What is the single most important thing you can do to make your dreams become reality? In this post I share a critically important success principle and three ways to apply it.
Goal Setting
Why I Decided to Publish a Paper Planner
A few years ago, I read David Sax’s book, The Revenge of Analog. The premise? After years of being pushed aside by digital solutions, analog applications have been making a surprising comeback. That resonated with my own experience. Most of my audience knows me as a techie. But I was in the book business for […]
Why Sandbagging Your Goals Kills Your Productivity
I’m a fairly conservative person but not when it comes to setting new goals for myself or for my business. We may think setting conservative goals is wise, but it actually makes us and our teams less productive. Too many leaders believe they’ll accomplish more if they lower the bar and set goals they can […]
How to Use Activation Triggers™ to Reach Your Goals this Year
More than a decade ago, I decided I needed to get back into regular exercise. I was overweight and tired of feeling exhausted. I needed to do something. But like everyone else, I was busy. I had a habit goal I wanted to install: Exercise for thirty minutes, Monday through Friday, at 6:00 a.m. There […]
Why You Shouldn’t Bother Making New Year’s Resolutions
New Year’s resolutions are as old as time, but that doesn’t mean they’re very effective. It only takes a day or two into January before the #resolutionfail hashtag starts trending on social media. Roughly 200 million Americans make New Year’s resolutions at least some of the time, according to research by the University of Scranton. […]
How to Avoid 3 Pitfalls of Goal-Setting
I’ve been an advocate of goal-setting for decades. Most successful people I know are. They set big goals and recommend others do as well. But some people are more doubtful. They point to significant goal-related disasters and suggest goals can backfire. In 2002, for instance, General Motors determined to boost its share of the U.S. […]
The 2 Most Powerful Words for Reaching Your Goals
Tell me this hasn’t happened to you: At the end of the year, you brainstorm several goals. You start the New Year full of determination and enthusiasm. But after several weeks, you get distracted and lose ground. Months later you realize you’ve made no real progress. You either feel lousy and quit, or feel lousy […]
How to Become a Big Thinker
Many people fail because they are afraid to dream. Their thinking is too small. In this post I provide seven steps for becoming a big thinker.
5 Major Goal-Setting Myths That Keep You Stuck
Steve Mura was a Triple-A baseball pitcher. He was starting one night in an away game, but he almost lost before leaving the dugout. Why? “I can never win on this mound,” he told his pitching coach and shook his head. For Mura, the game was already over, and he hadn’t even thrown the first […]
The One Quality You Must Develop to Reach Your Goals
What does it take to accomplish your goals? Some people think it’s mostly about luck, smarts, good looks, and social connections. Nope. Researcher Angela Lee Duckworth studied West Point cadets, National Spelling Bee contestants, teachers in tough schools, and sales peoples, asking who would succeed and why. “In all those very different contexts one characteristic […]
Is Your Goal Challenging or Just Crazy?
As I talk about setting goals for the New Year, I get a lot of questions like these: “How do I know if I’m being too aggressive with my goals? How do I know if my goals are realistic?” If you’re asking these questions, you’re already on the right track. Why? Because you’re already talking […]
What the Science of Goal Setting Tells Us about Accomplishing More of What Really Matters
I’m a big advocate of goal setting because I’ve personally benefited from it. But I’m also amazed how much the science of goal setting explains my personal experience. Whether working as an independent entrepreneur or a corporate executive, I’ve seen personal and organizational goal setting reap big rewards—and the research shows why.
The One Thing You Need to Know to Be Happy
There aren’t many phrases in English more recognizable than “the pursuit of happiness.” But what could happen if we turned it around? That’s exactly what Chris Guillebeau does in his new book, The Happiness of Pursuit: Finding the Quest That Will Bring Purpose to Your Life. At just 36, Chris has already led an amazing […]
How to Develop the One Trait Essential for Success
Success has many determining factors, including dumb luck. But I’ve been thinking of one lately that’s largely indispensable and totally learnable—persistence. Have you ever felt like bailing on that one thing you know you’re supposed to do?
What Are Your Options When You Are About to Miss a Big Goal?
We’re about 50 percent short of our goal, Dad.” My oldest daughter, Megan, had just called to brief me on our recent new membership campaign for Platform University. It was day four of an eight-day promotion. My heart sank. I don’t like missing goals. Our campaign target was to add one thousand new members to […]
Seven Principles for Setting Goals that Work
[guestpost]Matt Perman is the former director of strategy at Desiring God and is now an author, consultant, and speaker on productivity and leadership from a faith-based perspective. He is the author of the recently released What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done. He blogs What’s Best Next and you […]
The 10 Biggest Mistakes People Make in Setting Goals
If you are anything like me, you’re already thinking about the year ahead. How will it be different than this one? What might be possible? What do I want to accomplish? It’s time to begin thinking about goal-setting for 2014.
How to Get Clear, Get Motivated, and Get Started in 2014
It’s easy to get lost in the moment when hiking through a place like the Colorado Rockies. It happened to me recently. After following a winding trail up a flower-covered slope, I returned down the same trail—or so I thought. It was several minutes before I realized that I was in the wrong place. Things […]
How to Find the Time for That Important Project
Almost everyone has some important project they can’t seem to get to. Maybe it’s starting a blog, writing a book, or launching a new business initiative. You just can’t seem to find the time to tackle it. Whenever I speak on the topic of Platform, the first question I always get in the Q&A is […]
The Beginner’s Guide to Goal Setting
When I speak publicly, I often ask how many people believe in the power of written goals. Every hand shoots up. Yet when I ask how many of them have written goals for this year, very few hands go up. This always surprises me, given the fact most people know intuitively (and research has proved) […]
Slay Your Dragons Before Breakfast
I face a dragon named Lethargy every morning. It has three heads: spiritual, physical, and intellectual. If I don’t slay this dragon before breakfast, he usually gets the best of me.
How to Avoid the Power of the Drift
Many people wake up in their 40s, 50s, or 60s and wonder why they are so far from where they thought they would be. They are victims of the drift. Here’s how to get back on track.
Five Strategies for Building New Habits
I have a confession to make. Until about eight years ago, I didn’t floss. In fact, I hadn’t been to the dentist in a decade. My last experience had been so negative, that I just kept finding excuses to procrastinate.
Six Keys to Achieving Big Goals
For the last few days, I have been thinking about how to achieve really big goals. How do you do really hard things? How do you push through the inertia that threatens to keep you in your current state? How do you increase your probability of accomplishing what you set out to do? Whether you are trying to write a book, lose a bunch of weight, overcome an addiction, or land a new job, I believe these six items will help you achieve your goal.