Focus on Goals

            In the Leadership chapter, Bill was singled out for his utilization of the Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule.  He focused on the high rollers and helped his team win the Trump Taj Mahal task.  Bill also illustrated the importance of focusing on goals.

            Bill’s two teammates, Kwame and Troy did not always keep the ultimate goal clearly in focus.  Kwame, as Project Manager, decided that both he and Troy would go watch the show with the lions and tigers to determine which of the great cats they wanted to use in their promotion.  Kwame admitted in an interview that Troy could have handled that portion of the task alone and they did not both need to attend, but he wanted to see the show too.  Bill, who’s focus remained on the primary task of getting people registered who would spend the most money gambling, was irritated that both Kwame and Troy went to the show, losing sight of the bigger picture.

            Bill was also disappointed at Kwame and Troy ’s use of the white tiger during the promotion.  Yes, the great cat created a stir and brought many people over to gawk and watch, but did it do anything to further the team’s goal?  Bill had this to say about it, “The white tiger caused quite an uproar, but it also took people away from the gambling floor.  The people who were looking at the tiger were not getting their cards swiped.  In fact, it paralyzed our operation.  We were actually losing VIPs because VIPs don’t want to wait in line there.”

            Amy, the Project Manger of the other team, thought more in line with Bill when it came to the tiger.  She said in an interview, “I think that the strategy of bringing a tiger in with two hours left in the game is terrible strategy.  They’re bringing people over to stare at a tiger, rather than get out on the floor and gamble.”  When Trump arrived to see how the teams were doing, he told Amy that he heard the other team was doing great.  She asked if he wanted people watching lions for two hours or out on the floor gambling.  He told her he wanted them out on the floor, and remarked that she caught on quickly.

            In the end, it was Bill’s focus on the goal, and utilization of the 80/20 principle, that resulted in Protege’s $123,159 to $105,362 win over Versacorp.  Another example of Apprentice candidates losing focus of the primary goal occurred in season three, episode fourteen.

            The fourteenth episode of season three had the two teams facing off to design brand new T-shirts to commemorate fifty years of the T-shirt Culture.  Alex and Tana were the remaining members of Net Worth, and Tana, who had a T-shirt business of her own, was the obvious choice to be Project Manager.  Unfortunately, Tana allowed herself to become obsessed with finding a BeDazzler, a product that affixed stones and studs to clothing.  Her initial strategy of enhancing the shirts by offering an option to add rhinestones to increase their price at a minimal cost coincided with the team goal of making the most profit from the shirt sales.  However, her obsession over the BeDazzler took her on a cab ride over an hour away when time was limited.

            Net Worth lost the task due to marketing.  Alex told Trump in the boardroom that he wanted to discuss marketing with Tana, but she was too busy.  Alex said the team wasted time by going to Staten Island for rhinestones.  Hearing this, Trump could not believe Tana was unable to find the stones in Manhattan , the fashion capital of the world.    Trump said the team spent so much time getting the stones that they did not have time to sell.  Tana was almost fired due to getting sidetracked and losing focus of the goal.  However, Alex could not remember his win-loss record and it irritated Trump that he could not remember that important fact.  Trump told Tana that she performed terribly on the task, but admitted she had done well the past few weeks.  Trump felt like Alex had sat back, hoping Tana would fail, and therefore he ended up saying, “Alex, you’re fired.”  With that, even though Tana lost focus of the team’s primary goal, she made the final three.

Earlier, we discussed that with focus, you create a powerful laserlike ability to accomplish things.  However, it is extremely important that you focus on your goal, rather than just focus on working hard.  Many people, some leaders included, believe working hard is all there is to it.  Unfortunately, a person can work hard with efforts focuses in the wrong direction and come up short.  Hard work does not guarantee success.  It is a component, but you must focus your hard work and efforts toward the result you want to achieve.  With focused effort, you can achieve much more with greater ease. However, before you can focus, you must know one thing: what your goal is.

You Must Know Where You Are Going

            When people discuss leaders as having vision, they are simply saying the leader knows what outcome she desires.  Vision is nothing more than a clear picture of what you see for yourself, your organization, or the world in the future.  A powerful, compelling vision can be exciting and energetic.  But most important, a clear vision provides direction and meaning.  Without vision, without goals to work toward, a leader and the organization he leads cannot concentrate energy toward the desired results.  Without goals, how can priorities be set?  When a leader has a clear a vision and goals, the chances of achieving them are much greater.  Because goals are so important, and focus without them lacks the ability to achieve the greatest successes, the remainder of this chapter will be a short primer on setting and achieving goals.

Setting and Achieving Goals

            There are countless resources on goal setting.  Many of these are very good, and people who follow them end up achieving greater results and live more successfully.  Unfortunately, not that many people actually design their own lives.  Studies show that the majority of people do not formally set and achieve goals.  Many people spend more timing planning a vacation each year than they do on what important things they will accomplish or achieve.

            Goals should be set in all areas of your life.  You must have balance.  Areas to consider setting goals in include: Mental Goals, such as learning more about a topic and improving yourself; Physical Goals, such as engaging in an exercise program and eating healthy; Family Goals, such as spending time with your wife or husband, kids, and extended family; Social Goals, such as going to community events, joining a local service group, or socializing with people in your industry to share ideas; Spiritual Goals, such as attending a religious service, reading from the great religion’s texts, or just being more helpful to people; Career Goals, such as doing what is needed for a promotion or leading your company to success; and Financial Goals, such as owning your own home, getting out of debt, increasing your net worth to gain financial independence.

            After you have determined what areas you will set goals in, you must commit to writing them down.  Studies show that committing goals to paper increases the probability of achieving them.  In a Forbes interview, Lee Iacocca said, “writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.”  There are many ways to write your goals down.  Different books and courses have a variety of forms to use to record goals, sub-goals and the mission statement that governs them.  For purposes here, just commit to writing goals down.  They do not have to be recorded in an expensive journal or on complicated flow charts.  In fact, often keeping it simple is best.  Just be sure they are challenging but reachable, quantifiable, and have specific timeliness and committed to paper.  If you do this, you will be way ahead of most people, and if you do this for your business, it will have greater chances of succeeding to great levels.  Now that you have committed to committing your goals to paper, let us look at how we can make them SMART.

            Many books, articles, and courses teach SMART goals.  It is a good acronym to use as you begin your goal setting.  SMART goals are simply:

Specific

Vague generalities do little to inspire us.  Our minds need specific targets to work toward.  You must state exactly what you wish to accomplish.  Provide enough detail to eliminate indecision when determining exactly what you should be doing.  To set specific goals, you should answer the six “W” questions: who, what, where, when, which, and why.

Measurable

            How will you know if your goal has been attained or not?  A measurable goal has an outcome that can be assessed.  It should have measurable progress, and you should establish concrete criteria for measuring such progress.  Measuring helps you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement when the goal is accomplished. 

Attainable

            When you identify and set specific goals that are important to you, you begin to figure out ways to attain them.  You go the extra mile to develop attitudes, abilities and skills to reach each goal you set.  You can attain just about any goal you set, if you really want it, and are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve it.

Realistic

            Goals should represent things you are willing and able to work toward.  It can be set high, and still be realistic.  Only you can determine what is too high.  Your belief and commitment that the goal can be accomplished represent if it is realistic or not.  This can not be emphasized enough, it is your call whether a goal is realistic or not.  What is realistic to one person may not be to someone else.  Your goals must be within the realm of your believability.

Timely

            A goal must have a time frame.  We are driven by deadlines, and establishing them for our goals is powerfully motivation.  It must not be set too far into the future, or it is too easily put off.  At the same time, it should not be set too close, making it unrealistic and discouraging.  If you do not set a time, goals tend not to happen.  It is too easy to think that you can start anytime, and you never do.  Without a time frame, there is no urgency to start taking action toward your goals, toward your dreams, toward your success.

            Setting goals is powerful.  Use the SMART acronym to help set goals you will achieve.  Once set, remember that you must focus on your goal and remain focused until you are successful.  Getting sidetracked and drifting off in different directions will stand in the way of true success.

Trump Time Out – Keep Your Eyes On The Prize

            “Never get sidetracked by less important tasks.  Always focus on the goal.  If you do get sidetracked, get right back on the rails, because ultimately sidetracking kills you.”    – Donald Trump from The Apprentice, season three, episode fourteen.

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