Tag: goals
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Why Direction, Goals, and Objectives Can Fail
Our number one priority as leaders is setting direction, goals, and objectives. Why do we only sometimes achieve them? Three reasons: We set them incorrectly. They were not clear, practical, and aligned with our purpose and values. We can learn from experience to set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) direction, goals, and objectives […]
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Leading in Different Times #2: Reinforce Clarity
This is the second in a series of Play notes about leading well during different times such as this one. “This not that. Here not there. And here’s why…” With daily distractions, project deadlines, and competing priorities, our teams can get unfocused. Add something like a global health challenge and they’ll likely get really scattered.…
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Irresponsible Optimism
Is it irresponsible optimism to say, “Yes, I acknowledge the obstacles. We are going to succeed nonetheless.”? Perhaps. And it is the only way anything meaningful ever happens. In your corner, Mike PS: Nothing is inevitable unless we say so. PPS: Does saying so guarantee it will happen? Nope. Not saying so pretty much guarantees it…
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This Ought To Do It
I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can’t find anybody who can tell me what they want. – Mark Twain We often don’t have a clear, compelling, and commonly-understood (by all the people who matter) set of goals for our businesses or our lives.…
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Success Is a Way, Not a Goal
The sages tell us to have goals but not attach to them. They warn us that having too much focus on our goals comes from some subtle belief that achieving goals is difficult or impossible. That subtle belief promotes a struggle-laced busyness which makes goals difficult or impossible to achieve. But what to do instead? People who are successful…
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Picking a Dream
Achieving a dream requires that we first commit whole-heartedly to that dream. But–oh–we hesitate. We’re afraid that if we pick one dream we’ll either mess it up or miss out on other, better ones that we just don’t know about yet. Hesitation leads to lack of commitment which leads to dreams unfulfilled. Bleah! Here’s the solution: commit…
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The Pressure We Feel
We often misinterpret the pressure that we feel to do more, to be more productive. We think it means we need to get busy, work harder, and churn through more tasks on our task lists. So we do. And we long for relief and release. But productivity is not how much we get done in…
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Monumental Goals Only Look Scary
Committing to a monumental goal is a fast route to success…if we can get past the fear. Monumental goals seem scary because we cannot see how to possibly achieve them. But that’s the point. If we can see how to get there, then it’s an incremental not a monumental goal. When we commit to something that is just…
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What Sort of Goals are Best? Both!
There are two types of goals: incremental goals and monumental goals. Incremental goals ask us to work a bit harder, to focus a bit more, to iron out inefficiencies. When we commit to monumental goals, we face things that seem nearly impossible. Incremental goals help us mine and perfect. Monumental goals help us reset and redefine. Think…
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How to Build a Truly Compelling Goal
Success demands a clear, compelling, and commonly understood vision or goal. Such a goal answers the big question, “Why?” We can probably write a clear goal. And we can include whoever matters as we build it so that the goal is commonly understood. But to make it compelling our goal needs to satisfy these criteria: It comes…