Productivity Archives

The 5 goal-setting lessons that transformed my life

brentlowe Entrepreneur, Leadership Entrepreneurship, Goal Setting, leadership, Productivity

Three years ago I was stuck in the mud. Fully up to my knees trudging a path I didn’t enjoy.

I knew exactly what I wanted.

I knew where I wanted to be.

Yet that hopeful future image alluded me. It had been doing so for a decade or more.

Every year, like many, I wrote a list of goals for myself. I’d charge into the new year full of enthusiasm. By mid-January I was back in the same rut — the list of goals buried deep in a book somewhere.

Everything changed three years ago. I was introduced to a new approach. Over time I’ve improved upon it.

The result? I hit all my 2017 goals. In less than two years, I created a new business from ground up. I’ve surpassed the goals that laid dormant for more than a decade.

Here’s the recipe I use. Give it a try.

Visualization is everything. If you can’t visualize your outcome as if it’s already happened, then it won’t. Period. I spent years hoping for something different in the future. Even planning for it. But I couldn’t fully visualize it. I wasn’t able to put myself into the future state I wanted to create.

All great accomplishments come to those who believe before they achieve. Elon Musk can envision taking humans to Mars. Richard Branson could envision landing a hot air balloon on the other side of the ocean.

I’ve learned to focus on what I believe possible. I visualize that goal as already complete. The sense of accomplishment it has brought. The feeling of it all.

In the first year my goals were small, but they took me out of a rut. Each year the visualizations get a bit bigger and bolder, always remaining believable — and achievable.

Write a letter to yourself at the beginning of the year… as if it’s the last day of the year. In my experience, a bullet point list is too sterile. It fails to capture the essence of a good visualization. Instead, I write paragraph form. I tend to start jotting down thoughts a few weeks ahead of time. When I’m ready, I sit down and write free form. I write and re-write until I’m happy with what I have. Next I review the following lists of questions to ensure I’ve captured everything important.

What are my intentions in these five areas of my life this year (the five Fs): family and friends; primary focus of my work; fitness and health; finances; internal fire (my personal passions and hobbies)?
Who do I want / need to become to achieve my goals?
What beliefs or values do I want to work on strengthening this year?
What capabilities do I want or need to master?
What behaviours do I want to practice / ritualize?
What environment do I want to create for myself by the end of this year?

Actions and intentions matter more than specific outcomes. Think about the life of a farmer for a moment. What are his primary goals? Reap a good crop, sell it for a healthy profit, sustain the farm? Will he achieve his goals? Maybe. Maybe not. Frost may linger or the rain may fail to come. Farmers are not so naive as to follow the traditional predict-and-control approach to goal-setting. They know how little control they often have. Instead, they keep their eye on their long-term intentions while taking short-term actions. Look far ahead and to tomorrow. Everything between will not go as planned.

Be smart about measurement. With the farmer analogy in mind, I’ve found it makes little sense to set annual goals that I can only assess at the end of the year. Instead, I look for things I can track daily, weekly or monthly at most. Having no idea what the future holds, I focus most on measuring what I’m doing today. All those todays add up.

For example, I tend to push myself too hard in the gym and stray from good health habits. This year, rather than setting a fitness goal as I usual would, I am focused on minimizing sick days to less than 11. It’s hard to visualize “not being sick”, so instead I’m visualizing the daily rituals and routines I’ll be following to stay healthy. In this example, everything is measured daily.

Have an accountability partner and visualize that relationship too. Yesterday, I sent my coach an email summarizing 2017. I included a screenshot of my dashboard too. Here’s why:

Written January 1st, 2017…

It’s December 31st 2017… As I look at my year-end dashboard, I can see that it’s green across all three major objectives… A smile of pride crosses my face and I do a fist pump high in the air. I take a screenshot and send it to Peter (my coach) and my mentors.

Every day throughout 2017, I envisioned sending the dashboard to Peter. It kept me focused and made sure I did everything I said I was going to do. For me, it’s a recipe that works.

I wish you all the best as you begin your 2018 journey. Visualize and go make it happen.

I blog to help Founder CEOs on their journey from kitchen table to 200 employees. Be the first to receive new articles by signing up for my newsletter here.

The bullet-proof (founder) habit that gains and keeps the trust of your team

brentlowe Communication, Entrepreneur, Leadership, Management leadership, Productivity, startup

When the energy and commitment of a team slumps, there is only one reason. Super successful CEOs know the reason. They make sure it never happens.

Once superstars disengage, the organization is headed for trouble. In my work with founding CEOs, I’ve seen how a simple, innocuous misstep quickly grows into a team-destroyer. Productivity drops. Contributions and creative problem solving disappear. Worse yet, disgruntled former superstars spread malaise like a contagious virus, bringing others down with them.

It doesn’t have to be this way. You can keep your team on your side. The key is to understand and embrace a truth of human emotion…

Everyone is happy when your team’s current reality remains above their expectations. The slump begins the moment reality falls below expectations. The slightest gap between the two is like a pebble in their shoe. It might not be big, but it quickly moves from annoying to maddening.

As a founder you are, by necessity, a dreamer and visionary. You set an exceptionally high bar for yourself. The likely result is over-commitment on your part.

“We’re going to have an option plan within 8 weeks and I promise to give you options as soon as the plan is done.”

… 9 months later, the option plan remains on your to do list.

“Our company is going to grow and that’s going to create a ton of career opportunity for you.”

… but as the company expands, junior team members watch as you hire experienced talent rather than promoting from within.

“I’d like to hear how you think we should design the product going forward.”

… but you’ve already decided the product roadmap priorities and there is little chance you’ll change your mind.

In the moment, every one of these commitments comes from a good place. You want to provide stock options asap. You plan to help develop careers. You want input from others.

With each commitment you make, and without appreciating the long-term implications, you are setting expectations that will be missed.

As soon as an expectation-to-reality gap opens up, you’re sunk. Even if you eventually close the gap (like providing stock options in the example above), the damage is done.

Eliminating the Expectation-to-Reality Gap

Honest transparency is the answer. The single most effective way to eliminate the gap is by ensuring it doesn’t get created in the first place. Here’s what that looks like:

“It’s my intention to put an option plan in place as soon as I can. I’ve never done this before and it’s likely to take time. I know options are important to you so feel free to reach out from time to time for an update on progress.”

“All signs point to our company growing. You will get a lot of interesting growth opportunities here. Much of that will come through the work you get to do rather than frequent role changes and promotions. I’m sure we’ll hire some senior, experienced people too and we’ll all be able to learn from them.”

“I have some pretty strong thoughts on where the product needs to go next. I’d like to hear your thoughts to see if I can improve the plans that I’ve got. What advice do you have on the product roadmap?”

Keep the gap closed. Search deep for the truth of the situation so that reality ALWAYS stays above the expectations you are setting. The result will be a team that trusts and supports you. Your occasional misstep will be seen as exactly that, an honest mistake.

If you hit some bumps, contact me and I’ll share more tips to help close the gap.

I blog to help Founder CEOs on their journey from kitchen table to 200 employees. Be the first to receive new articles by signing up for my newsletter here.