On Monday we talked about a “12 Week Year.”  More specifically we talked about moving from a 12 month year to a “12 Week Year” in order to increase your productivity several fold.   Be sure to check out Monday’s article if you haven’t already. 

On today, I want to briefly discuss the importance of “setting realistic goals,” specifically in relation to the concept of a “12 Week Year,” although this article will still be applicable if you’re not using a “12 Week Year.”

When I say “set realistic goals” I’m not saying that you should set small goals.  When I say “set realistic goals” I’m saying that you should set goals that can be achieved by attaching a “reasonable plan” to the goal. 

Your “plan” determines if your goal is reasonable or not!

…Let’s say you’re a car salesman, and in the next 12 weeks you want to sell 24 cars.  There’s this temptation that says, “It’s okay if I don’t sell any cars in the first few weeks.”

Because…

You somehow expect that at some nebulous point in the future things will progress more swiftly for you.  You assume that you will begin to sell four cars in a week at some point, although nothing has changed except the passing of time.

This is a trap!

Avoid depending on time “in-and-of-itself” to assist you in achieving your goals.  In order for things to get better, you have to work harder right now, today; don’t just hope for a better tomorrow!

Setting realistic goals mean that your plans and your goals are aligned.  As an example, a realistic goal for a car salesman may be to sell 24 cars in the next 12 weeks.  However, this is only true if the car salesman can expect to sell two cars a week. 

A realistic goal with a solid plan means that time is “evenly allotted” to achieve the goal, all things considered equal.

As an example:

• In Week 1 — 2 Car Sales
• In Week 2 — 2 Car Sales
• In Week 3 — 2 Car Sales

This is the sign of a realistic goal, that’s not to say that the car salesman won’t get three car sales in one week, or one car sale in another, but it is to say that your current actions will determine what you will achieve.

Why is this important?  Why did I spend my time writing this article?

Because if you know this…you can avoid the misleading notion that things will “magically” get better in the future.  You can avoid postponing your destiny into the future, depending on time to advance you in spite of your efforts.

When you understand this concept you begin to realize that if I’m going to see progress, I’m going to have to start working right now!  I can’t postpone my dream until tomorrow, I cannot depend on time, I can’t just hope for the best, I have to make it happen, and I have to make it happen right now!

When you get to that level of thinking, then you are ready to set realistic goals and watch those goals get achieved.

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