If you’ve ever had the good fortune to attend one of Tony Robbins’s seminars, you’ll remember him saying something along the lines of “successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.” He was absolutely right; the questions we ask reveal our worldview. For example, as a consultant, one of the most crucial questions I pose to my clients is, when setting priorities and goals, what is the single most important step? Having clear objectives is essential for any CEO, executive, manager, or entrepreneur, but not all of them know how to achieve them. In fact, a common misunderstanding is that the two are interchangeable.
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Dreaming is a Perfectly Normal Human Activity
Dreaming is a perfectly normal human activity. As Napoleon Hill once said, “a goal is a dream with a deadline,” so it’s nice to go there every once in a while. It conveys the essential meaning, but there’s more to it than that. An art form exists in the process of goal-setting. In the same way that a wish list is not a goal, so is a nebulous mental concept. The odds of achieving your goals can be greatly improved by following a specific methodology. As Brian Tracy once said, “failing to plan is planning to fail,” so it is with goals that lack a system. Mastering the art of goal-setting is crucial for anyone who wants to achieve lasting success. The good news is that it’s not hard to do. However, the opposite is true; it’s actually quite easy. So, to answer the question, “what is the most important step in prioritizing goals?” let’s first examine how different people go about setting goals.
Ivy Lee’s System
CEOs, business owners, and upper-level managers should be familiar with Ivy Lee. In 1918, he visited the office of Bethlehem Steel Corporation President Charles M. Schwab to impart upon him a strategy that would prove to be the most lucrative piece of advice Schwab would ever receive. A lot of people are probably wondering what that advice was. After all, Lee received $25,000 (about $400,000 in 2016 dollars) for it.
He requested 15 minutes with each of Schwab’s executives and used that time to instruct them on the following:
- Make a list of the top six tasks that need to be completed the following day before you leave the office.
- Move them around in a new order.
- The next day, when you get to the office, focus solely on the first task. Do this every day until it’s done; don’t stop until it’s done right.
- Here, there are two parts to the puzzle. If you narrow your focus to no more than six objectives, you’ll be less likely to get distracted by less important matters, and you’ll be more likely to complete your most pressing objectives first.
Jim Rohn’s Program
One of the many ways in which Jim Rohn excelled at keeping things straightforward was through his method of setting and achieving goals. As easy as four steps:
- Settle your goals.
- The step is to put them in writing and create a list.
- Next to each objective, write the date by which you hope to have accomplished it.
- It’s time to get to work and start crossing items off your to-do list.
In a word, it’s easy. Here, the most important thing is to be clear about your goals.
The WOOP Method
What I Want to Happen, what’s in the Way, and What I Have to Do to Get There are the Four Letters of WOOP.
- One should wish for exciting, challenging, and attainable goals.
- Picture yourself succeeding and enjoying the fruits of your labor.
- Determine what might stand in your way if you try to accomplish your objectives.
- Create a comprehensive strategy to overcome each difficulty.
The biggest mistake people make is assuming that everything will go off without a hitch, when in reality, nothing ever does. As expected, chaos ensues as things go wrong. Thus, the significance of the technique’s fourth stage. Having a strategy in place to handle potential roadblocks will save you a tonne of time and effort.
It’s Called the SMART Method
For me, as a budding business owner, this was my first exposure to the art of setting goals. In 1981, George Doran, then the director of corporate planning for Washington Water Power Company, wrote a management paper that became the basis for the concept. It’s simple and easy to learn, making it perfect for newcomers. Goals that are SMART are ones that can be tracked and evaluated, as well as ones that are realistic and have a set deadline.
- Your aims are crystal clear to you.
- In other words, you can quantify your progress toward your objective.
- Your objective is reasonable and doable.
- Inspiring: You feel motivated to work toward your goal because you know it’s important.
- Time-Restricted: You know exactly when you need to accomplish your objective.
The trick to this method is to create targets that are realistic, measurable, and specific. Distribution of flyers is one such requirement. You shouldn’t set yourself a goal of “distributing 1,000 flyers within two hours.” Flyers are ineffective because you have no way of knowing who will actually take them. Accordingly, you will feel disheartened if you don’t achieve your goal. Rather than “I will hand out flyers for two hours and greet people with a smile,” this more accurate statement would read: You can make this happen by focusing your attention and putting in the necessary effort.
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Using HARD Techniques
HARD is an acronym for “sincerely, energetically, mandatorily, and rigorously.” When compared to the more achievable SMART goals, the HARD goals are more of a test of your mettle. Taking part in them is meant to be challenging and uncomfortable. Therefore, HARD goals might not be the best choice for people who are just getting started with setting goals. However, once you have seen success with other strategies and are prepared to take things to the next level, these may be exactly what you need.
- All of your objectives should mean something to you deeply and emotionally.
- Animated: Visualize yourself as a successful person and create detailed mental images of yourself accomplishing each objective.
- Create a sense of urgency for your aims; this is mandatory.
- Challenging: Aim high and embrace the challenge by setting ambitious goals.
Brian Tracy’s System
Brain Tracy outlines a straightforward 6-step process for achieving any and all of your aims.
- Grab a blank sheet of paper and label the top with “Goals” and the current date.
- Make a list of at least ten things you want to achieve in the coming year.
- Use “I” before every action verb in your goals.
- Use the present tense to talk about your accomplishments as if they were already done. I’ll have a yearly income of $100,000, for instance.
- They must be framed in a constructive way. Do not put “I will give up chocolate” on paper. Put “I eat healthy snacks” instead.
- Create to-do and wish lists for your professional, social, financial, and health spheres.
The Solution
It’s not surprising that many of the methods are similar to one another. As a result, let’s address the question, “what is the most important step in prioritizing goals?”
Best-selling author and speaker Simon Sinek, in his now-famous TED Talk, explains that answering the question “why” is the key to success. Martin Luther King Jr. did not deliver the “I have a plan” speech, but rather the “I have a dream” speech, as he put it. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s foresight into the future propelled him to take the measures that reshaped the United States. His motivations were obvious not only to himself but to everyone else as well.
No matter what method you employ, you must be aware of your motivations if you are to achieve success. He who has a strong enough why can bear almost any how, as Friedrich Nietzsche once said. Only a small fraction of the population ever reaches their full potential because of the enormous amount of work required to accomplish even modest goals. They don’t have a compelling enough “why” to push them to put in the effort required and to keep fighting until they achieve their goals.
