It is inevitable that there will be ongoing outside forces that will affect our progress to succeed in anything we do in this life.  That is why goals assessment (and reassessment) in our personal life and business activities is an ongoing priority for success.  This priority dictates an unspoken mandate that says, “While every lasting success is built upon the solid foundation of tried and tested principles and rules of success, a personal or business plan is subject to factors outside of its control that can adversely affect the outcome.  As such, continual evaluation, assessment, and reassessment of goals must be continually reviewed through the crucible of objective critical thinking for both the short term and long term success of any notable undertaking.”

There is a hidden force that is in operation behind everything productive that we do towards our ultimate goals. I learned this as a young boy.  I am the sort of individual that as a child enjoyed winding a toy up and turning it lose to see what it would do on its own without my help, and let others take care of the details of things like, what furniture or breakable objects (or individuals) that wind up toy would ultimately zero in on.  I was totally irresponsible in looking at the big picture, the affects of my immediate goals (the thrill of success in my immediate adventure-seeking exploits) on my long-term goals (to stay alive and my butt remaining unscathed by my dad’s belt).

The worst sort of short-term goals I had that were related to wind-up toys (or best depending upon your perspective) were the wind-up FLYING toys.  I mean it was easy to hide the nick and scratches on furniture legs and floor objects.  I mean, what adult looks down at the floor all the time or at the legs of furniture and bottom of floor vases? Right?  But those flying toys!  Now, that was a different thing.  If my mom had ever found out just how many breakable things my aviation test flights crash landed into that were at or near an adult’s eye level, I fear that I may not have made it out of childhood, if at all, without severe physical consequences. This is leading to my point, I promise.

Unfortunately for most individuals we counsel, and especially small businesses, there is a pervasive mentality to just ‘wind it up and turn it lose’ to see what will happens in life and in business.  I think this is probably because of most people’s uncertainty about proper planning and execution strategies to accomplish what they most hope to accomplish.  In a nutshell, the vast majority of people just simply fail to plan properly or to lay out their strategy in detail which takes into account the possibility for the variables that INVARIABLY take place in life and in business.

Because I have always been the ‘tip back in the chair’ sort of individual (at least that is what people tell me), I guess that is part of why I thrive as an entrepreneur.  I just love the thrill of the adventure that comes with the exploration, creation, and execution of enterprise and industry.  I DOOOO LOVE to ‘wind it up and turn it lose’, but fortunately I grew out of that “just wind it up and turn it lose” mentality in many respects.  Now I take the time and effort to explore all the options related to my decision to move forward.  Believe me, I have made some very costly errors – personally and financially – in my life, so I can speak from VAST experience in respect to the affects of a lack of scrutiny over plans that can affect people and business.

This valuable LEARNED personality trait comes out especially in my passion as a business coach and in my career as a consultant.  I am known for being almost anal when it comes to detail in helping clients fully recognize where they are, what got them there, the damage it is doing to their lives and/or business, and in detailing how to most effectively change their circumstances in positive and purpose-filled ways that will ultimately lead to their success in every area of their life.

In my own defense (truth be told), there are far too few coaches now-a-days – especially online – that really take the time to dig below the surface in a client’s life – choosing rather to make the most bucks in the least amount of time with their clients and giving them a canned pitch and boilerplate plan to get them out of the situation that they feel stuck in – even when the plan is not ideally suited for a client’s particular situation.

Before you think me over-critical of my fellow coaching professionals, let me say in all of our defense that there are specific guidelines and processes for various coaching or consulting situations that can be applied to almost every situation that address probably 75% of the problems that typically cause adverse circumstances or situations in any given situation.  My purpose for goals assessment (and periodic reassessment) in our coaching processes is the result of an over-compensation that has been a part of our coaching guidelines.

Our guidelines have historically used micromanagement with clients – probably more than is typically necessary – especially for business turn-around consulting services.  In some instances, clients have said that it feels as if we have put them on restriction.  Our ‘putting them on restriction’ is most always only until they learn to recognize and successfully address those situations in their personal and business life that are wreaking havoc on their potential for success.  WHICH BRINGS ME TO THE LONG AWAITED POINT OF THIS ARTICLE – the priority of goals assessment if you want to be successful in the long term.

Last month, while having a round table meeting with our organization’s coaches, some Success Alliance Team captains,  and some tech support staff, one of the subjects of the day was how we could streamline our coaching and consulting services so that we could provide our clients with a more ‘turnkey approach’ to resolving troublesome areas in the  lives and/or business pursuits of our clients.  The general consensus was that we did not want to micro-manage/coach their progress as much as we have historically done.  It is not that I do not want us to provide the personalized coaching and consulting services that we have been providing throughout these years in coaching and consulting.  It is quite the opposite; however, by using the principle of goals assessment (and in our case, goals reassessment), we realized a lot of things about how we were going about our work that were overkill, and that there were ample fail safes in place to protect our clients.

In the next installment of this article “Goals Assessment in Business is an Ongoing Priority” I will share how we worked through an unforeseen problem that was hindering S. D. Ward & Associates from growing and reaching our fullest potential.

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I don’t think that there is a single individual who lives in the free world who has not heard of Anthony Robbins. His story is one of those rags to riches stories – living on food stamps in a one room apartment, overweight, lazy, discouraged, sick and tired of being a failure, and no options in sight. Then, one day it hits him. He is inspired with a solution to his situation from within, and ultimately builds an empire in the self help industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Fast forward to today.

Have you been to a book store recently and walked by their self-help section. It’s amazing how many self help books there are. And, all of them are on those shelves for one reason and one reason alone; to help you become successful in your personal and public life. I have read a ton of them over the years. Ok. Well, maybe not a ton. More like 500 pounds worth. And, I can tell you that although I don’t agree with all of the information found in them (the best self-help book is the Bible), it never fails that I pick up one or two (sometimes more) great tips, tricks, and/or techniques that help me to better serve others or to better accomplish my goals more efficiently. Maybe you have had the same experience.

Some of those success books are expensive though. Admittedly so, I have paid $40 for some of them that really got my attention. Was it worth it? Well, here is the question I pose to myself when I am considering the purchase of a book that I believe might have a few nuggets of truth in them that could help me to achieve my goals. “If I could learn even one new thing from this book that would allow me to increase my monthly income by even $200, would that book purchase be worth it?” Would you pay that sort of money for a book if you could increase your income by, let’s say, only $100 a month? I think most reasonably-minded people would say it was a good investment – bringing in over a thirty to one return on investment over a years time. Not bad. Beats the stock market, doesn’t it.

I find that most self help books have a lot of fluff in them. Fluff defined is information that is common public knowledge on any particular field of interest or industry. For the most part, at least for me, most self help books have only a few immediately applicable nuggets of information that I can apply that effectuate positive results for me. BUT, in my mind, even a few nuggets of truth – the one or two pieces of information that are able to catapult me into success in the area that I am working towards my goals in – is worth the investment. But, most people do not see it that way. Why? Honestly, I am not really sure why.

A person will gladly pay $8000 or so a year to go back to school to get a college degree in some area of expertise that interests them. They will pay several thousand dollars to go through vocational training program that they feel they need. And, those looking to make their living online will even pay $4000 to $6000 to some slick promoter to get a course that simply teaches them the basics of online marketing, and ultimately how to sell the promoter’s course to others as the way of making money online.  Yet, these same people will be reluctant to purchase a few dozen e-Books that are specific to their success equation online. If you are one of those who have purchased such an expensive course, please forgive me if this seems harsh. Truth is that you may be one of the 95% who never make even their original investment back on those sorts of courses.

So, back on topic to wrap this post up in a positive light here. Here is what I absolutely love about online self help books. Most of the books that you can purchase online – even though they only provide small amounts of needed information – are not only valuable in helping others be successful at what they are endeavoring to do, but hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars cheaper than getting a formal education on a subject. And, as I have said many times in my Webinars, most people are just one or two small pieces of information away from being catapulted into success. I think we all know though that success is what you determine in your heart and mind to make it. Even those with all the information they need can fail or live in frustration if they don’t have a plan, strategy, or maybe something as simple as a success coach guiding them.

A formal education is important for some as it relates to their ego and their self-image. And yes, a formal education can open doors for the person that is seeking to be an employee for the rest of their lives and work their way up the corporate ladder. However, the truth is (and history proves) that being highly educated does not guarantee a financially secure future. Ask anyone who has a college degree that is unemployed right now (about 20 million of them I am told out of the 45 million who are unemployed).

So how can the enormous proliferation of self-help books both in stores and online as e-Books help you succeed today? Think of this readily available knowledge as not only a repository of help in your endeavors, but also as a potential source of income. The income through the resell of any eBook that you find helpful, as well as your ability to write your own eBook that relates to something that you know a great deal about or have a level of expertise that only a small percentage actually have on a given subject can be huge.

Millions of people are doing searches for information every day, and most often find it through Websites that offer information that is often linked to an eBook they are selling. Take advantage of the wealth of knowledge that is available to learn what you need to in order to be successful, and consider writing about something that you feel you know a great deal about that others would consider valuable. There are huge rewards in both.

If you would like to learn more about how you can potentially earn a significant amount of money through the online marketing of eBooks, and would like to be trained in how to do it, write us today at: opportunity (at) sdward.com. We hold periodic Webinar classes on exactly how to get set up on the Internet to market both yourself, your own eBook, and the eBooks of others.