In his book “Think and Grow Rich” Napoleon Hill outlines the six steps to goal setting.
- Decide on a specific goal
- Decide on a definite time frame you wish to achieve your goal.
- Write your goal down
- Define a plan to achieve your goal
- Determine what you are willing to give up to achieve your goal
- Read your goal aloud every morning when you wake up and every night before you go to sleep
I hear so many entrepreneurs tell me they have goals but when I ask them if they follow these six steps, ultimately they miss one. Usually, their goal is not specific enough. They say things like I want to make more money or I want freedom. That’s not the right answer. You have to be specific, I want to have $100,000 in the bank or I want to take every other Friday off.
Often they won’t set a time frame. Everything must have a deadline, including your goals. This gives the universe something to shoot for. If you don’t give the universe a deadline, it won’t matter if you achieve your goal next month or 10 years from now. It’s your job to tell the universe ‘by when’.
The most common mistake is not writing your goals down. I had this discussion with my 12 year old son Justin the other day. He told me the computer he received for Christmas wasn't fast enough or didn't have the horse power he needed to record his Mine-craft games. So I asked him what type of computer he wanted and he told me. I asked him if he’d written this down and he said no, why do I need to do that? So I shared with him the 6 rules from Napoleon Hill and the next day I received this:
The big big computer. Spec 17 3970x, gtx titan 3 sli, 64 gb ram, 2 250gb ssd, 12tb hdd, cooling, nzxt phantom 820, nzxt kraken x6 cooling, asus xonar, asus maximum v, 2 lg monitors, 1500w power supply. Windows 7 ultimate, black widow and mamba. Cost $9056. Need $13,000.
So, while I barely understand what he wrote, the important thing is, he absolutely understands it. You’ll notice that he says the cost is $9056, a very specific number, but he stated he needs $13,000. That’s because we require our kids to only live off of 70% of the money they make. The 30% is broken into charity, savings and emergency funds. I know, we’re a bit over the top.
Anyway, if a 12 year old can learn to do this, so you can you. Start today. Write your goals down, put a time frame on them and read them every day, you’ll be happy you did. Just as someday Justin will be sitting in front of his mind blowing computer, you too can achieve the dreams of your lifetime.
Building a better business, one goal at a time…
