Reach your Goals

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker

I love that quote! As we are almost halfway through the third quarter of the year, it’s time to ask yourself a difficult question, “Am I on track with my business and personal goals?”

For some of you, that question might stop you dead in your tracks…and if you’re behind on your goals, it should!

Did you know, long-term studies indicate that only 40% of people who stick to their No. 1 goal (or resolution) did it on the first try? The rest had to try multiple times. In fact, 17% finally reached their goal after more than six attempts, so don’t give up!

You can do so much toward reaching your goals by just doing one small thing at a time. For instance, if one of your goals for the year was to become more organized, in just five minutes of down time during the day you can do something like throwing away three old items from the refrigerator, moving some random files on your computer desktop to the correct folders, or download the photos from your digital camera/phone to your computer or cloud storage. Five minutes a day is all it takes, and it can give you an amazing sense of accomplishment.

Perhaps one of your goals pertains to your health. Are you eating better and exercising even a little bit more than last year? Or your goal pertains to your home. Have you decided to do some work around the house? Take five minutes to schedule that appointment with a local home improvement contractor that you’ve been putting off and get the ball rolling. You’ll be amazed at how great it will feel to take even small steps toward what you want out of life for you and your family.

Granted, the first half of the year had most of us wrapped up in New Year’s celebrations, Super Bowl parties and the trickiness of preparing the perfect Valentine’s Day. You don’t want to find yourself at the end of August facing the hard realization that it may be too late to accomplish what you had planned, do you?

Think about what you’re doing every day and consider this…if what you are doing is not moving you towards your goals, then it’s moving you away from your goals. Are you applying the 80/20 rule to your daily life? Are you focusing on the right 20% to make the most effective use of your time?

Now is the time to start investing your time in your goals and your future; it’s not too late! It’s time to stop making excuses. Think about it. You’ve “predicted the future” by deciding what you wanted to accomplish this year, but are you doing everything possible to “create it?”

— Ralph