Setting goals for success

BY JAMAAL McCOY

As we reach the end of another year, I feel it is important to give thanks for the blessings we received in 2015. In business or in life, now is the time to focus on what we hope to accomplish in the coming year.

It has often been said that unless we have goals in our personal or business lives, we will never know when we have achieved success.

Many of us work hard, but our lives still lack fulfillment. What can we do to invoke change in our lives? Before you can change your life, you must change your thinking. It starts with visualizing what we want from life and setting goals that resemble that vision.

Your vision is a detailed description of where you currently are and where you ultimately want to be. Your vision will be a reflection of what your destination looks and feels like.

For a goal to be effective, there must be a “why” to achieving it. Ask yourself “why” your goal is important, and what achieving it (or not) means to you. When you can visualize a “why,” you can set your goals — which will be your “what.” You must first have a meaningful “why” relative to your “what” then you can work on the “how.”

The power in goal-setting is that it forces you to think about what is important to you, and to visualize what your reality would be if you accomplish these goals. Goal-setting is motivating in nature and is an integral step in achieving success. By identifying what you want to achieve in life, and what your ideal future looks like, you know where to channel your energy and efforts — and what distractions you need to eliminate. Goals provide a sense of direction that allows you to focus on a target and concentrate your aim.

Zig Ziglar says, “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” Goal-setting is the fuel for ambition — giving us the inspiration to aim for things that may have previously seemed unattainable.

Jamaal Mccoy is the General Manager of Findlay Chevrolet.