Matt Emmons had the gold medal in sight. He was one shot away from claiming victory in the 2004 Olympic 50-meter three-position rifle event. He didn’t even need a bull’s-eye to win. His final shot merely needed to be on target.

Normally, the shot he made would have received a score of 8.1, more than enough for a gold medal. But in what was described as “an extremely rare mistake in elite competition,” Emmons fired at the wrong target. Standing in lane two, he fired at the target in lane three. His score for a good shot at the wrong target?—0. Instead of a medal, Emmons ended up in eighth place. “American Emmons Misses Out on Gold by Firing at Wrong Target,” www.Sportsillustrated.com

It doesn’t matter how accurate you are if you are aiming at the wrong target! Many people start out on an adventure without any real thought in mind as to what their destination is. Or they spend their entire lives heading for a destination, but it is the wrong one for them. And while this might not be that big of a deal if we’re talking about a day at the park, reading a novel, etc…It’s a very big deal when it comes to something that can have a HUGE impact on our lives, like education, business, or raising our family.

When it comes to being a success, especially when we’re talking about going into business for yourself, you better know that what you’re aiming for is something you can do for the long haul, or most likely, you’ll end up chasing one rabbit trail after another and end up no further along ten years down the road from where you were at the start. I personally know of many internet marketers who can never get a handle on why they aren’t being successful, yet they are simply jumping from one idea to another, without ever landing on the ONE thing that they do best.

Here are some questions to ask yourself when it comes to determining what you should be aiming for:

1. Is your goal something that truly excites you, or is it just a way to make money?
2. Is your goal something that you eat, sleep, and breathe, or is it just a passing fancy?
3. Is your goal something that will keep your interest over a long period of time, or are you already bored with the idea?
4. Does your goal fit in with your natural giftedness and talents, or is it something that runs counter to your personality?
5. Will your goal meet the needs and desires that you have, or does it only scratch the surface?

Your answer to the first part of each question should be “Yes,” and your answer to the second part of each question should be “No,” if what you are aiming for is on the mark. If you find yourself doing the opposite, you really need to rethink what you are aiming for and find something that fits these criteria.

I believe that all of us can be successful, if we are aiming for the right thing. But until we find out what that is, we will just spin in circles, wondering why everyone else is successful but ourselves.

To Your Success,

Barry

WHAT KIND OF GOALS SHOULD I SET?

As I said, you can set goals for work, for investing, for your family, for education, for weight loss, and just about any area of life that you need to plan for. And while I don’t think there is any limit as to what kind of goals you should set, I think that as a Christian, they should at least follow these guidelines.

1. GOALS THAT ARE S.M.A.R.T

“The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.” – Denis Waitly

I think he is exactly right – and if our goals fit into the S.M.A.R.T. acrostic, they are ones that we will certainly be able to accomplish.

Specific – a general goal would be, “I’m going to earn more money this year than last year” – a specific goal would be, “I’m going to increase my income by 25% this year, and I’m going to do it by investing in the futures market.”

To set a specific goal you must answer the six “W” questions:
*Who: Who is involved?
*What: What do I want to accomplish?
*Where: Identify a location.
*When: Establish a time frame.
*Which: Identify requirements and constraints.
*Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

Measurable – We’ve talked about this already, but we need to make sure that we have goals that allow us to determine whether we are making progress. You should be able to ask questions of your goal like, “How much” “How many” and “How will I know when it is going to be accomplished?” and the answers should be readily available. A good thing to remember is, “If I can’t measure it, I can’t manage it.”

Attainable – When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and when necessary, the financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals. You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals you begin to develop the traits and personality that allows you to possess them.

Realistic – To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress. A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love. Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. But if you say that your goal is to read through the Bible every single day of your life, you are not being realistic at all. And when you set unrealistic goals, you’re just setting yourself up for a letdown.

Timely – Set a timeframe for the goal: for next week, in three months, by fifth grade – whatever your goal is, it needs to have a beginning and an ending point. Putting an end point on your goal gives you a clear target to work towards. If you don’t set a time, the commitment is too vague. It tends not to happen because you feel you can start at any time. Without a time limit, there’s no urgency to start taking action now.

2. GOALS I’M WILLING TO PAY THE PRICE FOR

When your goals fit into the criteria we’ve mentioned so far, you will be blessed, and the people around you will be blessed. But we need to understand that there is a price to be paid to these goals. If the goal is a good one, the price paid will be well worth it.

If I’m going to climb up the corporate ladder, I am going to have to work very hard, improve myself in any number of areas, and consistently gain new skills and abilities. If my goal is further education, I am going to have to study hard, pay for my tuition, and be willing to devote a large portion of my life to school.

If you’re not willing to pay the price, so be it, but don’t expect to fulfill your dreams. People who want to succeed are people who are willing to do whatever is necessary (as long as it is not immoral or unethcial) to reach their goals, even if the price to be paid is great. Are you one of those people?

To Your Success,
Barry L. Davis

Let me begin by asking you a question: When you set out on a trip, do you just load up the car and start driving? Do you go to the airport and buy a ticket on the next available flight, no matter where it’s going? Probably not – There’s no telling where you might end up, and it could be someplace you really don’t want to be.

Your destination is your goal. If you’re feeling hungry for great barbeque, you want to go Kansas City. But if you want to enjoy the view from the top of the Empire State Building, you’d best head for The Big Apple.

Success in life is every bit as much a destination as is a physical place. Now, if you want to reach that destination, you need to know what that destination is, and then you need to have a plan for how to get there. That is what we mean when we talk about setting and achieving goals.

WHY SET GOALS AT ALL?

1. IT’S A MATTER OF STEWARDSHIP

We are given one lifetime, and we need to make the most of it while we can. If I am going to be a good steward of the time that God has given me on earth I am going to use that time to accomplish as much as I can. When I set a goal, and then take the steps toward reaching it, I am making wise use of my time and accomplishing much more than I could have otherwise.

I’m not talking about just in the area of work, I’m talking about using time in the best possible way – this includes time for your family, relaxation, and other needs. When we set goals that are financial, spiritual, and recreational, we will find that we will be able to enjoy more of those things than we ever have before.

2. IT’S A MATTER OF MEASUREMENT

I don’t know about you, but I like to be able to measure my progress. Let’s say that I set a goal to read through the New Testament in the next year. I count up the chapters and discover that there are 260 of them in the New Testament. So I divide 260 by 52 weeks in a year and find out I only need to read five chapters per week to finish the New Testament in one year – so I could read just one chapter a day, Monday – Friday and I would accomplish my goal. But each day as I read, I’m going to check off that chapter and be able to see that I am making progress toward my ultimate goal – it is very motivating.

This same principle is true if I’m investing money, or wanting to spend quality time with my family, or working toward a college degree. Because I have a set plan, and ultimate destination, I am able to measure my progress and discover that my goal is definitely reachable.

3. IT’S A MATTER OF PROSPERITY

This is true in all areas, but it is especially true if I’m setting financial or work-related goals. If you want to get ahead in life, you are going to have to set goals, and then work hard to reach them. If you want to have a better income than you have now, you have to plan and work for it – there is nothing wrong with that, as long as we keep it all in perspective.

Check back tomorrow for Part 2

Success seldom comes without pain and perseverance. Take the case of author John Grisham.

Grisham is the world’s most commercially successful novelist of the last decade. He has well over 100 million books in print in 31 languages. Yet Grisham was hardly an overnight success in his transition from attorney to writer.

A Time to Kill, Grisham’s first novel, was rejected by 28 agents and publishers. When an agent finally did take him as a client, the book’s first press run was only 5,000 copies. Grisham himself purchased 1,000 and hawked his work to bookstores from the trunk of his car.

Only after his second novel, The Firm, hit the bestseller list did he get his big break. Six of his books have now been made into movies, and the press run of a recent volume, A Painted House, was a phenomenal 2.8 million copies.

One complaint I run into over and over again, especially from those trying to be a success online, is that things aren’t happening fast enough. Often, when I ask how long they’ve been at it, the answer is something like, “3 months.”

While there are some overnight sensations, most of us have to work long and hard before we start seeing success actually begin to take place. But when it does (and it will if you stick with it!) you will be glad for every minute you spent developing and promoting your business.

If I have one encouragement for you it is this, STICK WITH IT! There is going to come a time when you look back and say, “It was all worth it. If I hadn’t been willing to do what was necessary back then, even when there was no hope in sight, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today.” Winners don’t quit.

To Your Success,

Barry

”I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that’s precisely why I succeed.”

Michael Jordan

If you’re like me, you’ve tried many times to be a success, and many times found yourself failing in your pursuit. It might be in education, business, sports, or any of a thousand different areas. You felt you gave it your best shot, but in the end ended up falling flat on your face.

It is my contention that those times of failure are actually stepping-stones to true success. If every time you get knocked down, you get back up, you prove that you are truly a success at heart, even if your immediate circumstances could be described as anything but successful.

Every failure is a lesson. And what determines whether we will eventually succeed or not is what we learn from that lesson. On the positive end, we can learn not to repeat the same mistakes. Or we can learn how to slightly refine what we were doing, to the point that we get different results. On the negative side, we can just give up, and walk away from even trying.

I like what John Ortberg said in his book, “If You Want to Walk on Water, You Have to Get Out of the Boat.”

Failure does not shape you; the way you respond to failure shapes you. Sir Edmund Hillary made several unsuccessful attempts at scaling Mount Everest before he finally succeeded. After one attempt he stood at the base of the giant mountain and shook his fist at it. “I’ll defeat you yet,” he said in defiance. “Because you’re as big as you’re going to get—but I’m still growing.”

Every time Hillary climbed, he failed. And every time he failed, he learned. And every time he learned, he grew and tried again. And one day he didn’t fail.

One of our goals is to get to that point that the end result is not failure. In fact, we can look at it this way – every failure we make brings us one step closer to success. And if we are not experiencing failure, I doubt that we’re really making much of an effort at all.

So, with all that said, why not join me on the trek to failure! In all seriousness, join me as we move past our failures into the realm of the success we’ve all been looking for.

To Your Success,

Barry