I got an interesting e-mail from Tom Hanson as a member of his gym and once I read it I just had to share some thoughts with you. You see part of the message was from a guy named Matt who was criticized for talking about going to the World Series and traveling while “everyone else” was going through this tough economic time. Matt was basically told that he shouldn’t be talking about things like that while others are struggling.

I’m sure we can all see the guy’s point. However, the guy who was criticized went into this whole long thing (which was all very good by the way) which pointed out that if he was to listen to this guy all he’d be doing is paying homage to the adage “Misery loves company.”

My favorite part of what he said follows:

“If there is a mission for you in this lifetime – it cannot take place unless, first and foremost, you are true to yourself. If you are addicted to other peoples’ approval MORE than fulfilling your goals – then you are NOT true to yourself and you cannot ever be truly happy.”

This reminded me of when I was a little kid playing softball. I never wanted to stand out. I never wanted to be different. It was an uncomfortable place for me. When our coaches ran us through drills there were times when I’d have dog it because I didn’t want to do the drill that much better than everyone else. Why? Because if I did, there’d be comments like, “Ho, superstar. What you think you’re an all-star or something?’ What were my teammates saying? Basically they were saying what the critic above was saying,“You shouldn’t be showing off like that, you make the rest of us look and feel bad.”

This use to happen in school too. When teachers asked a question, even if I knew the answer, I’d let someone else answer it or just left it unanswered. I didn’t want to be the “know it all” nerdy one who answered all the questions in class so I kept my mouth shut.

Somewhere along the line I grew out of being uncomfortable being different and just started being myself and was very happy being me. It didn’t matter much to me what other people thought. I played because I loved it and went all out because that’s what made me happy. Plus that’s what helped the team most, which, in turn, made my teammates happy too.

Anyway, back to the e-mail. There was one more thing that Matt said that I really, really liked because it summed up perfectly the way I felt when I was in high school and people would ask me if I wanted to drink or smoke or anything else I really shouldn’t be doing. Here’s was it said…

So after I posted my short little video sharing 3 Simple Yet Effective Goal Setting Tips, I got a comment that indicated there was more to goal setting than what I mentioned.

Hmmmm, do I agree with that? Yes and No. You see, the video assumes that you already have an idea of what you want and you already have some goals in mind. Can you mess up setting a goal? Kinda. There are some general rules that you should follow so that the goals you set are much more effective than they would be if you didn’t follow them.

HOWEVER, if we’re talking not going anything at all about the goal in your head vs. taking that idea of what you want, setting a challenging goal, writing it down, then taking action on it (the 3 tips I shared in the video) – gosh, just those 3 things ALONE are going to significantly increase your chance at greater success.

Can simplifying it that much really make a difference? I believe so. Is it the MOST effective, most powerful way to do it? No, it’s not. But it far outweighs, not setting a challenging goal, not writing it down, and not taking action on what you want.

When I first did an actual goal setting exercise, I was a HUGE skeptic – didn’t believe for one second that it was really going to help or change anything. Needless to say I didn’t really go into it with a serious, go get ‘em attitude, but it worked anyway. I did it because it was an assignment from my coach – not because I really wanted to do it, more because I had to do it…and it still worked. Yes, I did go through a little bit of a though process about things I wanted to accomplish or get better with on the field (I’m talking just an hour or two of my time here), but it wasn’t some complicated system where I had to think through every detail of the next 5 years or anything like that. I made no conscious effort to go after the goals I had written, I made no effort to look at or read these goals every day when I woke up or each night before I went to bed, I gave ZERO thought to whether or not my “short term” goals were related in any way shape or form to my longer term goals…and it still worked. In fact, it worked better than I ever thought possible. I accomplished things and improved skills in areas I never truly expected to levels I never thought were even possible and all much quicker than I imagined. I only thought about what I wanted to write down on my goal sheet for ONE afternoon. I wrote them down ONCE, I looked at them “on occasion.” I was not obsessive about them, I didn’t make any major efforts to make sure I was motivated, shucks I never really even tracked my progress on them. One day, about a year later, I looked back at what I had written and saw the goals I set had all been realized, even the ones I thought were a bit out of reach, ones I really wrote down more as wishes than things I really thought I could accomplish. I was doing things I had never done before on the softball field. I was hitting in a slot in the batting line-up no coach had ever put me in. After all, I’m only about 5’2″ 120lbs and all my life I was told I was not a power hitter, yet there I was hitting in a power slot. Every coach in Hawaii new I was a pull hitter and was no threat to the right side, yet there I was smashing triples to the fence in opposite field with runners on base when they tried to attack my “weakness.”

So does goal setting have to be super-complicated to help you achieve more? No, I don’t think so. If you’re talking about doing no goal setting vs doing a very simplified form of goal setting – I think doing any type of goal setting activity is better than none.

Is that going to be the most effective? No.

If I did some things different with that very first goal setting exercise I did could I have achieved even more? I think I could have, which is almost scary!

Do people who set goals ever “fail” to achieve them? Yes, sometimes this does happen for various reasons

Do people have trouble with motivation to stay on track with their goals? Yes

Are there things you can do to give yourself better odds and staying motivated, staying on track, and actually achieving what you want? Yes!

And that’s all the stuff I’m going to cover in my upcoming 2 week goal setting bootcamp.

I’m really looking forward to working with a limited number of coaches and players on creating a path to great success this year and beyond. Whether you’re the type of person who’s never set goals before and want to get some guidance for making this a great year or the type of person who’s set goals before but really want to get serious this time and set some powerful, effective goals for the future, this bootcamp is going to guide you through all of that.

If you’re interested in having me help you through the process on setting your goals, fill in your name and e-mail address below and I’ll keep you posted on when the bootcamp is ready.