Bill Gates once said …
‘You can achieve amazing progress if you set a clear goal and find a measure that will drive progress towards that goal.’
Nothing surprising there – you could’ve read that on pretty much any blog post about the basics of goal setting.
But then he went on to say that ‘finding the right goal and the right metric for tracking one’s progress is surprisingly difficult.
The ‘surprisingly difficult’ bit stopped me in my tracks.
You see, until being hit with Bill’s wisdom stick, I’d never found it that difficult to choose a goal. And I’d never met a CEO who’d found it that difficult either.
But Gates is a billionaire and I’m not.
So, I got to thinking that if he finds it more difficult than the rest of us …
Then maybe the rest of us are not putting enough effort into it.
Which is why, since hearing him say that, I NEVER go to work on helping someone achieve their goal without first challenging the heck out of whether the goal they are trying to achieve is in fact the ‘right’ goal.
And guess what …
By the time I get finished, I pretty much always help them identify a better goal.
Better because it’s bigger.
Better because it’s more challenging.
Better because it energizes and excites.
Better … because it’s very often scarier!
And ultimately better because … it’s a goal that is quite simply more worthy of their talent and ability. So, how about you – is your current goal worthy of your talent and ability?
