The New Year is here. It is time to set new goals for 2020. Conventional wisdom indicates your goals need to be written down. They need to be specific, measurable, attainable and realistic. Then, you need to take action and measure the results. It sounds logical and relatively easy, yet the vast majority of business owners fail to meet their goals. Maybe they need to try something different?
Several months ago, I interviewed Carmen Bermudez, chairwoman and CEO of Mission Management and Trust Company for an article on creating a successful, sustainable businesses. As she told me the story of her life, I was impressed with how many times she achieved nearly impossible goals.
According to Bermudez, they were not goals or dreams to her, they were her mission.
βYou will be committed to accomplishing a mission, and it is too easy to give up on a dream,β she said.
All our lives we condition ourselves to believe that dreams rarely come true. Our experiences teach us that we probably will not achieve the goals we set. We tell ourselves βitβs OK, there is always next year.β
When planning a mission, you identify your objectives and analyze your available resources. Then you develop a plan and implement it. There is something different about the mindset of a mission. When we accept a mission, we are committed to accomplishing it. We are more focused and more determined. We can actually picture the mission in our minds, while goals seem abstract. We can picture ourselves accomplishing the mission.
Do we just need to change our mindset? Do we need to stop setting goals and start creating missions?
Why not try planning a few missions for 2020? Can you visualize your objectives? Do you have the necessary resources to accomplish each mission? Is it time to stop setting goals?
