Corporate entities understand the importance of branding. Surprisingly, most people do not recognize the importance of branding themselves. In today’s competitive environment, it is important to create your own brand. It is a critical component to your success.  If done well, it will open doors for you and create lasting impressions on those you come into contact with.

Always remember: If you don’t brand yourself, someone else will brand you… and the outcome might not be what you would like it to be.

You can be sure that not everyone knows who you are or what you do.  Worse, it is highly likely that people may have already formed their own perceptions of who you are without your direct input. By developing your own specific brand, you establish that you are unique in your own right, as well as gaining control over alternate perceptions.

Take a lesson from the big brands – Apple, Nike, Starbucks (you get the picture…) – a lesson that’s true and relevant for anyone who is interested in standing above and prospering in today’s ever-evolving business environment: It doesn’t matter how old you are, what your position is, or which business you happen to be in – you need to understand the importance of branding. Without branding, there is nothing to set you apart from the rest – perceptions of mediocrity are likely to infiltrate.  Appropriate branding ensures you are perceived as an important asset.

YOU are the product. Everything you do affects your brand. Defining yourself as a valuable asset will add value to your position. It will ensure your business revolves around you – making you irreplaceable. You will be recognized for who you are, but more importantly, what you do.

Through personal branding, you define who you want to be, grow in the direction you want to grow and have the opportunity to improve your overall standings in the rankings. To be successful in business today, your most important job is to be the CMO for the brand called YOU. Are you a brand worthy of comment?

So, what does building your brand look like? This may seem simple, but it is not always easy…

First of all – start thinking differently! You do not belong to any company and your main affiliation is not to any function. You are not defined by your job title or confined by your position description – You are Brand YOU!  In order to start thinking of yourself as your own CMO, ask yourself the same question that top brand managers at major corporations ask themselves:

What makes my products or services different?

Challenge yourself to answer this question in less than 25 words. Write your answer. Read it several times. If your answer wouldn’t excite a client, command a vote of confidence from the people who work with you or for you (or those you work for)… or, worst of all, if it doesn’t convince you… you’ve got a big problem. It’s time to give some serious thought and effort to understanding and developing yourself as a brand.

Start by answering these follow-on questions:

• What make you distinctive from your colleagues — or your competition?
• What have you done recently to make yourself stand out?
• How do you promote yourself?
• What would your colleagues or customers say is your greatest and clearest strength?
• What is your most notable personal trait?

Answer these questions and build on them and you have begun to build your personal brand…

You can also use the standard model most corporations take to creating a brand, leveraging a concept known as feature-benefit. It dictates that every feature in a product or service yields an identifiable and distinguishable benefit for the customer or client. If you were to apply this model to your brand, what would you discover?

By making the effort to go through the above exercises, you will not only be actively optimizing every opportunity to seize new ground, you will also be going through an exercise of self-discovery. In addition, you will find that by defining and developing your explicit brand, you will be making significant contributions to your organization’s success.

It is always important to have the capacity to self promote in order to give your skills the recognition they deserve and provide a platform for people to trust and admire you.  Once people know your brand they can begin to trust in you and your expertise – good branding means they never forget what you have to offer. Branding yourself isn’t as much about who you are as an individual, but more about what you bring to the table.

Branding yourself allows you to define who you are and establishes you as the expert in your field. Everyone wants to know someone who is perceived as bringing value and getting results. If you don’t tell people what you have to offer and self-promote effectively, they have no way of knowing.  The myth that people will see what you do on their own and recognize you for your efforts, is for the most part just that – a myth.

By branding yourself as an expert and explicitly defining your personal strengths, you automatically receive status. Whether you maintain the image that your branding creates… well, that’s up to you…

Offer your expertise, break from the status quo, and create a unique representation ~ your brand will flourish.

What Is Your Brand?

Please engage the discussion and let us know how you have successfully branded yourself. Always feel free to contact me atSheri.Mackey@LuminosityGlobal.com or by visiting our website at www.LuminosityGlobal.com. Check back next week for the next installment of Leadership Across Boundaries and Borders.

The greatest achievement of the human spirit is to live up to one’s opportunities and make the most of one’s resources.

 ~ Marquis de Vauvenargues 

Wherever your most desired destination may be, one thing is for sure – if you don’t get on the road, you will never arrive.  Once you decide to embark on the less traveled path of pursuing your personal goals, it it important that you set achievable milestones in order to successfully enter the narrow gate of your desired destination. It may feel like a long journey, but with perseverance and dedication to fulfilling your potential, you will arrive…

When you have achieved that goal you have steadily been working toward, ensure you take the time to congratulate yourself and enjoy the satisfaction of having achieved what you set out to do. Absorb the implications of the achievement, and observe the progress that you’ve made towards other goals. At the very least, achieving your milestones will fuel your motivation to propel you toward your next goal – ultimately guiding you to where you want to be.  Achieving even small goals (milestones) along the way will give you the self-confidence to pursue new and exciting destinations.

Whether the goal was small or large, STOP and take a little time to enjoy the moment and reward yourself appropriately. Recognize your success for what it is…SUCCESS!

Now, with the positive experience of having achieved a goal, and taking the time to properly acknowledge your accomplishment, review the journey to date and determine:

• Was the goal too easily attained? If so,  make sure your remaining goals (or your next goals) stretch your capacity so that you continue to grow and arrive at new and exciting destinations.
• Did the goal take a daunting length of time to achieve? Ensure your next goals are a little more  time-bound, and check the distance between your milestones.
• Did you learn something from your journey? If so, leverage your learning and use it to facilitate the journey toward future destinations.
• Did you perceive a deficit in your skills, despite achieving the goal? Think about incorporating some of the more challenging aspects of the journey onto future roadmaps in order to allow you to hone that particular skill for future journeys.
• Have you derived as much pleasure from the journey as you have in arriving at the destination? I hope so – life is all about the journey after all…

Now that you have arrived at your desired destination, it is time for you to reset your navigation system and set that next big, audacious goal that will take you on yet another exciting journey toward the fulfillment of all of your most “desired destinations”…

Where will you go next?

I hope this series has provided some useful guidelines toward helping you to manage your journey toward your ultimate destination. Please engage the discussion and let us know how you will travel toward your next personal goal. Always feel free to contact me atSheri.Mackey@LuminosityGlobal.com or by visiting our website at www.LuminosityGlobal.com. Check back next week for the next installment of Leadership Across Boundaries and Borders.

Goal setting sounds simple right? Well it is, but it can go downhill very quickly. You have committed to your personal goal-setting journey, but there are some roadblocks to watch out for. The first rule of the road is, “keep on moving!” Despite honoring this mantra, you may still fail to reach your desired destination because you (consciously or unconsciously) take some critical wrong turns that keep you off course:

1.    You just won’t follow the process through because:

• You can’t think of a good reason to set goals: This is your future we are talking about here – goal setting defines your destination and how you will get there, so that one day your dreams becomes reality. Keep this in mind when you are deciding how to proceed…
• You are in control of your own destiny: You are where you are now because of the action [or inaction] you have taken in the past. Where you’ll be in the future is determined by the actions you take today. Is there any better reason to start setting goals and having some control over your future?
• You don’t see how goal setting will help you: Maps help you get where you want to go, right? That’s all goal setting and action planning really are – the roadmap to your future.  Of course it will help.
• You haven’t got time: Goal setting is about working smarter, not harder. Yes, it will take some of your time and energy, you may even have to make some sacrifices. However, the end results are truly worth the effort. Surely you can set aside a small amount of time each day to move toward your life’s purpose and take the actions necessary to get there?  The sad reality is that many people procrastinate all their life and never achieve what they really want to achieve. Don’t be one of those people. Visualize what life will be like when you arrive at your desired destination and use this vision to give you the motivation and “drive” to get there.
• You believe it is too hard: Goal setting is simple, but not easy. It takes some time and you need to do some soul searching to determine what it is that you really want out of life – but it is not hard. It may seem overwhelming, however by managing the process with relevant mile-markers, you can continually move in the right direction and ultimately achieve everything you want.  The other thing to remember is that goal setting is a skill. Like all skills, goal setting takes exposure and time to develop.
• You are afraid of failure: What is fear? False Expectations Appearing Real.  You determine what you are capable of, and more than likely you are your biggest constraint. What is the worst case scenario of not achieving your goals? You may achieve some of your goals or, perhaps, a portion of a goal. You will know that you gave it your best effort and as a result achieved something… Now, what is the most likely outcome of not setting any personal goals? Not going anywhere - far worse, by my estimation.  Fear of failure is real. It is critically important to come to terms with this, as fear of failure can result in a complete lack of action… resulting in failure to achieve anything meaningful. Learn to grow from failure, rather than fear it.
• You don’t take your goals seriously enough to fully commit: You need to take goal setting seriously if it is going to work for you. You have probably tried New Years resolutions in the past – did you take them seriously? Did you succeed?

2.    You do not put your goals in writing

“Out of sight, out of mind” is the best way to explain why goals and the supporting action plans need to be put in writing. The best way to reinforce key concepts and your commitment to your goals is to have them written down where you can read them regularly (daily!).

3.    You may have been unrealistic in setting your goals

Just because you’ve written down a goal doesn’t mean it is just going to magically happen. You need to take action to achieve your goals, and the only way you’ll be able to get there is if the goals are reasonable and realistic in the first place. If you set unrealistic goals, you are just setting yourself up for failure. Be very conscientious of :

• Setting unrealistic deadlines for achieving goals.
• Understanding it takes time to learn a new skill, develop a new habit or quit an old one
• Taking on too much at a time – do you remember how to eat an elephant?
• Acknowledging your own limitations, predispositions and natural abilities. Focus on your natural abilities and motivations, and use this to drive your success.

4.    Your motivations are unclear

Goals must be personal and meaningful, otherwise you’ll have no reason to achieve them. In other words, the “Why” is more important than the “What”.

5.    You do not establish a roadmap

Establishing meaningful goals in writing is only a part of the journey – you need a roadmap (i.e., action plan) to guide you to your destination. The goal is the destination, the map will guide you in how to get there. All successful missions have had a plan or strategy. Be patient and don’t just rush in – take the time to plan the journey so you take the best route, prepare for detours and avoid obvious road closures.

6.    You do not take action

Having a flawless plan mapped out to get you to that dream destination is not worth the paper it’s written on if it just sits in your drawer – you must ACT on your plan! Your action plan (and your goals) should be dynamic – they will change as you progress through the journey. As you come across road blocks and detours, or as your life changes course.  Despite unscheduled roadwork, the map will continue to guide you and tell you what to do –  but you still need to get out from behind that desk and put that vehicle in drive!

7.    You Lose Focus

Success at achieving your goals requires focus, commitment and persistence. Sometimes your energy will be low and you will be tempted to lose focus, but it’s important not to give up – roll down the window for some fresh air, continue on down the road, visualize the outcome of your desired destination and continue on your journey. To help keep you focused, try enlisting the help of a personal mentor to confide in through the process. You can share you successes [and failures] with them, get their input and use it to help you grow from these experiences.

Realistically, your enthusiasm and concentration will probably last a couple of weeks, but then your every day routine will infiltrate and you will start switching from one lane to another – by the end of the year very little or nothing at all will have been achieved outside of your daily duties.  In order to stay true to the process,  you need a strong motivator. Something that will pull, push or drag you forward. There is only one thing powerful enough to do that – a VISION.  See yourself clearly after having achieved your goals. You need to become the person capable of arriving at that dream destination. At an even higher level you have to start thinking like that person, acting like that person. Create a vision so powerful, so compelling that it truly motivates you to drive forward. It has to become an obsession. You have to feel absolute excitement and complete determination. Then any form of traditional goal setting becomes possible.

These deadly sins of goal setting are dangerous  and need to be monitored at all times. If you are driving into uncharted territory, veering off course from your roadmap, you are unlikely to arrive at you dream destination.  Stay vigilant!

Are YOU at risk  for arriving at a self-imposed roadblock?

I hope this has provided some useful guidelines toward helping you to manage your journey toward your ultimate destination. Please engage the discussion and let us know what drives you. Always feel free to contact me atSheri.Mackey@LuminosityGlobal.com or by visiting our website at www.LuminosityGlobal.com. Check back next week for the next installment of Leadership Across Boundaries and Borders.

Our goals can only be reached through the vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.

 ~ Stephen A. Brennan

So, now you have committed to your goals, but how will you ensure continued forward motion toward your desired destination? The sad fact is that in spite of so much information being readily available on personal goal setting, in spite of this skill even being taught in some schools… most people do not – will not – decide exactly what they want out of life… ever! Personal goal setting is one of the most useful and satisfying activities a person can engage in, yet it something most people  just will not typically do.

How can you score points if you don’t know where the goal is? Chances are, if you don’t know where you’re going… you end up somewhere you never intended to be. How can you arrive at your desired destination without a reliable road map?  Action without planning, is just activity… busyness… an unproductive waste of energy and time. Personal goal setting is like fuel injection for your mind. When SMART goals are properly incorporated within the context of your personal journey, they will produce effective, self-perpetuating action.

In order to have the best chance at successfully achieving your goals, here are some tips that will help you to stay on track and moving in the right direction:

1.   Write Your Goals Down… and describe them in complete detail.

It may seem obvious, but WRITE your SMART goals down in infinite detail.  They are not something to be filed away -  the personal goals you develop should reside within a living document that is reviewed daily and updated once a month. They are your roadmap to the future and serve as a constant reminder to the opportunities and challenges ahead.

2.   Make Sure You Fully Understand WHY You Have Chosen These Specific Goals. 

Failure to answer the “why?” question will result in an overall lack of motivation and will produce a significant likelihood that you will fail to follow the plan.  There are reasons behind your goals for yourself – usually dozens of them.   If you take the time to realize why these specific goals are important to you, you will be more likely to arrive at your desired destination. List your very personal reasons, focusing on the real benefits. The more complete the list, the stronger your motivation will be.  Read through your reasons every morning.

 3. Drive Toward Action Every Day… work continuously on your goals until each goal is accomplished.

 I am sure you have heard a hundred times, “Think big!” or perhaps “ Your goals are only limited by your imagination!”  So, you have written down your BIG, almost “off the map” goal. After all, you don’t want to underestimate yourself! You know you can do this… BUT after a tough day at work you are just so exhausted… maybe tomorrow?

Reality: Tomorrow Never Comes

 If you are serious about achieving everything (and more) that you want out of life, here’s a small tip that may help you to get started and continue moving on down the road, no matter how big your goal is:  Every night write down a small task for the next day – Something that will require no more than 10 or 15 minutes, but will move you incrementally toward your goals.

~ Make that phone call to start reconnecting your network
~ Read a quick chapter of something that will help you drive toward your goals
~ Spend a portion of your breakfast or lunch reviewing your action plan                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            ~ Anything that will explicitly represent forward movement toward your goals…

The secret is that the most difficult thing is to get started. Once you begin moving forward, you are far more likely to continue the momentum.  And once the momentum kicks in, you will  discover that you won’t mind doing more because you are working toward your future! Set big goals, but make your initial tasks small.

4. Create A “Success Log”

Unfortunately very few recognize the power of  the personal success log. It takes only a few minutes a day to write down your achievements and the tasks you’ve accomplished, but these moments have the power to transform your life for the following reasons:

• Success logs motivate you. By writing down your forward movement toward your goals each day, you will be able to physically see your progress. You will be able to explicitly observe how your consistent small steps are moving you closer to your desired destination.
• A Success log helps to eliminate temptation. It is easier to stay focused on (and accountable to) your goals when you know that you have to write down what you have accomplished toward your personal goals each day.
• The Success log can simplify your life. Things become much simpler when they are written down. A log (or journal) makes you more aware of life’s distractions.

5.   Know There Is NO Perfect Moment For Working On Your Goals

 Are you waiting for a perfect moment to work on your goal? Do you believe you will be able to recognize the perfect moment when it comes? There is one simple formula that instantly tells you the perfect time to start achieving your goal: Perfect Moment = NOW!

 This is the ONLY perfect moment to start working towards your goals.  Don’t waste time waiting for the perfect condition or the perfect opportunity to arrive – IT NEVER WILL. Start now, use what you have and resist the impulse to procrastinate! If you are putting your journey on hold rather than driving toward where you really want to go,  answer these questions:

1. What do you want to do?
2. Where are you now?
3. How far off course are you?
4. How will you feel at each destination?

By writing down what you want to do, you are unconsciously picturing yourself going in a positive direction and ultimately achieving your goals. Now, think about where you are today and how it feels to drive around the parking lot in circles, not moving forward or arriving at any exciting destinations.  What does “the gap” look like? How do the two separate destinations make you feel? How far off course are you? What are you going to do about it?  Use this vision and the resulting information to move yourself away from procrastination and toward your ultimate destination!  It’s a very simple technique, but it works like a magic!

Are you on course toward your desired destination or are you”stuck in the mud”?

I hope this has provided some useful guidelines toward helping you to manage your journey toward your ultimate destination. Please engage the discussion and let us know what drives you. Always feel free to contact me atSheri.Mackey@LuminosityGlobal.com or by visiting our website at www.LuminosityGlobal.com. Check back next week for the next installment of Leadership Across Boundaries and Borders.

Goals. There’s no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There’s no telling what you can do when you believe in them. There’s no telling what will happen when you act upon them.

~ Jim Rohn

Many people, often senior leaders, feel as if they’re adrift in the world – not sure what their ultimate purpose or legacy might be. They work hard, they get the promotions, and advance somewhat successfully through life from day to day, but they don’t seem to get anywhere worthwhile – anywhere that is self-fulfilling.  One critical reason this happens is because they typically haven’t spent enough time thinking about what they want from life  - and they haven’t set their coordinates for success!

Goal setting is much more than simply saying you want something to happen. Unless you clearly define exactly what you want and understand why you want it the first place, your odds of success are significantly diminished.

Here are some broad guidelines to help you not only to set effective, achievable goals, but also to keep the focus on the why:

• Make each goal a positive statement – Express your goals positively – “Execute this initiative to my highest standards, while remaining on schedule and 10% under budget” is a much better goal than “Don’t fail to execute this initiative.”

• Be precise: Set precise goals, putting in dates, times and amounts so that you can measure achievement. This provides a mechanism to know exactly when the goal is achieved, and you can take complete satisfaction from having achieved it.

• Set clear priorities – When there is more than one goal, give each a priority. This will help you to avoid the feeling of being overwhelmed by having too much to focus on at any one time – while also directing your attention to the most important priorities.

• Clear, purposeful steps that are taken along the way will guide you to where you want to be. Your big, scary  audacious goal may take a year (or significantly more), however shorter – daily, weekly or monthly – excursions will help you to stay on course and focused in the right direction.

• Keep tactical goals small – Keep the low-level goals that you’re working towards small and achievable. If a goal is too big, it may seem that you are not making adequate progress. Keeping goals incremental, marked as milestones, provides the means to keep you motivated – not to mention more opportunity for reward.

• Set performance goals, not outcome goals – Set goals within your control as often as possible. It can be discouraging to fail for reasons beyond your control. If you base your goals on personal performance, then you maintain control over the achievement of your goals, and draw personal satisfaction from your successes.

• Balance your goals – It’s important to set goals that you can achieve, while still stretching your intellect and abilities.
•  Set emotionally charged goals that motivate and drive you to keep your eyes fixed on your ultimate destination continuously,without faltering…However, realistically some days are better than others. Sometimes you just won’t feel like making the effort you need to attain your goal. It is the big ‘WHY‘ that will keep you going on those less than desirable days.  Figuring out what really matters adds emotion to goals. The bigger the reason, the more emotional the goal is – the more emotional your attachment, the more motivated you will remain to continue pursuing your desired destination.

• Have Faith.  Faith is unshakable belief. Knowing that you know that you know that you know… where you are going!  If you are confident in yourself and believe in the goals you are pursuing, you will be on an incredible journey to an amazing destination!

Hopefully you have achieved your first goal – setting meaningful personal goals that you are committed to achieving!  Perhaps it is this initial milemarker that will take you to your ultimate destination…

What is driving you toward your ultimate destination?

I hope this has provided some useful guidelines toward helping you to manage your journey toward your ultimate destination. Please engage the discussion and let us know what drives you. Always feel free to contact me atSheri.Mackey@LuminosityGlobal.com or by visiting our website at www.LuminosityGlobal.com. Check back next week for the next installment of Leadership Across Boundaries and Borders.

The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable…

~Denis Waitley

Have you ever stopped to think about what you want your life to mean? What it is you really want to accomplish? Have you thought about what you want to be doing in ten years… or even five years’ time? Are you clear about what your main objective is at the moment? How does it contribute to your vision for your life? Do you even know what you want to achieve by the end of today?

Many people lose sight of what is important to them and fail to keep a direct line of sight to the why of what they do. It’s easy to lose sight of. From experience, I would say that most people do a whole lot in a day (a month…a year) that adds very little value to their overall life, however they just get lost in the demands of the moment…

By setting aligned goals that are based upon managed timelines, you can add purpose and direction to your life, while at the same time understanding and focusing on the overall why of what you do from day to day… and year to year.

Here is a basic process:

Setting Lifetime Goals

The first step in setting personal goals is to consider what you want to achieve in your lifetime (or at least, by a significant and distant age in the future). Setting lifetime goals gives you an overall perspective that shapes all other aspects of your life, and hence, your decision-making process.

To provide a multi-lane highway for you to travel through life on, it is important to bring broad, balanced coverage to all-important areas in your life. Establish goals in some of the following categories that may be important to you:

Family/Friends – How do you want to be seen by your spouse and/or your children… how about by members of your extended family or friends? How will you express what’s important to you? What legacy would you like to leave behind someday for those you love?

Career – What do you want to achieve in your work life? What is your life’s work? Do you see a career change later in life? What will you contribute in your retirement years?

Financial – How much do you want to earn, by what stage in your life? How is this related to your career goals? Will getting to your ultimate destination require funds? What about once you are there? The financial means you need in life may not be available if you do not plan and have a financial roadmap as to how you will arrive where you really want to go.

Physical – Do you want to ensure good health deep into old age? What steps are you going to take to achieve this? What needs to happen today, next year…in five, ten, twenty years to ensure you have the physical endurance to travel well. Do you want to travel into later life in a Porsche or a junkyard special? Will you fuel up with “regular” or “supreme” gasoline for the journey?

Pleasure – How do you want to enjoy yourself? What do you enjoy doing today? What would you thoroughly like to take up as a hobby in retirement? What will it take for you to enjoy life, appreciating and utilizing your gifts and talents far down the road?

Service – Do you want to make the world a better place? If so, how? What is your legacy? How will you achieve it? What will it mean to other important areas of your life, such as your family? I hope, in this instance, you are not traveling alone – there is no legacy without impacting those who matter.

None of these things happen by osmosis – YOU have to plan and set goals in order to become the person you want to be and to have achieved what you want to have achieved by later life.

Spend some time brainstorming, then select the goals that best reflect what you want to do with your life. As mentioned in previous posts – alignment is the key. Your goals should always interrelate and align so that you are never confused by which way to travel.

Step 2: Setting Smaller Goals

Once you have established where your desired destination is, set a five-year plan of smaller goals that you need to complete if you are to continue traveling toward your lifetime destination.

Follow up with a one-year plan… a six-month plan… a one-month plan. Continue narrowing your focus toward progressively smaller goals that you should reach to achieve your lifetime goals. Again, each of these milestones should interrelate and be based on the bigger road map toward your desired Destination.

Finally, create a daily “To Do List” of very specific things that you need to do in order to continually move toward your lifetime goals. This is not a list of “what I need to do at work today” or your personal errands…this is a short list every day of things you can do to continue moving toward those ultimate goals. It may take a bit of an effort to get into the habit, but the payoff is BIG!

Finally, review your plans often, and make sure all movement points in the direction of your most coveted destination. If you need to re-route – DO IT!

Are you moving toward your desired destination?

I hope this provided something to ponder this week. Please engage the discussion and let us know what your roadmap looks like. Always feel free to contact me atSheri.Mackey@LuminosityGlobal.com or by visiting our website at www.LuminosityGlobal.com. Check back next week for the next installment of Leadership Across Boundaries and Borders.

If you want to succeed, you need to set goals. Without goals, you lack focus and direction. Goal setting not only allows you to take control of your life’s direction; it also provides a benchmark to determine if you are actually succeeding. After all, having money in the bank is only proof of success if  your goal is to create wealth and all that comes with it. However, if your real goal is make a difference in this world, the money may only be a milestone on the way to your final destination – or may not play into your life goals at all.

As mentioned earlier in the week, goal setting is a process.  While it is both necessary and critical to set SMART goals, it is particularly useless if you cannot operationalize the process and incorporate it into something you will leverage for your own success. Having established the meaning and specifics behind SMART goals, let’s look at a way to operationalize the process:

1.  Take the most efficient route: State each goal in one sentence – make it SMART.

The single sentence guideline forces you to be focused – stating clearly and plainly what you intend to accomplish. This clarity, right at the beginning of the goal setting process, makes it incredibly powerful. It also makes it straight-forward to check that you are meeting ALL SMART criteria within the context of the guideline.

2.  Appreciate the journey: Understand WHY you have chosen specific goals

Goals, as important as they are, need to have a deeper why or they are not sustainable. There must be an engine that drives them – a commitment to something that matters. Failure to address this challenge will almost certainly result in lack of motivation and failure to attain the milestones necessary to achieve your goals.  Answer this question thoroughly in your own mind and you will be motivated to follow the route to your ultimate destination.

3.  What is waiting for you at your destination: List the main benefits of achieving each goal.

When you attach benefits to your goals, they become powerful motivators for change. Brainstorm the positive outcomes of each goal to exhaustion – the more benefits are associated to each goal, the more you will be motivated to accomplish it.

4.  Plot the map: Detail the action steps for achieving each goal.

Here is where the rubber hits the road –  note, step by detailed step, what it will take to achieve each goal. What is your level of commitment to following through on each level of detail? Consider this carefully before committing to the specific goal. Each step should be given a date and a deadline that is then placed on your calendar. As you achieve each milestone, don’t forget to celebrate! If you miss a short or mid-term milestone, make a midcourse correction and move on down the road…

5.  Check your route in advance: List the potential obstacles that may inhibit your travel plans.

Most goal planning maps omit this critical step – much to the detriment of the driver. Ask yourself, “What can go wrong?” If there was nothing standing in your way, you would have accomplished this goal by now. By uncovering as many obstacles as possible early in the process, you can address them before they derail you.

6.  Reroute: List the possible solutions to the obstacles of each goal.

Often, the same obstacles emerge in different forms in various areas of your life. By recognizing what these obstacles are, you can begin to design solutions or work arounds before they become an issue. Again, an exhaustive brainstorm session is in order… it will not negate the obstacles, but will allow you to think through the challenges and prepare for what is on the horizon as you move forward.

7.  Alternate destinations:  Realize that occasionally goals change – remain flexible.

Goal setting is an on-going process and needs to be flexible enough to allow for interesting detours and opportunities discovered along the way. Your priorities (and therefore your goals) may change as circumstances and other goals change . When this happens, it is critical to sit down and go through the goal setting process again to make sure your goals still have the personal meaning that makes you want to achieve them. If you need to change a goal, do not consider it a failure – consider it an informed detour with a course correction. The important concept is that you have the insight to realize something has changed and that you have the ability to do something about it!

Setting SMART goals, simply put, is not enough. If you are serious about arriving at your desired destination, it is important to consider your motivations and navigate through the details of your goals. If you are not committed to thoroughly plotting your course, it is likely you may not be entirely devoted to your goals and the process required to achieve them.

How committed are you to arriving at your desired destination?

I hope you learned something new to consider in your goal setting process this week. Please engage the discussion and let us know how you ensure your commitment to your goals is fulfilled. Always feel free to contact me at Sheri.Mackey@LuminosityGlobal.com or by visiting our website at www.LuminosityGlobal.com. Check back next week to find out some additional tips that will help you to arrive at your desired destination, the next installment of Leadership Across Boundaries and Borders.

If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else. 

~Lawrence J. Peter

Just as when you are traveling to a destination it is helpful to know the best route, in driving toward your goals it is useful to know how to get there in the most expedient way. Goal setting is a process that starts with careful consideration of what you want to achieve, and ends after a lot of tenacity and commitment to accomplish what you set out to do. In between there are some very well defined steps that transcend the specifics of each goal. Following these road signs will allow you to realize your desired destination without taking too many detours.

We have, over the past couple of weeks, focused on why goals are important and preparing for the journey of personal goal setting.  Now that we have prepared, it is time to embark on our journey of personal goal setting. Most of us are familiar with the SMART mnemonic for setting goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. Unfortunately, few actually give much time and attention to the model. It is, however, a key difference between goals that are achieved and goals that are not.

S: Be Specific

First and foremost, goals need to be specific, clear and well defined. They should state exactly what you want to do in concrete terms. Vague or ambiguous goals are unhelpful because they won’t provide sufficient direction. Remember, you need goals to show you the way. This is the fundamental difference between a dream and a goal. Dreams get you nowhere if they do not become actionable, yet you would be surprised at how many leaders fail at this first, critical step. In order to succeed you should:

• Ask yourself exactly what it is you want to do
• Understand why you want to do it
• Ask yourself how you plan to do it
• Ask yourself who you will need to help you
• Ask yourself when you would like to achieve the goal

Being specific has a tremendous impact on your mind. Vague, generalized goals are likely to leave you bored and disinterested over time… specific, detailed goals should fuel your mind and energize your actions.

Being specific also means writing your goals down. Writing your goals out in complete detail provides the subconscious mind with a detailed set of instructions to work on – a roadmap for success. The more information you give it, the clearer the final outcome becomes. The more precise the outcome, the more efficient the mind can become. The simple mechanical act of writing makes your goals visible and tangible. Now they are no longer just thoughts – they are commitments!

M: Measure For Movement

What gets measured, gets done. Measurement can be inherent in the specifics of a goal, but not always.  A clear and concise way of measuring your goals will help you to see your progress. Just as with any measure of success, you must start from a baseline and have the capability to measure movement from there. Otherwise, how will you know when you get there? Sometimes change happens so slowly it is hard to notice – with clear measures in place, you will be able to observe milestones that will let you know you are still on track and making progress toward your ultimate destination.  Although some things may be difficult to measure, you must land on a means of measuring success that tracks over time. Include precise amounts, dates, etc in your goals that allow you to measure your degree of success. Without a way to measure your success you miss out on the celebration that comes with knowing you have actually achieved something!

*Note: Set regular, meaningful short and intermediate goals, also known as milestones, to keep you on time and on track with progress toward your final destination. Schedule milestones on your calendar to measure progress toward your goals, allowing you to make mid-course corrections that may be needed along the way – within the timelines you have set.

A: Achievable and Aligned Goals

Make sure the goals you set are achievable… with considerable effort. If you set goals that are beyond your ways and means, you are not likely to maintain the conviction and perseverance to pursue them relentlessly.  Goals need to stretch you, yes, but the stretch must be reasonable and balanced with other priorities or goals. Self-awareness is critically important in goal setting. No amount of ,”I think I can…” will move you forward if you do not have the gifts, talents, capabilities and true grit to make it happen. Self-help motivation without the insight of self-awareness will fail you every time.

At the same time, resist the urge to set goals that are too easy. Accomplishing a goal that you didn’t have to work hard for can be anticlimactic at best – while preventing you achieving your potential at the other end of the spectrum. By setting realistic yet challenging goals, you will find the balance you need. Seek goals that require you to “raise the bar” and they will bring you the greatest personal satisfaction.

R: Be Relevant and Realistic

Relevant goals are in alignment with your overall objectives. Relevance is the key to sustained goal fulfillment. You will not accomplish something over time that you are not internally committed to with all your heart and mind. Goals should be relevant to the direction you want your life and career to take. By keeping goals aligned with your overall values, you will develop a sense of focus that will take you where you want to go. Set inconsistent goals, and you will find yourself unfocused and limited in your ability to achieve your life’s mission. Remember, goals are your servant, not your master – they must serve the greater purpose of your values and priorities to be truly SMART.

T: Time-bound

If you do not have a timeline, you do not have a goal. The specifics of goal setting must answer the question, “By when?” By establishing deadlines,  you will explicitly know when it is time to celebrate your success! Working on deadlines also increases your sense of urgency, helping you to arrive at your desired destination before you know it.

Although it may seem inconvenient to trek through the SMART model to create your personal goals – the payoff is BIG. By being specific, measurable, achievable and aligned, as well as relevant and time-bound, you will increase your likelihood of success substantially. Over the next few weeks, we will continue to discuss personal goal setting, as well as the process and maintenance plan behind achieving your goals. I hope this review of SMART goals has been useful and given you some guidelines for creating your personal goals and the plan to achieve them! This Thursday, I will post a methodology for operationalizing your goals.

Are you prepared to be SMART in setting your personal goals?

I would love for you to engage the discussion and let us know how you would use SMART to develop your personal goals. Always feel free to contact me at Sheri.Mackey@LuminosityGlobal.com or by visiting our website at www.LuminosityGlobal.com. Check back Thursday for a special installment of Leadership Across Boundaries and Borders.

What is the difference between a dream and a goal? A dream is fanciful and vague, while a goal is concrete and measurable. Despite the differences, if you do not properly prepare for personal goal setting, your goals can easily become just faded dreams.

In order to succeed in establishing a purpose and direction for our lives, we need to do more then simply have vague ideas in our head or scribble down some random ideas on a piece of paper. 
Goals need to be complete and focused, much like a dedicated route on a map. In planning for your journey in personal goal setting, there are some important preparations that need to be made in order to help you accurately follow the route, recognize milestones and ultimately, reach the final destination you most sincerely desire.

There are several critical steps you should consider before actually setting your goals that will help you to stay on track and motivated through the entire process of setting and attaining your personal goals:

1. Make sure the goals you establish are what you really want – not just something that sounds good or something someone else wants for you.

When setting goals it is very important to remember that your goals must be consistent with your values. Knowing and explicitly understanding your core values will go a long way in helping you to know what it is you really want from life, as well as realizing your own potential.

2. Understand that goals are not mutually exclusive.

Develop goals in several different areas of your life, but understand you are an integrated person – and as such, you goals should be integrated and aligned as well. Some key areas to consider: Family, Friendship, Financial, Professional, Spiritual, Ethical, Health & Fitness, Leisure and Personal Growth & Development. Setting separate, but aligned, goals in various areas of life will focus you on living a balanced life.

3. Think about goals in a positive frame.

Work for what you want, not for what you want to leave behind. A significant reason we need to write down and examine our goals is to help move our motivations from the subconscious to the conscious. Expressing our goals in a forward, positive frame  positively influences overall outlooks and promotes personal growth.

4. As you consider your goals, don’t hold back.

In order to reach your potential in life, you need to dream and then make it real by transforming those dreams into goals. Make your goals BIG. Your goals should challenge you. Easy, small goals are not motivating (we are not discounting milestones to a bigger goal) – but big scary goals are. If your goals don’t excite and scare you at the same time, you’re probably aiming too low. You are far more likely to hit what you are aiming for if you have a designated target - so you might as well aim high. Decide what you would do if you knew you could not fail – dream, fantasize, use your creative imagination to facilitate your goals … Make them worthwhile, make them impressive – make them mean something to you!

5. Consider goals that fire your emotions

One of the biggest success drivers for goal attainment is choosing emotionally charged goals that focus, motivate and empower  you to keep your eyes fixed on the prize – regardless of circumstance – without ever faltering… The reality is that some days will be better than others. Sometimes you just won’t feel like making the effort you need to attain your goal. It is the big ‘why’ that will keep you going on those not so good days. Understanding the reasons for specific goals adds emotion and commitment to the process.  The bigger the reason, the greater the motivation. More about this next week…

As you can see, much more should go into effective goal setting than simply picking goals and systematically working toward them – although that, of course, is a key component to goal attainment! Over the next few weeks, we will be discussing some guidelines and methodologies for personal goal setting, as well as the process and maintenance plan behind achieving your goals. I hope this initial step has been helpful and given you some motivation to think about your personal goals and creating a plan to achieve them!

Are you prepared for your journey toward personal goal fulfillment?

I would love for you to engage the discussion and let us know what you think is important in preparing to create your personal goals. Please feel free to contact me at  Sheri.Mackey@LuminosityGlobal.com or by visiting our website at www.LuminosityGlobal.com. Check back next week for the next installment of Leadership Across Boundaries and Borders.

All successful people men and women are big dreamers.

They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect,

and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.

- Brian Tracy

Personal goal setting is the single most important thing you can do to ensure you reach your potential – as a leader and as a person. You need well-defined targets that give you direction and motivation – they are your road map to success, your life’s plan, and your personal guide to the future. Think about it, without setting both personal and professional goals you are following a road with no destination.

In reality, would you set out for an unfamiliar destination with no real idea of how to get there? Probably not! Despite this fact, statistics show that while most leaders have substantial goals in place for their organizations, very few actually have goals in place for their lives.

If you’re one of the 95% of people on this planet who don’t know what their personal goals are (or life’s ambition is) – and as a result still have no idea where your final destination will be – then you should consider creating explicit goals that will drive you to achieve everything you want in life. Goal setting is just a process, but it is a very important and personal process that helps you get what you really want out of life. Many people never take the time to think about what they ultimately want from life… or next week, for that matter. Others dream about where they want to go,
but never develop  a map to guide them as to how to get there in an effective, efficient way. Odds are, you fall into one of these two categories…

Throughout history, there is a clear link between people that set goals and people that succeed. This is because personal goals provide a way to define a clear path toward a chosen destination.  The old saying that,” people who succeed have goals and people who have goals succeed” is absolutely relevant and true in every society around the world. Establishing personal goals will significantly increase your chance of life happening the way you want it to happen.

By establishing personal and professional goals, you will:

• Work out what you really want from life – leading you into the future. This is a personal process. You’re the only one who knows what you really want, and it’s often not what you think and not what others may expect from you. That’s okay, this is about you and your personal growth… nothing and no one else.

• Create a roadmap to help you achieve what you really want – there is no point having a great destination if you don’t know how to get there.

• Access the motivation to work toward fulfilling your potential – because you will be able to work out and explicitly see your aspirations, you will be motivated to actively push toward your chosen future.

• Obtain a tool to guard against losing your direction.  It’s easy to get distracted by life’s challenges.  Personal goals will help you focus your time and energy in the right direction, especially when you are being pulled in many different ways.

• Acquire a mechanism to produce a tangible outcome that will allow you to achieve your dreams and create a legacy.

For the next several weeks, we will discuss personal goal setting and how to make these goals work for you in achieving your short, medium, and long term aspirations for your life.

How do you keep yourself accountable to achieving your life’s goals?

Please feel free to contact me at Sheri.Mackey@LuminosityGlobal.com or by visiting our website atwww.LuminosityGlobal.com. Be sure and check in next Thursday as we begin a series on Leadership Lessons From Around The World!