This post is part of a series of what I call the “36-1/2 Rules for Client-Oriented Real Estate Agents,” a collection of short takes on the CORE concept that I’ve developed over the years of discussing and teaching the system.  We’ve been counting up the rules from #1 to #36-1/2 for almost two years, and we’re now at the end — where you can find out why there’s a “half-rule”.   You can get the full list of rules by clicking on the “36-1/2 Rules for CORE Agents” category on the blog – scroll from the bottom if you want to read them in order.

 

Setting goals is important.  But it’s not enough.

We’ve all become too reliant on the power of setting goals to change our behavior. All these trainers telling us to write down our goals every day and post them on our mirror.  All these people who read The Secret and set up their dream boards convinced that the universe is going to send them a lottery ticket.

Now, goal-setting is an important part of making significant changes in our life, since the very act of sitting down and writing out a goal tends to focus the mind on what you want to accomplish.  That famous “law of attraction” is really just a way of saying that our thoughts tend to affect our behavior: the more we think about the goal we want to achieve, the more we’re likely to act in a way that will help us achieve it.

The problem is not that people set goals, it’s that they ONLY set goals.  Then they just sit back, keep doing things exactly the way they always have, and just wait for good things to happen.

But you have to do more than just write down a goal – you have to actually identify the steps that will help you achieve that goal.  For example, let’s say that you goal is to lose 25 pounds.

• Goal: Lose 25 pounds.

Go ahead and write that down on your bedroom mirror all you want, you’re not going to lose 25 pounds unless you take the specific steps that will make changes to your diet and exercise routine.  Here are some sample steps you could take:

• Step 1: Cut out all bread and pasta.
• Step 2: Eat a hearty breakfast every morning.
• Step 3: Go to the gym three times a week.

So now you not only have the goal, but you’ve identified the way you’re going to achieve that goal.

But you’re not yet done.  Even identifying the steps you want to take is not enough to help you achieve your goals.  You know why?  Because the steps you’ve identified are probably things that you’ve tried to do before, and you’ve failed.  This probably isn’t your first attempt to lose weight, and in your previous attempts you might have laid out the steps you were going to take to achieve your goals.  Maybe you tried to eat breakfast every morning, or go to the gym more, but you got busy and dropped out.

In other words, you have “blocks” that are keeping you, and have always kept you, from taking the steps you need to achieve your goals.  So it’s not enough to set goals, and it’s even not enough to identify the steps that will help you achieve the goals.  The key to achieving the results you want is to go to the deeper level of identifying the obstacles, those blocks, that keep you from taking the steps to achieve your goal.

Let’s unpack that.

• First, you have goals.
• Second, you have steps that will help you achieve those goals.
• Third, you have obstacles – the “blocks” — that will keep you from taking those steps, which will thereby keep you from reaching your goals.

Thus, if you eliminate the blocks, you’ll then take the steps and increase the chances of reaching your goals.

Going back to our weight-loss example, we identified three steps that would help you lose weight.  Now, let’s add some sample obstacles that might keep you from taking those steps:

• Step 1: Cut out all bread and pasta.  Blocks: (1) there’s a lot of pasta in your house, (2) pasta is a cheap and easy lunch.

• Step 2: Eat a hearty breakfast every morning.  Block: you’re always rushing in the morning.
• Step 3: Go to the gym three times a week.  Block: you never have the time.

Okay, now we’re getting somewhere.  We have our goal, we have our steps, and now we have the blocks that we think are likely to prevent us from taking those steps.

Now comes the final part: identifying the solutions to the obstacles, which are the “blockbusters” that are going to break through those blocks and let us take the steps to achieve our goals. As you can see, some steps have many obstacles, so the challenge is to find a solution for each one.  Here are some more examples:

• There’s a lot of pasta in the house.  That’s simple.  Throw it out, or give it away.  If you have kids or a spouse that eats the pasta, at least try to get them pasta that they like but you don’t.  Alternatively, try finding something that’s a reasonable but healthier substitute for pasta (like quinoa or whole wheat), or just resolve that you’re going to eat less of it.

• Pasta is a cheap and easy lunch.  Find something else that’s just as easy or cheap, or realize that if you’re eating less you’re going to save some money and can afford, say, a salad or something healthy like that.

• You’re always rushing in the morning. Every night, cut up some fruit and put it in a ziplock in the fridge.  In the morning, grab it and eat it in the car.

• You never have the time.  This is a pretty common problem, and one way to solve it is to hire a personal trainer.  If you don’t have the money, try to find someone in the office that you can go to the gym with, and make an appointment three times a week to go together.  The appointment, just like an appointment with a trainer, will help you keep that resolve, because you’re less likely to break a commitment to someone else than you are to yourself.

You see how it works.  Maybe those solutions don’t work for you.  That’s fine.  Find a solution that does.

The key is to keep breaking down the goal into steps, then into blocks, then into blockbusting solutions, remembering the following:

• If you find a blockbuster to the block, you’ll overcome the block.
• If you overcome the block, you’ll take the step.
• If you take the step, you’ll achieve the goal.

The problem most of us have is that we write down the goals, and then never actually figure out the steps. And even if we figure out the steps, we never actually identify the block to taking those steps.  And, finally, even if we identify the blocks, we never come up with the way to break through those obstacles.  That’s why most diets, and most self-improvement programs, fail.

The Half-Rule

So that’s why this final rule is only half a rule.  The biggest obstacle that’s keeping you from taking the steps to achieve your goals is…….what?  I don’t know.  You have to figure that out.  I did my half, you need to do yours.

Here’s your process:

1. State the goal you want to reach.  The goal could be anything: doing more lead generation, closing more deals, making more money, finding a spouse, losing weight, etc.
2. Identify the specific steps you need to take to reach that goal.
3. Figure out the specific obstacles that will likely keep you from taking those steps.
4. Come up with the blockbusting solution to each obstacle.
5. Start implementing those solutions, then taking the steps, and commit to continuing to work to achieve your goals.

It’s not easy.  You still need to be committed, you still need the will power to succeed, you still have the same challenges you always had for achieving your goals.  All I’m giving you is a process, but it’s a process that will give you a much better chance of achieving your goals than simply writing them down and wishing that they come true.