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I wanted to wait until the second week of the year before publishing this article. Like me, you have had some time off to reflect and make resolutions for the future. The only problem is that you probably have forgotten all your New Year’s resolutions. Well, you are not alone. Like most busy executives, you have a business plan in place. You are focused on your business.
If you haven’t, then — like most of us — you get sucked into the daily minutiae. The day-to-day demands of business, emails, meetings and phone calls gets the best of us. This constant flow of “stuff” coming at us often interferes with that “good” feeling of achievement. The reality is, this is all busy work. What percentage of emails and voice messages actually impact our goals? Why then, do we spend so much time responding and reading these emails?
Have you built your own personal and professional success plan? Have you set goals for yourself? Have you defined the what, why, how and when for success?
Are interested in becoming more successful? Would like to know my “Focused Formula” for success?
Have you spent any time thinking about what your goals, career or personal, are? How would you describe your personal grand slam? What would make you the MVP in your organization? Please take a couple of minutes, close your eyes and think about what are the successes you would like to achieve. Visualize how you would feel achieving these successes. Now, commit to the process and write these successes down on a piece of paper.
You have now decided what success looks like for you in 2015! Next task…what is your motivation to achieve your success goals? What are the reasons, the burning desires that make these success goals important to you? You need to tap into why these goals are important to you. I am not talking about financial successes and what they can buy. I am talking about your psyche. What internal feelings or needs achieving your success goals would fulfill? Is it recognition, sense of pride, praise, rewards for success, feelings of one's own competence and effort, a desire to be effective or make a difference?
You are almost there. You know your success goals, why they are important to you and what motivates you to achieve them. The next question is the tough one. How are you going to achieve your goals? These are your tactics. What are the two or three things that will help you focus on to achieve this success? What are the most powerful actions that will lead to your success? When it comes to spending energy and effort, which activities will provide you with the greatest return towards your success?
The most important piece of this focus reflection exercise is to write down all your thoughts and communicate them to someone on your team. The act of writing turns your plan into action.
Congratulations on your efforts to focus on success. If you have taken the time to write down your successes, internal motivation and actions these will all contribute to your success, and you will have a 50% chance of making it happen. To increase the likelihood of achieving your success goals in 2015 you should communicate and commit to your goals to a friend or colleague. If you are really motivated, hire a coach who will hold you accountable to the process of staying focused on achieving success in 2015.
Steven A. Rosen, MBA Author, coach and speaker helps companies transform sales managers into great sales leaders. Steven is the author of 52 Sales Management Tips – The Sales Manager’s Success Guide. Steven’s Focused Coaching Program designed for the busy sales executive, manager and new manager.
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