while to complete. Instead of focusing on the “big picture”, break the biggest steps down into smaller and more achievable steps. Don’t worry if you’re not moving along as quickly as you’d like. You can always make adjustments as you go along.
4. Stop to appreciate your accomplishments. Think about how you’ll reward yourself when you achieve a milestone. Have the confidence to celebrate big and small milestones, taking the time to reflect on the journey that you’ve taken. Celebrating your accomplishments is a great motivator, too!
5. Reevaluate as necessary. No one ever said you had to follow your written goals to the letter. In fact, reevaluating your goals – and making adjustments where needed – is a healthy part of the entire process.

About the Author

Colleen Slaughter, founder of Authentic Leadership International, is a proven coach with a remarkable ability to motivate women to cultivate greater authenticity and fulfillment at home and in the workplace. Colleen’s dynamic experience allows her to skillfully guide her clients to navigate roadblocks and develop practical solutions to accomplish both personal and professional goals.