Do your personal goals align with your daily behaviors?
It's a trickier question than you might imagine. The dictionary defines behavior, one of the three sides of Sandler's famous Success Triangle, as: "The actions or reactions of persons under specified circumstances."
If we apply this definition to the sales arena, it appears straightforward—at first glance. The actions and reactions are your daily activities. However, it's the "under specified circumstances" part of this definition that sometimes causes confusion.
Your circumstances are the set of conditions defined by your goals and objectives. Your goals establish the framework within which your daily activities take place. Without goals, you are "playing it by ear," which can be liberating for a short period. Eventually, though, this unfocused behavior (typically inefficient and ineffective) leads to frustration, disappointment, and, for some, burnout.
You can define your circumstances. You can establish the goals you pursue rather than relying on external elements, such as a sales quota or your manager's expectations (although neither should be entirely ignored). Once you determine exactly what you want out of life, you can identify what it will take to achieve it and then develop an appropriate action plan. Here's an important hint: If you are only expressing your goal in financial or material terms, you have not yet fully identified a goal that matters to you on a personal level.
Goals not only establish a path on which to run, but they also provide benchmarks with which to measure your progress. Working without clear personal goals that inspire you at a deep place in your soul is like taking a trip to "somewhere" that you plan to reach "someday," with the hope (but no certainty) that this will be a desirable place.
How Many of the Following Statements Apply to Your Professional Goals?
- My goals are expressed in specific terms.
- My goals are in written form.
- I have both short-term goals (12 months or less) and long-term goals (three years or more).
- I have assigned target dates for accomplishing my goals.
- I have shared my goals with others (e.g., family, friends, and coworkers).
- I have identified the activities required to achieve my goals.
- I have organized the activities into monthly, weekly, and daily behaviors.
- I track both the execution and outcomes of the behaviors on a regular, frequent basis (e.g., daily or weekly).
- I share my "tracking" data with someone who holds me accountable for my goals.
- I am committed to doing whatever it takes, consistent with my values, to achieve my goals.
Once you can check all ten of these statements with a "Yes" response, rest assured that you will have taken one of the most critical steps in your personal development. You are now empowered to check off your goals by aligning them with consistent behaviors that support their fulfillment.
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