Random musings

Here's a post from a couple of months ago in honor of Tick Tock Day.

You still have a couple of days to get all of your goats in a row.

Success = Strategy X Execution

I saw this "equation" a couple of years ago on the internet. I like it since it's pretty simple. Before we look at it more, let's break it down and define the 3 words in it.

From www.dicationary.com:

success

noun

1.

the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors; the accomplishment of one's goals.

strategy

noun
4.

a plan, method, or series of maneuvers or stratagems for obtaining a specific goal or result:

a strategy for getting ahead in the world.

execution

noun

1.

the act or process of executing.

execute

verb (used with object), executed, executing.

1.

to carry out; accomplish:

to execute a plan or order.

(I can't get this back over to the left margin!)

To accomplish your goals, you need a plan and you need to carry out your plan.

So, where do goats fit in?

GOATS is an acronym for Goals, Objectives, Activities, Tasks, Strategies

Goals are end results that you want to achieve.

Objectives are sub goals with measurable outcomes that are expected to get you to your goals.

Activities/Tasks are actions you take to support your goals and objectives.

Strategies are your methods for achieving your goals and objectives.

Goals can be divided into short-term, intermediate-term and long-term. And you can divide the timeframes up according to your needs such as short-term: less than 5 years, intermediate-term: 5-10 years and long-term more than 10 years. Personally, I prefer 1 or 2 years for short-term, 3-5 years for intermediate-term and more than 5 years for long-term.

A goal is a basic description of what you want to accomplish. Most people talk about SMART goals, but in this example a SMART goal would actually be an objective.

An example goal may be to lose weight before your high school reunion. The associated objective would be to lose 25 pounds in the next 5 months. The activities or tasks would depend on the strategy you use to reach your objectives. In the weight loss example there are 2 main strategies…diet and exercise and you can choose to implement one or both. So, if you want to exercise as your strategy, your activities may be go to the gym 4-5 days a week.

For a personal example my long term goal is to be successful with my business and a short term goal would be to show my business to 1,000 people. I'd like to do this before next year's convention in September, so my objective is to show the business to 1,000 people in the next 10 months…or 100 people per month. With an average of 20 business days per month, my task is to show the business to 5 people a day. Notice that this doesn't mean to contact 5 people, it means to get 5 people to agree to watch the videos.

If I accomplish my daily task of showing the videos to 5 people I will accomplish my objective which will get me closer to my goal. Success!

Interesting days

Today - https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/tick-tock-day/ The clock is ticking

Tomorrow - https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/bacon-day/ I can hardly wait!

Next Monday - https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/whipped-cream-day/ Sweet!

January 29 - https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/curmudgeons-day/ Finally a day just for me