Be Your Best

Todd Gifford - Success Coach

The other night I watched a little bit of the Academy Awards  recognizing all the best movies and movie performances of the past year.  It dawned on me while watching all the people come up to the stage to receive their Awards (‘Oscar’ statues) and speak to the audience, that what was really happening is that these people were realizing/completing the achievement of a goal or resolution of some type.  Somewhere along the way everybody in the movie business has set a goal or dream to win an Oscar.  I seriously doubt very many actors, directors, producers, etc… who win an Oscar did not have that moment in their mind as a goal or life dream.  Not rocket science I know, but I will tie back to that in a minute…

Last month I had another birthday come and go.  I have typically used my birthdays as a time of reflection on my personal goals (both work and non-work) and what I am trying to do with my time on the planet.  I have spoken of my ‘bucket’ list in the past, and I look at that important list as well.  Call them ‘goals’, ‘dreams’, ‘stuff I want to do before kicking the bucket’ or call them whatever you want — they are the foundation of about everything if you think about it.  I know most people make ‘New Year’s resolutions’, but I have never done that for whatever reason.  I make ‘life resolutions’ (isn’t ‘resolution’ just another name for a ‘goal’?) whenever I think they need to be made.  Why wait for January 1st?  Heck, I could accomplish the goal by then!  On or around my birthday, I do a review of all of these to make sure I know where I am at.  It’s kind of my Annual Performance Review, and I am sure I am tougher on myself than anyone else could ever be.  Anyway, I guess my main point here is that nothing of any magnitude gets done without a goal or resolution of some kind.  The real secret is that setting a Goal makes things infinitely easier to accomplish.  Why?  The magic in identifying the ‘goal’ and transforming it into something other than a passing thought is that your brain starts to work on it whether you want to or not.  Small steps start getting taken towards the end goal.  “Setting goals” has a bad wrap because it is always positioned as such a ‘corporate’/’business’ thing to do.  But the reality is that if you decide you want to accomplish something (and you reallllly want to do it): if you write it down (on a napkin is fine), tell as many people as you can you are going to do it, and keep that goal in view somewhere consistently — it will happen, sure as shoot’in a very high % of the time.  Even if it does not get fully accomplished, good stuff happens regardless.  A quick tip on setting goals for yourself — use the ‘SMART’ technique: goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and the big one —- Time bound.

Ok, so here goes.  I just recently decided that I am going to do a Triathlon (you know, where you Swim a long way, then you Bike a long way, and then you finish with a long Run, all in one event).  Came up with that goal last month around my birthday.  I have never run more than 4 miles in one shot, never swam more than a couple hundred yards at one time, and I don’t bicycle hardly ever.  Why do I want to do this?  Not 100% sure, but I think it has to do with ‘because I think it will make me feel really good if I can do it’.  A related Bucket List dream goal I have is to do the ‘Ironman’ Triathlon before I kick the bucket, which is a ridiculous race where you Swim 2.4 miles, followed by a 112 mile bike race, followed by a 26.2 mile marathon run, all in one continuous event.  Not sure I will ever get that done, but I figured the only way to get there is to start somewhere, and that somewhere is a regular Triathlon event.  Finishing the ‘Ironman’ Triathlon is like winning an Oscar for me.  My first Triathlon is in June, 2010, so I will keep you posted.  I have started my training (which is based on the goal of being ‘ready’ for the event and just finishing the race—I don’t care about my time) which has all kinds of little goals within that plan.  This goal-stuff can be exhausting, but also a lot of fun!

Take Care,
Todd Gifford