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Know What You Want
By: Michael DeVenney
Success is a bigger future. Knowing that you have something in front of you gives you the positive energy to keep growing your potential and making a difference. A bigger future brings you meaning. The key is being clear on what you want to achieve to focus your actions.
One great question helps clarify your thinking: “If we were sitting here five years from today, looking back, what will you have to have achieved for you to be satisfied and happy with your work?“
Too many people drift through life letting careers and events just happen – or pass them by. They site circumstances and other people that got in their way. They got in their way. We can’t just drift – we are more confident and positive when we feel we are in charge of where we are going. Bosses take notice of people who are clear on where they want to be. People are attracted to those that know where they are going.
Answering the question gets you thinking about what the four or five most important achievements would be for you to have a bigger future.
It is a big question and most people need a little preparation to be able to answer the question crisply, clearly, and with conviction. You start by leading in your own life.
You begin the process of answering the question by looking at what you have achieved already. We often achieve our greatest results by building on our prior accomplishments. Look back over the past five years – or more – and identify what you have achieved or accomplished that you are most proud of. It could be an event, a project, a relationship, or anything really. What have you achieved that means the most to you?
When we look at what we have achieved that we are proud of we have also found the sources of positive energy that move us forward. If you selected a number of educational achievements, then it would make sense to keep building on that and focus some of your energy on going further and developing your specialty and expertise. Maybe you identified completing a research project – writing a paper may be a goal. It could be achieving a sales award so keep building the sales levels. Selecting what we are most proud of defines what is important to us. Achieving more in areas that are important to us happens most naturally as the commitment is already there. Building on our most important achievements also provides energy as it most likely used our strengths and talents. Achieving more in areas that are important to you and build on your strengths will lead to success and a bigger future.
Looking back, you start to look ahead to see what is next.
Look back over the last five years and write down the four or five accomplishments or achievements that mean the most to you? Why are these achievements important to you?
Now think about how you would measure success. Measure is a key word as the dimensions you select here should be measurable. It could be compensation, revenues or profits (money is good after all). Or it could be time off. Maybe it is hours of community involvement. Success is on your terms so determine the two or three measures of success that are most important to you.
Once you have the measures, define the values for the measures now. This is your benchmark. Take a breath and multiply them by ten – ten times where you are today. Your compensation is $50,000 today – think about $500,000. At first, it is overwhelming and a little scary. The point is to think about that “ten times” number and pretend you are there now and looking back. Think in the past tense – you have already achieved this new level of success. You are there.
From your position of ten times today, look back and answer four questions:
You focused on three activities in your work – and only three – to get to this new level of success. What are the three activities you focused on to get where you are? This is what you did with 80% of your time to achieve ten times your current success. These activities are your drivers of success and where you need to focus your time and energy now.
What are the three improvements you made in your work that enabled you to achieve ten times your current level of success?
What are the three “unacceptables” that you dropped in your work that supported your growth to achieve your new level of success? We all do things or put up with things that get in our way of achievement – we know it, we see it, and we keep putting up with it. What did you no longer tolerate in your work?
What did you have to learn to achieve your new level of success? Look at the capabilities you have to add or the delegations you have to make to enable you to focus your time, energy, and resources to achieve your bigger future.
From your answers, you will see trends, themes, and “a-ha” ideas of what you need to do and what you want. Look through the responses you made and highlight the three, four, or five most important shifts or changes you will have to make to achieve your bigger future success.
Using the ten times exercise, what are the three to five shifts you need to make in your work to achieve your new level of success?
The next step in preparing to answer the big question is to be purposeful. Think about a world where you were working in a way that provided the most confidence for you, meaning for you, and supported you to achieve your best performance and results. What would you stop doing? There are no repercussions – if you could stop doing things immediately that get in your way, what would activities or actions would you drop? What would you continue doing? What would you start doing?
These questions answer how you need to work to achieve your success.
Looking at how you want to work to be most confident and successful, what two things would you stop doing immediately? What two things would you start doing? What two things would you continue doing?
The exercise of setting goals is crucial to success. Many studies have shown the incredible benefit of written, clear goals to achieve success. Review your work in the prior three exercises and identify the five most crucial goals for you to achieve in the next five years. For each goal, define why achieving this goal is important to you. Finally, what do you have to do in the next year to move towards achieving your goals? Each quarter, sit down for an hour and update your progress on the goals and determine the next actions to take to keep moving.
You should be ready to answer the critical question and know what want. Review what you selected as your most positive achievements, the key shifts you highlighted to make in your work, and how you would work on purpose. What you want should be coming clear to you.
Answer the question – If we were sitting here five years from today, looking back, what will you have to have achieved for you to be satisfied and happy with your work? You have clarity as to the actions you need to focus on to get there – how you will work to realize those achievements.
This exercise always brings great energy – you know what you want and how you have to work to get there. Being able to answer this question provides confidence and direction – people notice your drive and focus (including your boss). Most importantly, you are in charge of where you are going.
Clarify what you want, do the work, and let your game speak …
