Achieve Your Goals

How many of us set New Year's resolutions and then failed to keep them, or for that matter set goals anytime and then not achieve them?  If you are anything like me then that happens more than you'd like.  To help me and our business I've done research into effective goal setting and I am sharing my findings with you.  Unless you are a master goal achiever I believe you will find value in this section.

• Write the goal down! Handwriting is actually better than typing it because it helps you internalize it better.  Put it where you can see it: bathroom mirror, refrigerator, car dash board, inside the briefcase, on the computer monitor.  Look at it daily.

• Make the goal SMART.
• S = Specific: "I am going to become healthier" is not specific enough.  Try "I am going to get thinner."
• M = Measurable: "I am going to get thinner" is not measurable.  Try "I am going to get thinner by 30 pounds."
• A = Attainable: Attainable doesn't mean make it easy, you should make it make it a stretch but you must believe that you can accomplish it.  For instance, "I am going to get thinner by 30 pounds in the next two weeks" will be hard for your internal self to believe and for most people it isn't very attainable.
• R = Relevant: Is it important to you that you accomplish this goal?  If you really want to become healthier, then getting thinner is generally very relevant to that goal.
• T = Time Based: When is this going to happen? "I am going be 30 pounds thinner by June 1, 2012" is a good time based goal.

• Put a plan in place.  Since goals are generally long term achievements it will be necessary to set up a plan to achieve it with quarterly/monthly milestones and weekly/daily tasks to reach your overall goal.  Then measure your progress against the milestones and tasks, adjust when necessary, and always keep your eyes on the prize!

• Phrase the goal in the present tense like it has already happened.  "Today is June 1st, 2012 and I am 30 pounds lighter than I was 5 months ago." Phrasing your goal this way will help you complete the next step.

• Visualize what your world looks like now that you have achieved the goal. With the present tense goal in mind, how will you feel, what can you wear, what will you be able to do, etc.  Take time each day to visualize your new world once your goal is achieved.

• Believe it, don't just wish it:  Now that you have a written SMART goal with a plan to accomplish it and are visualizing your new life your mind will believe it will be achieved.  Mentally it will become an inevitable outcome.  This video with Tony Robbins, Frank Kern, and John Reese, three very successful guys, discuss why some people succeed and others don't.  Believing it is critical for success.  Take 40 minutes that can help you change your life and click here.

• Get an Accountability Coach who will remind you of your promise to yourself and tell you the truth, and perhaps offer suggestions and encouragement.

   

  Many of you know I am a pretty large guy so I'm planning for you, our readers, to be my Accountability Coach with my following goal.  It is December 31, 2012 and my body is 100 pounds lighter than it was on February 1st!  I will provide a report each month on my journey to a new me.

From Marcus & Millichap's Research Brief Blog:

Highlights from "Employment Builds Momentum as Jobs Rise for 15th Consecutive Month;  Political and Eurozone Uncertainty Tempers Optimism for 2012"

• December capped a solid year of job growth as the economy generated positive hiring every month in the year for the first time since 2005.
• The private sector led the way, marking its most substantial growth in six years.
• The unemployment rate fell 20 basis points in December to 8.5 percent, the lowest level since early 2009, as all of the 10 private-employment sectors added workers for the month.
• Despite the supply-chain ripples of the natural disaster in Japan, political gridlock at home and the U.S. debt downgrade in August, the labor market staged a respectable broad-based recovery for the year.  The private sector led the way, hiring more than 1.9 million employees, with only the information sector completing the year in negative territory.  

Impact on Commercial Real Estate

• The increase in jobs enabled companies to backfill empty cubicles and generated a modest increase in new office space requirements.
• Job growth in 2011 supported an increase in retail spending, resulting in more trips to shopping centers across the country.  The rise in traffic fueled a tempered pace of new store openings and drastically reduced the rate of closures.
• Apartments continue to benefit from the creation of new rental households that accompanies a job market revival.

 To view the entire article click here.

This is great news because as single and multi-family property investors we buy properties in those areas with solid positive job growth.  This provides the highest likelihood that we will achieve the above average earnings we want to achieve.