Do I need to remind you that the World Cup is in full swing? (thought not). So, you will have heard endless discussions on TV about the importance of goals. However, for most people the really important goals in life are forgotten. I’m talking, of course, about goal setting to achieve what you want from your business and your life.
Study after study shows that goal setting is the single most important factor in the success of an individual or a business. Those with goals succeed - and the more specific and well thought out the goal, the greater chance of success. If you do not have a well balanced set of goals, the results you achieve are likely to be significantly reduced. Ask people who are regular goal setters (they are the ones who tend to drive around in nice cars) why goal setting works and they might not be able to tell you. But they will tell you that it works well enough for them to keep on doing it. Here’s a simple how and why guide to goal setting - and why it is so effective.
1. Balance. If you focus all your effort on one goal – say money – you are more likely to succeed in that one area. However, you are also likely to have an unbalanced life. My advice is to set ongoing goals in areas such as health, money, career, family and fun. You may come up with your own list, but please don’t set all your goals in only one area. Balance is the key; truly successful people lead a life that contains balance so that they are a success in all the important areas of their life.
2. Excitement. If you have a set of goals that does not fire you up and make you want to get out of bed in the morning, you are unlikely to achieve them. There are tricks and methods you can learn to keep your initial enthusiasm fresh, but this must be based on something genuine to start with. Work out how you can motivate yourself to achieve a goal (be it fear of not doing it, or a substantial reward for doing it) or simply re-frame the goal in your mind to make it more exciting.
3. Credibility. If you don’t believe that it is possible for you to achieve the goal you have just set for yourself, you will not take it seriously from the start. If you do not think that it is possible to lose 1 stone in the next fortnight, you are doomed to failure. Far better to set a goal that is a stretch, but not too much of a stretch to be achievable. In this example, perhaps 5lbs is a more realistic target. Remember, if you can conceive it and believe it, you can achieve it.
4. Timescale. Any goal that is a serious goal and not just a daydream needs to have a deadline by which you commit to achieve. This means that you begin with the end in mind. So if you have decided you want to pay off your mortgage in 5 years, work out how many months away that is, then work out how much extra a month that means paying off. Now you know when you want to finish and what you need to do to get there. You just have to work out the ‘how’.
5. Support. Even a top striker is unlikely to score a goal by themselves. You need your support team around you. They will give you back up, console you when things don’t go well and when the time is right, celebrate with you. Having people around you can trust and share your thoughts with is very important. But remember that making your goal happen is ultimately down to you.
The best definition of success I have ever heard is one by Earl Nightingale. He said that ‘a person becomes a success as soon as they start to work towards a worthwhile goal’. So go on, decide what you want out of life. Decide when you will achieve your goals by, and start working towards them. Achieving small goals will lead to bigger things and you’ll look back upon today as the day you turned your life around.
Finally, to go back to the football theme for a moment, when David Beckham was at primary school, he wrote down that he wanted to be the captain of Manchester United and England. Whilst many school boys have that as a dream, he set it as a goal and put in the long hours of practice to make a schoolboy hope a reality. Your goals won’t just happen overnight, but by knowing where you want to end up, you give your life the purpose, meaning and direction to get there.
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Research shows that readers will scan your headline, your PS then your sub-heading within a matter of seconds before deciding to read your letter. You have less than 4 seconds to use the right words to catch their eye.
Don’t over design your letter. I never justify both sides of my letter as I think that a letter should always look like a letter – not a sales brochure. You want your letter to look as much as possible like a letter from a friend.
Don’t make your letterhead too elaborate and complex. Often a small logo and contact details in the top right corner are all you need. In general, the more glossy and elaborate you make your paper, the fewer people will read it.
Never send out a brochure, catalogue or quote without a simple letter. 
Always sign a letter, never pp it. If you send out a lot of letters, a scanned signature (in blue) or a signature stamp can be quite convincing. If this is what you use, make sure that it looks as real as possible.
There are some books that you come across that you cannot recommend highly enough and ‘The Millionaire Mind’ is one of them. Written after years of extensive research, it considers what makes millionaires in America tick. What were they like at school? How do they think about money? What are their views on property? How have they made their money and how have they held onto it? This best seller answers all these questions and a great deal more. In particular, I was intrigued by the attitudes of millionaires to bad news and the negative opinions of others. For example, when told at school that they would not amount to anything, they took this as an incorrect assumption rather than a statement of fact.