Hola, soy Hilary, y quizás te preguntes por qué esto está en español…(Translation: you may be wondering why this email is in Spanish…)
Here’s why: See, I’ve been telling myself, “I really want to become fluent in Spanish.”
Yep. That’s been my dream, my plan…for 25 years.
And for 25 years, I did absolutely nothing about it. Why?
Because I doubted myself:
- I doubted I would be faithful to a study schedule.
- I doubted I would put lessons and learning ahead of building my business.
- I doubted I’d ever be able to study and learn enough to actually become fluent.
The truth? I was intimidated by my own goal.
This year I realized that “Become fluent in Spanish” had been on my List of Things I’d Like to Do But Am Not Doing Now for more than two decades.
So, instead of just continuing on down the list as I usually do, looking for projects to put into action this year, I stopped and asked myself, “Am I really going to become fluent in Spanish or should I just take this off the list?”
That’s when I had to get honest with myself about the self-doubt that was holding me back.
And I thought, “Spanish is the second most popular language in the world! If millions of people can learn it, so can I.”
So I hired a Spanish tutor who lives in Mexico City, learned how to use the Quizlet app so I can make thousands of flashcards to study vocabulary, and I’m off to the races!
“That’s great, Hilary, but what does that have to do with me?”
Every goal you achieve in life starts with declaring your actual goal.
Right now, your life and business may be more of an ‘accidental success’ instead of an on-purpose success:
- Maybe you’re just keeping your head down and working, hoping profits will show up.
- Maybe you stash cash in your bank accounts, all the while telling yourself you’ll get it invested… some day.
- Maybe you run your day by your email inbox instead of making calls, frustrated you don’t have the sales you need to live that life of your dreams.
Instead of strategically building the life you want, you’re letting power-stealing self-doubt ruin your results.
Here are some signs your self-confidence (or lack thereof) is getting in the way of fulfilling on your goals:
- Your goals are big and audacious, even amazing, but you’re not tracking your goals, taking action on them, and setting the same goal over and over again. In fact, your goals may even be unremarkable.
- You’re not documenting your goals in any way. It may feel good to say you have goals – and at your core, you do want to set and hit your goals, but you’re scared or stuck in uncertainty. So, what do you do? You talk about having goals, but you keep playing small.
- You like to keep your goals ‘achievable’, which is code for underwhelming, uninspiring benchmarks that are easily within your reach. You plan for exactly what you know you can achieve and nothing more. You don’t dream big. You say things like, “My word is my bond.” …and you let that keep you from making promises you aren’t certain you can achieve.
Can we change that approach so you can start seeing real profits and growth in your business and personal wealth?
Get out your quarterly and annual goals. Review them for clarity, specificity, and reasonableness.
How will you know exactly whether you’ve achieved each of these goals or not? You need to write out specific outcomes you can track and measure to see if you succeeded.
For example, rather than having a goal that all clients will be delighted (not measurable), have a goal that says “Three clients will give us five-star Yelp! reviews,” or “Five clients will refer their friends to us.”
Did you catch the “reasonableness” part? (Go back up three paragraphs – I’ll wait.) Welcome back. By “reasonableness”, I don’t mean limiting your potential.
No, stay ambitious. Set huge goals. But adjust based on what you’re seeing. What’s reasonable to expect that is still outside your comfort zone right now?
If you don’t have quarterly or annual goals at the ready, take some time in the next few days to document your goals. Create a process for introducing those goals to your team with a plan for reviewing, tracking, and setting goals on a regular basis.
This will transform your business!
More importantly, it will give you the confidence to set and hit your goals. That level of confidence can change your life for good.
To your prosperity,
Hilary
PS. If you’re interested, the List of Things I’d Like to Do But Am Not Doing Now is a really great practice to implement into your personal productivity regime. It creates a place to document up-and-coming projects that need your attention. I teach this and a whole lot like that in my Money Blueprint℠ Program for business owners.
