As I reflect on changes people have made in their lives and the goals they have achieved, whether it was personal or professional, three key factors keep coming to mind: (1) They all had a plan, (2) They remained committed yet open, and (3) They were all willing to sacrifice to accomplish the goal.
Every successful mission, accomplishment or goal starts with a plan. Whether it involves a career change, overcoming a problem, or accomplishing a feat never before even thought possible (like sending a man to the moon), one must start by writing down the goal and spending some time thinking about the steps necessary to attain the goal. By breaking the goal into logical steps, the accomplishment becomes “simpler” as each step can be broken down into specific tasks. Tasks can be shared (and measured) or completed individually, yet lead towards accomplishment of the goal.
Commitment (also referred to as “focus”), the dogged determination to accomplish a goal or task, is the next factor that can easily be identified in the success process. Commitment cannot, however, be blind to the influences of our environment, as we have no control over those factors. One must be open to new ideas, to criticism, and creative and new ways to accomplish goals and tasks (as the Apollo 13 mission crew learned), because we can never be sure of what may stand in our way.
The final factor is sacrifice: the willingness to “give up” something in order to “achieve” something else. This is, in fact, the most difficult factor, in that we all become comfortable in our daily lives. We become unwilling to sacrifice time, energy and money at the risk of potential failure. Human nature, especially as we mature, is to make decisions that result in comfort rather than risk. That is not necessarily a problem, but it certainly can result in failure to attain new goals and accomplishments. If there is no sacrifice, there can ultimately be no improvement or attainment of goals.
The process of accomplishing goals can be simple for some, and arduous for others. But upon reflection at the end of the process, whether the goal as attained or not, one has to agree that the plan, the commitment and the sacrifice were all integral parts of the process. Evaluation of the success of a goal will, if nothing else, bring attention to which of the three facets requires additional improvement before the next attempt is executed.
