One thing that I’m committed to is helping others succeed in business. Seriously, it is the only way to succeed at anything. When you surround yourself with individuals who are committed to winning and succeeding, you cannot help but succeed yourself.

There was a fascinating study conducted on the 1979 Harvard MBA program where graduate students were asked “have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?” The result, only 3% had written goals and plans, 13% had goals but they weren’t in writing and 84% had no goals at all. Ten years later, the same group was interviewed again and the result was absolutely mind-blowing.

The 13% of the class who had goals but did not write them down were earning twice the amount of the 84% who had no goals. The 3% who had written goals were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97% of the class combined!

The most successful people in the world have clearly defined goals and a solid idea of how to attain those goals. Why not emulate the 3% and set short term and long term goals to help paint a picture of the future you desire? I’m holding a “Goal Setting Workshop for Real Estate Investors” on Saturday. Obviously, I cannot go over the entire workshop here, but I thought that I would give you part of it to try and help those who cannot make the workshop. If you can attend, I would strongly suggest that you do.

Let’s go through them one at a time… this formula has proven to be extremely beneficial and successful for people throughout the years.

SMART goals stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely.

S – Specific: A specific goal has a much greater chance at success than a vague goal. Think of the goal. “I want to be rich.” Is that specific? In order to be specific it must answer the 5 “W” questions:

• Who? – Who is involved
• What? – What do I want to accomplish
• Where? – Where is the goal going to take place
• When? – Establish a time-line
• Why? – The specific reason for this goal

Wanting to be rich may be a goal, but it is a far from being a specific goal that a solid and detailed plan can be built around. Another general goal would be “I want to put in offers for houses.” A specific goal would be “I will put in 20 offers per week on properties that I wish to acquire.” Also, notice the difference between “I want” and “I will.” Frame goals as an actionable item, not just a desire.

M – Measurable: If you cannot measure it, it does not exist. When we discuss goal setting for business of any type, we must be able to measure the goal. It needs to answer the questions, “how much?” and “how many?”. It is vital that you set a deadline for accomplishing your goal. This allows you to stay on track or up your game if you are falling behind. In the goal I set before, it was “20 offers per week.” Twenty is a measurable number. You may also set another goal that says that each week you will increase the number of offers by 5 until you hit 100 per week… a goal like this is also measurable, even though the base number changes.

A – Attainable: When you identify goals that are important to you, you start developing ways to make them a reality in your life. It is not just a matter of having the skill set to attain your goals, but also a matter of creating the attitude and belief in yourself that you CAN achieve your goals. You can attain almost any goal you set when you plan your steps. If you create realistic goals, then push the goals at set time frames you can eventually attain the goals you seek at a consistent pace. Goals that were once unrealistic – like making 100 offers per week – become attainable when you continually create and refine your skills and attitude. By building on smaller successes you eventually accomplish greater goals. We must ensure that we have the resources and support to attain our goals.

R – Relevant: Your goals must be relevant to your overall business model. We are in real estate. Whether this is our initial exposure or we’ve been at it for years, real estate is the business model we are discussing. If we were to set goals that relate to the number times we cook dinner vs. eating out, we’re setting goals for our health and finances. Is it relevant to our real estate goals? No. Relevant goals drive you forward to a successful career. Relevant goals answer these questions:

• Is this goal worthwhile?
• Is this the right time in my career for this goal?
• Does this goal mesh with other goals within my company?
• Am I the right person to be working on this goal (as opposed to your partner)?

When these questions are answered “yes” then the goal is relevant.

T – Timely: You absolutely MUST have a time line for your goals. If you remember the goal that I set earlier, I said “20 per week”. The time frame doesn’t have to be that short, but it does have to be a time that has meaning and can be measured. Having a goal for the year is great, but breaking it down to smaller chunks makes it manageable. For instance, take the 20 offers per week. That is over 1,000 offers in a year. If I told you that you need to set a goal of 1,000 offers per year, it would feel daunting. But by making the goal a timely goal, we can manage it better and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Plus, if you are like me and fall into procrastination at times, this keeps you from procrastinating. This also keeps us from having “someday” plans.

If anyone has more questions or wants more one-on-one coaching, don’t hesitate to contact me. This is a passion for me and I truly enjoy sharing what I know with others. Thanks for coming by and getting a bit of the education. Until then, remember that you, too, have that inner warrior that it takes to achieve greatness and success. Feel free to drop me a line at Coaching[at] BaileProperties.com.

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