What are you aiming for?  What do you want?  I ask this question of our clients (and I ask it of other folks) a lot!  It's amazing how many people are out there wanting something and working toward... er, something... but they're not really sure what that 'something' is... because they've never taken the time to try and define it for themselves.

To demonstrate a point for people that often needed proof to believe, I used to ask sales trainees if they were 'good with their aim' and, of course, being sales types they ALL thought they were fabulous.  I'd give them a rubber dart gun (a prop I kept handy) and ask them to hit my hand as a target from a few feet away.  Most of them could do this.  Then I'd make it slightly harder... I asked them to do it blindfolded.  After strapping on one of those great international flight eyeshades they'd gear up to show me how good they were and how they could still hit my hand-- even with their eyes closed.  Except I'd quietly move my hand and they would, inevitably, miss the mark-- each and every time.  It's amazing how many times you'll miss the mark when you don't know and can't see what you're aiming at!

How many folks out there have a well-defined vision of what their success looks like-- something that can be visualized, quantified by some metric (it doesn't have to be money, believe me!), and evaluated from time-to-time for performance versus expectation?

Frankie and Johnny were lovers and, as you probably know, Frankie shot Johnny in Rooty Toot Toot.  And then got away with it.  She knew what she wanted to do, aimed, (figuratively and literally), and caused it to happen convincing the jury it was all a misunderstanding and an incredible ricochet as she tried to 'return' his gun.  Similar "I wanted something and just did what I had to do..." stories (sans the bullet hitting the man) fill our folklore and our motivational passages ad nauseum-- yet still so many of us don't take the time to decide what it is we want the 'something' to actually be.  We have no idea of what it should look like when it's over and, consequently, we often fail to see it even when it happens!

Without a vision of what a successful outcome will be, going forward will leave you armed with a popgun instead of a pistol, with no clear idea of where the target is, and with no visual of what the target looks like so you might RECOGNIZE it when it presents itself.  You'll have no chance other than 'pure chance' of attaining what you want. 

To hit the mark you need to see the target.  To see the target, you need to know what a 'target' looks like.  Otherwise, it's Rooty Toot Shoot and the bullets are likely to be flying everywhere-- except where they'll do you any good!

Chris Hendricks