WINNING - How to Achieve Your Goals and Dreams
By Frank Furness

Why do a small percentage of people qualify at a top level every year while others sit back and wonder how they could ever achieve it.

There are many reasons, including Knowledge, Good Habits, Positive Mental Attitude and Excellent Skills, but research has shown that these top producers have definite goals and a detailed plan of action for attaining their targets.

So, why not you? It’s the ideal time to set up your Goals Programme and detailed Production Plan.

Start by setting up a Goals Programme (maybe the first time you’ve ever done this). Guidelines for setting goals are as follows:
Goals must be written
They must be your goals.
They must be achievable.
You need to stretch yourself to reach the goals.
You need goals in every area of your life.
Set yourself short, medium and long term goals.
Be prepared to change and pay the price of reaching your goals.
Realise that goal setting is an ongoing process.

You’re now ready to set up your own Goals Programme, so get some paper and start writing, following these steps.
1. Write out your Master Dreamlist. Open your mind and don’t limit yourself. Write everything you’ve ever wanted (Red Porsche, house in Spain, small waistline, 22-inch biceps, having dinner with Tom Cruise/Julia Roberts).
2. Copy your Master Dreamlist into the following categories and add to the list.
a. Family and Homelife
b. Financial, material possessions and professional.
c. Social and recreational.
d. Physical and sporting and health
e. Mental and learning goals
f. Spiritual and ethical.
Make sure you have goals in each category to lead a happy balanced life.
3. Now edit your lists and remove any goals that are not realistic or achievable (beating Linford Christie in a 100-metre race).
4. What you now have left are your realistic and achievable goals. Now for each goal, set a time limit (e.g. 31st May 1999, etc).
5. For each goal, identify any obstacles you may have to overcome or new skills you would need to acquire.
6. Make small (business card size) affirmation cards to review constantly. The goal must be stated positively (e.g. Before going to a client, have a quick look at your card, which may say, “I obtain 6 well qualified referrals from every prospective client I visit”).
7. Visualise yourself achieving your goals (Every great sports person does this, they’ve run the race 30 times in their minds before they reach the track). Visualise yourself receiving the letter congratulating you on qualifying ‘Million Dollar Round Table’. If your goal is a new BMW, go and test drive the car, get the brochures and put them on your office wall so that you can see it each day until it becomes a reality.

Example of a Master Dreamlist
Buy a Mercedes 500 SL
Family holiday to Hawaii
Buy a holiday home in Spain
Help my children achieve their University degree.
Qualify MDRT ‘Court of the Table’
Lose one stone in weight
Take my partner to dinner or movies once a week
Spend 20 minutes each day with my children, playing the games they want to play.
Pass my AFPC
Be recognised as the top Sales Manager in the Company
Go to church once a week/month
Improve my public speaking
Help a worthwhile charity

Remember ‘If we keep doing what we’re doing, we’re going to keep getting what we’re getting…’
Insanity = To keep doing the same things and expect different results.

Learn more from our great resource ‘It’s all About You’

Frank Furness CSP CFP is a professional speaker and trainer specialising in sales and sales management. He has educated, entertained and inspired audiences in 42 countries. His publications and sales CDs have been sold globally. For more information or to sign up for the free ‘Sales Tips & Ideas’ newsletter, email frank@frankfurness.com or telephone+ 44 (0) 870 240 6505. www.frankfurness.com

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