Several years ago I was listening to Dave Ramsey on the radio and he was talking about the one time he ran a marathon (26.2 miles) and how it about killed him and it was his first and last marathon. He tells the story much better than I do, but it makes my point.
He had run several half-marathons (13.1 miles). He was telling the story on how he was challenged to run the full marathon, not sure I need to say full, but you get the point. A friend of his said this to him: “Dave, I have never known Dave Ramsey to only do half of anything.” Well, obviously that is all it took for Dave to take on the challenge and run the full marathon.
This brings me to my point though. What if you only do half of something? In Dave’s case a full marathon is nice, but there are a lot of benefits to only running a half as well, isn’t there?
Are there times when half is good? I think so. Let me give you a few examples. At the beginning of this year, I set a goal to purchase one rental house/property a quarter in 2015. That would obviously be four for the year. I have only purchased two as of this date in September.
I am a runner, just like Dave. I set a goal for the year to run in a race a month. An actual race that I have to sign up for and prepare for. Sure, I run several times a week, but I believed setting a goal to run a race a month would keep me motivated. As of typing this email I have run in six with two more for the year that I have already signed up for. Lets say I don’t sign up for anymore for the year, which is highly likely just because of timing. However, what if I end up at eight for the year? A little better than half.
Lastly, I have a standing goal each year to read a book a week. So yes, that would be 52. The last two years I have accomplished this goal. Well, this year a mentor of mine challenged me to read 150 books this year. Now that is a stretch goal, but I took the challenge. As of typing this email I have read 60 books, with four months still to go. Not sure where I will land, but it will be closer to 100 than 150 is my guess.
So what is the point. Well, in each of the cases above I set a goal. Sure you may say some of the goals were stretch. But in each of the cases I will be somewhere between 50% and lets say 75% of the goal.
The big question is! Am I better at 50% of the goal I set than I would be if I had set no goal at all? The answer to that question is YES.
Are there some goals you must be at 100%. Absolutely there are. In no way am I saying that you should set a goal and if you only make 50% of it you are ok. NO! What I am saying is set a goal, work your ass off and hit it the dang thing. If you come in a little short, that’s ok.
The goal is to set some goals (Let me emphasize: SET SOME GOALS, and WRITE THEM DOWN) that stretch you, get you doing something different, require you to get out of your normal routine.
If I didn’t set a goal to buy four properties, I might have only bought zero or maybe one. If I had not set a goal to run a race a month, I might have only run three or four. If I had not set a goal to read 150 books, I may have only read another 52 for the year, which I have already done that, so I already beat the previous two years numbers. I am not bragging, I am using my examples to encourage you to create your own.
If you are interested in becoming a more intentional and strategic goal setter, contact me and let’s see if we can work on your game plan.
To your success and your future.
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