The Power of Goal Setting

Last month I focused on giving back, a power that is near and dear to me. This month my topic is The Power of Goal Setting, a power I definitely need to hone. There are so many ways to look at goal setting. It may be attaining future financial goals or business thresholds, or perhaps it is personal goals. All are important, but I elect to spend the month delving into personal and life balance goals.

I’m writing this during a time splurging and gorging. It’s the holidays – after all!! Let’s deal with the damages later. Are you relating? I suspect many of you have the same attitude I do: Wait till January 2 before making any major changes.

I looked at four lists of the top 10 goals (or resolutions to some). It’s interesting how closely they track.

I included the last four because I personally feel they should be in the top 10. Can you come up with your top 10 goals from this list? I certainly can!

In 2007 I participated in a mentor group where we were asked to look at our lives and evaluate the balance of time and relevance we place on goals for 2008. I created a life wheel which proved I really needed to make some changes in my life in order to create more balance. Though I am not prepared to expose my deficiencies and shortcomings, I will share the areas important to me and my convoluted life wheel.

Life Reality Wheel (alphabetical)

Finances and Investments
Friends and Relationships
Health and Fitness
Personal Development and Spiritual
Philanthropy
Travel and Hobbies
Work and Career

As you can see, I needed to set some goals in order to better balance my life. And, in 2008, I actually did a pretty good job changing my priorities. I’m inspired to go through this task again for 2014 as I know I have fallen back into old habits! I will also be adding some additional goals not included back then.

As I compose this blog, I’m reminded of a book that really helped me to set goals for both my personal and professional life. It is One Minute Millionaire – The Enlightened Way to Wealth, by Mark Victor Hanson and Robert G. Allen. In fact, taking an idea from the book, I even organized a Visionary Team consisting of five business people I have great respect for. We met once a month for about two years!

Perhaps now is a good time for you to create a life wheel for yourself. It’s a fun exercise. After seeing what your pie looks like, you will be able to better identify areas in your life that need tending to thereby making it easier to come up with your top 10 goals list!

Now I will introduce the two individuals that seem to me to have their lives right on target. I aspire to their level of life contentment and balance!

• Terrell McCombs, Senior Managing Partner and Chairman of the Advisory Committee for GC Barnes Group – I have known Terrell for several years, serving on the North Chamber Board when he was Chairman and on the University Health System Foundation Board under his chairmanship for the past two years. Terrell knows what he wants and how to get it. He sets his goals high and by all accounts, is successful at achieving them. He worked for a large corporation for years, and decided it was time to spread his wings, and he left to begin the next chapter in his life. Terrell has never looked back wondering if he made the right decision. Terrell works hard and he plays hard. He has learned how to totally balance his life. Of course, it certainly helps when one has the “perfect” partner, which he has with his beautiful wife, Cindy. They seem to live the idyllic life. Sure, there may be occasional ups and downs, but you would never know it. And Terrell also finds time to devote to his hobby. He is an avid hunter, even making the Boone & Crockett big game national record. And to prove it, read this recently published article with unbelievable photos about the hunt of a lifetime, Dallas Safari Club Magazine. In other words, Terrell McCombs seems to have it all together!

• Cristina Heaney, CEO of US Safety Services – Here’s a story of someone who was somewhat inconspicuous and now has become exceptional. A few years ago, Cristina decided it was time to step out of her comfort zone and try her hand at running her own business. Cristina literally disappeared from society with only one goal in mind – to create a successful company. And she accomplished that goal. Her next goal was to be reintroduced into society, and she accomplished that goal in grand fashion. She also had a goal to improve her appearance and general health, and again – bravo. Next, it’s time to attack another goal: Buy and decorate a new home. That’s done. As I have watched Cristina methodically check off her various goals, I have to believe that the biggest goal of all was to build her company to the level that her wonderful husband, Jim, could leave a prominent position with a large bank to go to work with his wife. Cristina and Jim are a great team in all regards. They work together, they travel together, they enjoy life together. Can it get any better than that?

These two individuals are not just ordinary people. They are exceptional people who have purposefully set goals that provide total fulfillment in their lives. That’s what I want! Don’t you want the same?