It's The "What", NOT The "How"

Have you ever had one of those one-hundred-eighty-degree turns in your outlook on life?  If so, this is one of them!  If not, get ready...

I have business goals.  I have personal goals.  Knowing myself as long as I have, I've become fairly adept at setting attainable personal goals and mapping out how to reach them, keeping my strengths and weaknesses in mind.  Business goals are another species all together.

Perhaps you have had performance reviews at work, where you are supposed to set new goals for the year or the quarter.  I've had those.  Maybe you are the boss and get to set your own revenue goals for the year or the quarter.  I'm in that position now.  Here is what makes business goal-setting different:

If my personal goals are weight loss and fitness, I have almost exclusive control over those.  I can choose what to put in my mouth for meals and snacks.  I can choose what activities to put on hold or move around so that I have time for fitness.  I can not only set my goals, I can determine, for the most part, how I will reach my goals.  Do this...don't do that.

Business goals have very little real control; there are too many other people (customers, suppliers, downlines, employees, etc.) and too many other variables (grounded flights, recalls, supply-chain problems, factory fires, etc.).  How, then, can anyone set business goals?  How can anyone set revenue goals or expansion goals, with so many variables in play?

The answer is, focus on the "what" of the goal, not the "how."  The perfect analogy is driving in the city to a destination, preferably in the grips of a midwestern winter.  I know where I need to be.  That is the "what" of my goal:  My destination.  Everything else is the "how."  How will I arrive at my destination?  Preferably in one piece and on time, but there are any number of ways that can occur.  If I commit myself to the "how" of taking the expressway, what if there is an accident ahead of me, or what if I spin out myself?  I won't reach my goal.

Should I then drive through town?  If I commit to that "how", my trip will take longer, but I probably won't get stuck completely if there is an accident.  I can choose another route.  I might be late, but I'll reach my destination in one piece, and, as the song says, "Two outta three ain't bad."

If I have a goal to reach, and decide to throw all my time, effort and emotion into reaching that goal by a specific path, I'm setting myself up for disaster.  I might get lucky.  I might have the illusion of control...this time.  But, if I can keep my focus on the "what" and worry less (or not at all) about the "how", great things can happen.  I can set really big "whats", because it doesn't matter if I can't see the "how."  It will come.  If I keep both hands on the wheel, keep the car pointed toward the destination, and be ready to change routes, I will get there.  I will reach my goal.