Monday, January 25, 2010

How To Reach Your Goals: Pt 1

Teammates, how do you stay Fired UP? It’s a great question and one that I hear all the time. News flash – you’re not going to be Fired UP all the time…yep it’s true, "I'm sorry to say so but, sadly it's true that bang-ups and hang-ups can happen to you." Dr. Seuss continues,"unslumping yourself is hard to do.” This quotation is from one of my favorite all-time books Oh, the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss: it acknowledges what every one of us will deal with in life…and some of us will have more “bang-ups and hang-ups” as we dare to do things differently and we challenge ourselves in new ways. When you push the envelope in whatever you do – you will fail – failing is a fact of life – the key is understanding that you only ever fail if you never learn from your “failure". Thomas Edison once said he learned over 5,000 ways not to invent a light bulb – I learned 1,475,000 dollars worth of how NOT to launch a fitness product – in other words, you’re not learning if you’re not Failing!

So really, the key question is how do you stay Fired UP to keep trying – to keep doing – to keep persevering – to keep from quitting – to keep from giving up – to keep persisting – to keep pressing on after you’ve had your failures, or as Dr. Seuss would say, “your hang-ups and bang-ups.”?

Having failed many more times in life than I’ve succeeded, I humbly offer you my three “secrets” for staying Fired UP in the face of adversity – here goes:

1. When you set your goal – the thing you want to accomplish and are willing to devote time to it – first take the time to understand and visualize why this particular goal is important to you. Literally define the goal’s purpose – example: I want to create a fitness company – its purpose to me is: working in an industry that will always be a part of my daily life and the joy I receive from helping others take control of their bodies is immeasurable – furthermore, I want financial freedom and scheduling freedom to be with my family during the most precious years of their young adult lives. I’ve linked this purpose so strongly to my goal that failure to achieve isn’t an option – it’s a similar linkage I had when conducting SEAL training, my attitude was they (the instructors) would have to kill me before I’d quit. I promise you, if you spend the time creating this linkage of purpose with your goal and you visualize both the pleasure of achieving it with the pain of not achieving it, you will have a created a foundation for tireless perseverance and there will be no brick wall thick enough or tall enough to stop you.

Part 2: Secrets 2 and 3 to staying Fired Up in the face of adversity.

CHARLIE MIKE – (Continue Mission in military speak!) ALDEN

3 comments:

AKO said...

thank you, Alden, for this post. I am taking my MCAT (medical school entrance exams) this week, and I am wondering how I'll do. but this post has shown me how I can get what I want. you keep inspiring.

Perfect Fitness is one of the BEST workout companies I have ever known. Charlie Mike!

Jerry said...

Alden,
Thank you for your inspiration! This reminds me of one of my grad school professors speaking about goals and objectives. She used Army and Navy football for an example. She said, "the goal of a football game is to win the game, and the objectives are the plays made to win the game."

Jim said...

Nice article Alden, your points make perfect sense. Looking forward to the next part.