The Other Person Test

I have written before on the importance of our Goals, Vision, and the Driving Force behind it. Now, I want to focus on the Clarity of our Goals. Your goals must be easy to perceive, understand, or interpret. Albert Einstein knew how to set and achieve goals and once said “If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.” These are wise words from a wise man, so it’s vital to pay heed of Albert’s wisdom. You must be clear about where you want to go and what you want to do. I have made a lot of mistakes in this area, especially throughout my marketing days.

One of my coaches gave me the "Other Person Test." When you have your goal written out on paper, give it to a friend, spouse, or your coach. Have them read it back out loud to you. See if he or she can interpret the same goal that you have in your heart and mind.

Your goals must also be concise so that you can focus on your vision. They must be short and sweet. The definition of concise is “giving a lot of information clearly and in a few words; brief but comprehensive.” This is an art form for the gurus and they use what’s known as “laser focus” to develop a framework on how to set and achieve goals. It basically means that they pinpoint or sharply focus on their goals.

If your goal is not clear during "The Other Person Test", here are ways to create clarity:

• Be aware of what you want to achieve. First and foremost, if you want to define crystal clear goals, you need to know exactly what you want to achieve – where you want to be, what you want to have and what you want to do. You will never figure out to get there – if you do not know where THERE is
• Once you know where you want to be and what you want to achieve, you’ll be able to come up with the goals that will help you get there
• Take the time to sit down and brainstorm your long-term dreams and desires. - Where what to be in 1, 3, 5 and 10 years from now?
• Create a MAP (Massive Action Plan) to keep you on track, BUT, don’t etch your map in stone! Allow for modifications along the way, but always keep your eye ever focused on the primary goal.Keep it real. With realistic goals, you can all but guarantee that you will be able to achieve all that you desire. Set yourself a goal that is just a little bit outside of your reach… then when you reach it you will be able to reach out farther for the next one. This way you won’t stress yourself out trying to accomplish something that’s out of reach. A clear goal is a realistic one, make it a stretch goal (do not be too easy on yourself) but certainly make it attainable.
• Like I noted above you will want to break down long-term goals into smaller goals and smaller goal into bite sized, achievable action steps. Completing action steps and tasks towards your goals will give you a feeling of accomplishment and motivate you to continue your journey towards your major goal. Be Crystal Clear. Specify your goals with the details of exactly what you want. Avoid vague generalities. Make it so that you handed a stranger a piece of paper that hand your one sentence goal written on it, they would know exactly what you were trying to achieve. Also, they would be able to tell if you have achieved it already or now. When you make a specific goal, you’ll be better able to accomplish it – not to mention you will know WHEN you have accomplished it.
• Specific goals allow you to form your timeline and define your action steps. There’s no guesswork involved when dealing with specifics.

After you have done this, look at this list again. Are these goals reasonable in the time you set, are the realistic, and have you set up a system to achieve each set alone the way?

If you can now say Yes, redo the "Other Person Test." This is to make sure that the adjustments are still clear.