ACHIEVE your goals

Abraham Lincoln said: “That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.” This nicely sets the stage for this piece* (by Donal Daly for salespeople) I got recently...and couldn't keep to myself - as usual, emphasis & text in green are mine.

Donal Daly arranged these 7 principles in a mnemonic, so they are easy to remember.

Ambition
Commitment and Resilience
Honesty and Integrity
Inquisitiveness and Learning 
Empathy and Perspective I changed this to: Encouragement
Vision: Innovation and Leadership
Enterprise: Hard Word, Strategy and Execution


Ambition: To achieve your ambition, you first need to be very clear as to what it is. I think there are two main questions you should ask yourself; “Do I know what I really want to achieve?” and “Is my goal ambitious enough?” A man without ambition is dead. A man with ambition but no love is dead. A man with ambition and love for his blessings here on earth is ever so alive. (Pearl Bailey) In pursing your ambition, take Mark Twain's advice: “Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great.” Watch your company...

Commitment and Resilience: How badly do you want it? Will you stay the course? Enduring hardship is frequently the bedfellow of success, so you’ve got to be committed to your goal and both resilient and relentless in its pursuit. A wise person said “There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.”

 Honesty and Integrity: For me, these are two of the least understood, and most undervalued, personal and business assets. A reputation for being honest or having high integrity is priceless. In business generally, and in every aspect of life, these assets cannot be over-valued..."I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is the best policy. (George Washington) I like my children's school  definition of integrity - it's easy to remember too- "integrity is doing right when no one is in sight".

Inquisitiveness and Learning: It’s more important to be interested than interesting...you need to be inquisitive about what matters to others. You need to be interesting as well interested, and that’s where the learning comes in. If you’re in the right job/company/industry/ministry, this should come easily for you. You will have a natural passion for what you do, and reading will be something you choose to do, rather than feel you must. Without this passion, you will find it hard to be naturally inquisitive and driven to learn more, and then you’re possibly in the wrong job/company/industry/ministry - unless you’re happy to settle for mediocrity. Read our piece on "Courage to Learn"

Encouragement: No matter how lofty or lowly your ambition is, we all need encouragement at one point in time or the other. John O'donohue put is so nicely: "One of the most beautiful gifts in the world is the gift of encouragement. When someone encourages you, that person helps you over a threshold you might otherwise never have crossed on your own." So let's take Jim Stovall's advice “You need to be aware of what others are doing, applaud their efforts, acknowledge their successes, and encourage them in their pursuits. When we all help one another, everybody wins.” I'd like to end this with the words of a woman: “Those who are lifting the world upward and onward are those who encourage more than criticize.” (Elizabeth Harrison)
 Vision: Innovation and Leadership: Ambition without vision is dangerous and usually counter-productive. Vision elevates ambition to a higher place, one where your insight, founded on innovative thinking and thought leadership, propels you to the front. These twin tenets of vision are usually the issue of passion, but can only be fully informed based on Inquisitiveness and Learning, grounded in Empathy and Perspective. Another post about this soon.

And finally …

Enterprise: You’ve got to work hard, really hard, no really really hard, - no I mean harder than that even! You’ve got to come up with the right strategy to fulfill your ambition, and then through your own initiative and resourcefulness, determine how you best execute your plan. And then you must apply yourself. Unless you’ve got Commitment and Resilience you won’t reach the uncommon heights you’ve visualized in your ambition. I'm sure you may have heard the common saying that "hard work comes before success - even in the dictionary"...and I add "ambition comes before hard work also in the dictionary". There is no point working hard if you are not planning to achieve anything - working hard without ambition is a waste of your time and life. "The difference between try and triumph is a little umph." (Author Unknown)

"God gives every bird its food, but he does not throw it into the nest." (Josiah Gilbert Holland)

Ladies, as we plan for the new year (and our whole lives)...please remember Donal Daly's acronymn...and you will ACHIEVE a lot! The bottom line is: "All the so-called "secrets of success" will not work unless you do." (Author Unknown)

Source:
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