Posts Tagged ‘Personal Goals’
Frankl Logotherapy Teachings for Business Progress # 3
Frankl Logotherapy Teachings for Business Progress # 3
by Dean Lindsay, from The Progress Challenge : Working and Winning in a World of Change
Link to Frankl logotherapy Teachings for Business Progress #1 & #2
Link to part one of Dr. Viktor Frankl, life of
Link to part two of Dr. Viktor Frankl, life of
Frankl Logotherapy Teachings for Business Progress # 3.
Drive Actions by Understanding Goals and Strengths.
Gaining insight into a person’s reasons (especially our own) goes a long way in helping them progress and reach their full potential. Frankl believed in endurance, but not just for the sake of survival.
He believed that all life is shot through with significance, and that this inherent meaningfulness should motivate humans to live and discover that meaning. Frankl warned that some may mistake the surface rewards of materialism, affluence, or hedonism as the true purpose of life.
Those who have suffered loss due to injustice (racial profiling, crime), circumstance (accidents, economy, acts of nature), or the inhumanity of fellow humans know that the search for meaning is not stopped by setbacks. In many cases, as in Frankl’s, challenges and adversities serve to inspire and redirect a more determined search for meaning.
“Life can be pulled by goals just as surely as it can be pushed by drives.”
– Viktor Frankl
Great leaders understand the necessity of discovering what their followers are made of, what they’re “all about.” Frankl firmly believed in the great potential of his fellow humans, and stressed the ability to use one’s inner resources to achieve personal goals and find personal truth. This principle applies equally to every organization. Each member, no matter the responsibility or position, has unique strengths that can prove vital in fueling the progress of the organization.
What drives the people you hope to inspire to action?
What drives you?
Link to : The Original Thinker-Through – Interesting Frankl Facts
Uncoming Posts: BEST Dr. Viktor Frankl Quotes
“As friend, colleague and assistant to Dr. Viktor Frankl for over twenty years, I can confidently share with you that Dean Lindsay gets it! His ability to integrate the inspirational theories of Dr. Viktor Frankl with contemporary business needs is extraordinary. Dean’s application of Frankl’s concepts of “freedom of choice” and “the defiant power of the human spirit” to modern business/sales is powerfully motivating. The Progress Challenge goes beyond telling us to “just do it” and, in a very readable way, tells us how to do it – or, in Dean’s words, how to be progress. A must read for business success!”
– Jay I. Levinson, Ph.D.
Former Special Assistant to Dr. Viktor Frankl
Be Progress.
More on Dean Lindsay
Progress Agent Goal Setting Rule Four!
Progress Agent Goal Crafting Rule # 4
(a series on how to set goals)
Link to Progress Agent Goal Crafting Rule 1
Link to Progress Agent Goal Crafting Rules 2 & 3
4. Progress-Crafted Goals Are Detailed and Measured.
We are able to measure and track progress only toward goals that are detailed and specific. It is imperative that we craft goals with precise and vivid outcomes so that we can be sure we are progressing and not merely changing.
A vague, general, or conflicted goal produces vague actions and vague results. A specific goal produces specific actions and specific results. The more information we can give our subconscious mind about our intentions – our wants, our goals – the clearer the right next steps become, and the more focused our actions will be. It is fine if the goal takes many words to map out. The key is to crystallize our intentions.
For example, “I have a new job” is generic, not very helpful, and certainly not very inspiring. Most of us could get a new job within a week, if not a day. It probably would not be a job that matched our skills, paid well, or that we even liked, but we could get a job. So be darn sure to specify:
In what industry?
What position and responsibilities?
What pay range?
What benefits, 401K, vacation?
How much travel?
How long commute?
Company car?
Work from home?
What kind of boss (if any), and coworkers?
Our “specs” can go on and on. Generic goals do little to propel us to action. Yes, it takes time, but it is vital that we craft our goals in as much detail as possible. It is perfectly fine to rewrite the goal, refine it, add to it, mess with it.
Becoming almost ridiculously particular about what we want, and why we want it, helps create the inspiration that propels us to progress toward our goals – instead of focusing attention on the countless other options of how we could invest our time and energy.
Next up Goal Setting Rules 5 and Goal Setting Rules 6!
Be Progress.
Link to Dean Lindsay Video Clips
Link to Progress Agent Goal Crafting Rule 1
Link to Progress Agent Goal Crafting Rules 2 & 3
(a series on how to set goals)
Progress Based Goal Crafting Rules 2 & 3
Progress-Based Goal Crafting Rules 2 & 3
2. Progress-Crafted Goals Connect to Personal Progress.
Plainly put, each person involved in a goal’s achievement must believe there is something favorable in it for him or her. We are unlikely to work toward a goal that we can not personalize as positive for us. For a goal to actually become a tool in its own achievement, it must generate genuine excitement when we envision its accomplishment. Why and how does the goal mean Progress for those who must act?
Often, individuals must make an organizational goal their own, as in a new technology rollout, reorganization, or a merger. To get all team members (including ourselves) psyched and committed to the organization’s goal, we need to dig into how the goal’s achievement will benefit all involved (via job security, bonuses, flex time, exciting new projects, raises, promotions, shorter commute, less stress, etc.).
If team members believe that the potential for progress is worth the effort, they will more readily take on challenges in support of the organization’s goals. When highlighting the reasons behind the goal, include the Six Ps of Progress.
Whether the goal is meeting sales quota, buying a new boat, becoming more efficient in customer-service calls, or finishing a financial report, we must find ways to make the goal progress for us in some way. With that personal lodestar ever in sight, we stay committed to reaching the goal. Why we want to achieve a goal is far more important than the goal itself. Remember, change is inevitable. Progress is a choice.
3. Progress-Crafted Goals Are Stated in Present Tense.
Stating goals in the present tense tells our subconscious mind that we are committed – that the goals will not remain forever stuck in a future tense – as in, I WILL be wealthy. Our mind takes ownership, sees the goal as an actuality (rather than a potentiality) – I AM wealthy – and works toward its realization.
“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.” — Sun Tzu
The subconscious mind chooses a path of least resistance. If we write, “I will be debt-free,” the subconscious mind does not act, because the “will” postpones the goal’s achievement to some indefinite time in the future. When we craft a goal as if it were already achieved, already true, our minds want to make it happen. Examples:
Daily, I am … I weigh___ with a ___waist.
I know how to… My family and I are…
I own… I feel…
Well-crafted goals, stated in the present tense, serve as affirmations. Think of affirmations as personalized powerful ads that you tell yourself over and over again about yourself and your life. Get over any weird thoughts you might have about affirmations – we all use them. We have lived our whole lives making affirmations. Unfortunately, affirmations are often self-critical and self-limiting:
I am fat. I am a lousy speller.
I am not a good salesman. I am always tired.
I know nothing about investments. I’m destined to be poor.
Be careful about everything you say to yourself, or think to yourself, about yourself, because you’ll end up being right. As Luigi Pirandello noted some time ago, “Così è (se vi pare)” – Right you are (if you think you are).
“Your brain is a terrible thing to use against yourself.” — Dean Lindsay
Progress-Based Goal Crafting Rule One (1 0f 6)
Six Rules of Goal Crafting – A Progress Based Goal Setting Program
Link to: Stop Goal Setting and Start Goal Crafting
1. Progress-Crafted Goals Are Written and Visualized.
Written goals crystallize thinking, enhance commitment, and help identify the strong reasons that propel the strong actions. Having goals in writing gives them weight and more importance: for whatever reason, not only the conscious but the subconscious mind takes them much more seriously. Written goals are also vital when developing a course of action.
“If a man knows not what harbor he seeks, any wind is the right wind.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
The mind will not reach for achievement until it has clear objectives. Writing and frequently rereading goals turns on the “Can Do” switch in our brain, and the power to accomplish the goal begins to flow. Goals that are written, read, rewritten, rephrased, and reread get impressed into our subconscious mind. We may not know exactly how to go about achieving our goals, and our conscious mind may not even think them possible, but if we write out our goals and visualize their accomplishment every day, our subconscious mind will work to make them a reality.
Myth alert: The “Yale Study of Goals” is often cited as a testament to the power of written goals. However, most scholars doubt the 1953 “study” ever took place. The so-called study claimed to have found that the 3% of Yale graduates who had written goals at the time of graduation were worth more financially twenty years later than the remaining 97% combined. Too bad the “YSG” is probably an urban legend, because properly written goals are actually vital, and today it is estimated that fewer than 5% of us have properly written goals. Let’s get that percentage up by “getting down with” writing our goals down.
Lower Turnover with Expectations
You are not going to like this — a recent study states that almost one-third of employees surveyed expect to leave for another job within the year. Have you ever put pen to paper on how much it costs your company to recruit, hire and get a new employee up to speed? In trying to add up the costs: advertising, retaining executive search firms, interviewing, lost productivity, training, etc., you discover a very costly part of business.
In fact, those who have analyzed the effects of turnover say that as much as 80 percent of its cost is hidden. It is estimated that the average cost to refill an upper management and executives post is 1.5 times the annual salary of the job. Turnover is a fact of corporate life — just ask any HR professional. While turnover can’t be stopped, it can be reduced by identifying and addressing its many possible causes. Unfortunately, employers often don’t even know that their employees are dissatisfied until they receive their resignation notices.
In many cases, employees leave because the job is not living up to their work expectations. Work expectations are those things people consider likely to happen in their job situation, either now or in the future. We create these expectations from a combination of our past work experience, age, gender, personal goals, race and a variety of other factors. Our expectations about work have a powerful impact on our behaviors and play a key role in driving our attitudes.
Typically, certain expectations — such as job duties, salary, and work hours — are clearly understood by all parties in an employment situation. However other expectations are closely linked to an individual’s concept of work and often times go unacknowledged. Examples of these include: personal recognition, self expression and job stability.
In assisting clients in uncovering employees’ work expectations, we were introduced to a commendable tool. Managing Work Expectations – Transforming Attitudes is a unique and highly interactive self assessment created by Inscape Publishing. It is designed to help people uncover and explore their work expectations in a variety of employment situations including:
* working on a team
* transitioning to a new position
* experiencing organizational restructuring
* creating meaningful performance reviews
* making the most of daily routine
Understand that the key concept is personal accountability — even adjusting one’s unrealistic work expectations when necessary — not getting the organization to meet everyone’s expectations. I am so impressed with this tool, that I am beginning to add it to our Big Phat Goals business program. It assists us in supporting clients in managing their employees’ expectations before they become job hindering issues.
Individuals with realistic, well-communicated, clearly defined expectations find more satisfaction and have a greater commitment to their work than people whose expectations go unspoken or unrealized. Organizations that retain and develop satisfied, committed people reap the benefits of higher productivity and reduced turnover. Plus, studies show that where there is low employee turnover, there is low customer turnover. But then, what else would you expect?
