Not all goals are created equally. We all know about SMART goals but what about pull goals? I define pull goals as those that compel you forward, creating in their wake an inborn sense of urgency that cannot be ignored. For example, one of my repeat pull goals over the years has
been to plan a family gathering of some sort at my new home, less than a week after moving in. We’ve moved so many times over the years that this has become a hallmark of the moving process to me.
This pull goal creates an amazing fire under me to get every single box unpacked and be able to actually find enough items in my kitchen to be able to prepare a meal of some sort and serve it to others - neither of which would happen without creating an external sense of urgency that couldn’t exist without the planning of that future event. And voila! Less than 1 week and every box is cleared, the kitchen is functional, and I can actually live without screaming at the piles of unpacked stuff around me.
Event-based pull goals work best for me, mainly because they typically involve other people - either others I would let down or inconvenience if I missed the goal or others that I rely on with mutual accountability to get the goal met. I’ve found letting myself off the hook for a goal is much easier than letting others be affected by my lack of persistent action. Why is it that internal goals are so much easier to push off, side burner, or otherwise scrap all together? This year instead of setting resolutions, create a series of intentional event-based pull goals.
Maybe its a launch in your business of a new product, service, or website. Driving backwards from the launch date, what are the steps, the milestones to the big goal, that must be achieved to pull off a successful launch? These goals have much more power now that they are created in the path of a future event. In fact, unless you shift the launch date out and take your team off the hook, they will most likely be pulled into the vortex of excitement around the launch and compelled to take a “whatever it takes” attitude, stretching previous limitations of time and energy that they thought existed.
Amazing things can happen in your business with this kind of thinking!
So this year what kind of targets will really fire you and your team up? Are you missing out on an opportunity to create momentum by setting your sight too low, setting goals that are too typical or even blah? If a goal doesn’t frighten you, challenge you, or even maybe make you doubt whether you can hit it, then the bar just might be set high enough. Instead of pushing your way to the finish line, harness the power of the pull!