Last week when “spring breaking” at the beach house with the fam, I was on my usual morning walk around the neighborhood with my good buddy-boy Rocket and noticed a car circling around and around, driving up and down the streets, passing me several times.
Finally, they pulled up beside me, rolled down the window and asked for directions. The woman driving said with great exasperation, “I have no idea where I’m going.” Down here on 30A in Florida, the hoard of cell-phone-carrying teenagers that descend upon the area jam the Wi-Fi signals and cause them to stop working, which was why this woman was hopelessly lost (her phone had no signal). I pointed her in the general direction and wished her luck.
But that statement, “I have no idea where I’m going,” stuck with me. It IS one of the most common reasons people go through their entire life without accomplishing anything of significance – they don’t know where they’re going. Like this woman, they’re slowly driving around and around, busy with a lot of ACTIVITY, but getting nowhere fast, redriving the same “roads” and paths over and over again, burning time and gas along the way, frustrated and annoyed.
My question to you is, do YOU know where you’re going?
Choosing what you want is one of the most difficult things to do in life – and it is my experience that most people think they know what they want but are extremely vague about their ambitions, thinking in general terms, saying to themselves and others, “I want to have a ‘successful’ business,” without specifically defining what a “successful” business is to them. Or, “I want to be financially free or rich” without knowing exactly how much money and income-earning assets they need to achieve that. How can you possibly know how to win a game when you don’t know where the goal is, or what the rules of the game are?
If you claim to have extreme clarity on what you want, my next question is, how far along are you? Are you a quarter of the way there? Halfway? Ninety percent? When was the last time you checked in against that goal? Are you on pace? Off? If so, by how much? Do you know the route to where you’re going, mapped out with clarity? If you don’t know how far along you are, I would argue you haven’t clarified where “there” is, or you’re simply not serious about getting there.
When clients come to me for advice, a question I often ask them that they find difficult to answer is WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?
If you want to succeed at anything in your business, there are 5 things you absolutely must have:
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- Absolute clarity on the outcome or goal you want to achieve. Can you visualize it? When you visualize it, what do you see? Describe it in detail. For years, I visualized my “enough is enough” number (since renamed my “safe harbor” number once it was achieved and a new goal was set) as a portfolio/bank statement. I had the ink colors wrong, but that was about it. When it came true, I actually had that statement in my hand, as visualized for years to the specific penny. In Arnold’s new book, Be Useful, he talks about the power of visualization at length. It’s worth the price of the book by far.
- A deep and compelling determination to achieve your goal, but NOT because you think you “should” or because others tell you to. If all you have is a goal without the “juice” of what Hill called a “burning desire,” you’ll find excuses, not means to achieve it. Nietzsche famously and accurately stated that “He who a why to live can bear almost any how.”
- A plan of action to get there, with milestones and timelines, ideally reviewed by a credible, “been there and done that” mentor or coach who will stress-test your plans for viability, reveal blind spots, ask tough questions and provide guidance and strategy. When I provide this, which is what I believe my job is, some clients appreciate it. Others, not so much. They don’t like their plans, goals and timelines to be “questioned.” They take it as a personal offense. Of course, that’s not what I’m trying to do. I believe it is a moral and professional imperative to ensure my clients have the best possible chance of hitting THEIR stated goals. To that end, negative preparation, or taking into consideration all the ways a goal can be missed, is one of the most important strategies I’ve used in sales and in building my business over the years. I expect to hit my goal but also expect a lot of turbulence and resistance along the way. Acknowledging that and preparing for it is not “negative,” but critical for anyone who is determined to overcome the inevitable problems that will arise.
- A system for tracking progress. I don’t know of a single successful and productive entrepreneur who does not have a predetermined set of goals for overall growth, sales and profits that they revisit WEEKLY, along with several dozen other LEADING and training KPIs that they monitor on a regular basis (daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly). They KNOW if they are on track or off track. They do NOT wait until the end of the month, end of the quarter or end of the year to determine if they were sufficiently productive in their activities. I can increase any MSP’s sales and new clients by creating a specific predetermined set of MQLs (marketing qualified leads) and first-time appointments and then micromanage the activities that produce them in the quality and quantity needed.
- A system of accountability. If you manage people, this is CRITICAL. When self-managing, this is not needed as much if you have a deep, compelling reason for wanting the outcome. You’ll FIND a way. But if you’re undisciplined and weak in your resolve, or if the specific things you need to do are daunting, it can’t hurt to have someone you trust and respect to hold you accountable.
- Absolute clarity on the outcome or goal you want to achieve. Can you visualize it? When you visualize it, what do you see? Describe it in detail. For years, I visualized my “enough is enough” number (since renamed my “safe harbor” number once it was achieved and a new goal was set) as a portfolio/bank statement. I had the ink colors wrong, but that was about it. When it came true, I actually had that statement in my hand, as visualized for years to the specific penny. In Arnold’s new book, Be Useful, he talks about the power of visualization at length. It’s worth the price of the book by far.
Most people and businesses are just running through their day, doing. Busy, busy, busy, doing “it,” whatever “it” is that shows up at that hour in their inbox, that day on their schedule, allowing distractions or even inviting them – no deadlines, no urgency and no plan. Random acts abound. Reacting to events, not proactively setting their priorities in advance with absolute determination to get them done.
Lombardi said, “It’s hard to be aggressive when you’re confused.” There’s no happiness in working long, hard hours when you have no meaning for your work, no endgame in mind. It’s also IMPOSSIBLE to be discerning about where you spend your time to achieve maximum productivity if there is no clarity of destination. It’s a recipe for burnout and depression. If you feel either of these, I would like to suggest you set aside the computer, phone and all other distractions so you can sit and think about and clarify the things you MOST WANT out of your life. If you’re doing it right, you’ll have to choose, sacrificing things that are important and managing them to a “zone” of acceptable results so you can go full throttle on the things that truly matter the most to you.
Choose wisely, choose with intention, but choose.
If growth is on your list for business success, be sure to check out our one-day MSP Growth Day tour, coming to a city near you. Tickets are only $99 at https://mspgrowthday.com.
