A Written Goal Must Be Specific

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Most people have vague goals and therefore speak in vague terms. They say things like, "I want to make a lot of money." "I’d like to live in a nicer house." "I’d love to have a better job." What does that mean?

For example, what’s a lot of money? Everybody’s a lot is different, and the best part is: it doesn’t matter what your "a lot" is, what matters is that you know what it is. Only if you know what your "a lot" is will you be able to formulate a plan to achieve it.

A number of years ago, I was conducting a seminar in New York City. I asked the audience to give me their definition of success. I received the usual vague responses: money, power, recognition, fame.

I asked the person who said, "money," "Did you mean a lot of money?" He said, "Yes."

I then said, "What’s a lot of money?" He said, "Whatever will make me comfortable." I said, "What will make you comfortable?" He said, "Whatever will give me everything I want." "What do you want," I asked. He said, "A lot of money."

We went around like this for awhile until I finally had enough and said, "Give me a number, what’s a lot!!" He said, "Eighty billion dollars!" Now I had to admit, that’s a lot.

But watch what happened next. I said, "OK, you’ve got it. I’m going to give you eighty billion dollars. What are you going to do with it?" (There’s no motivation to get it, if you don’t know what you’re going to do with it. Why do think so many lottery winners go broke?). He said, "I’m going to spend it." I said, "What are you going to spend it on?" He said, "I’m going to buy everything!" I said, "How do you do that? Will you just back up a truck to Macy’s and say, ‘give me everything?’"

He said, "No, I’m going to buy the United States." I said, "STOP! Could you buy the United States for eighty billion dollars?" He said, "No." "Well then," I said, "is that a lot of money?" He said, "I guess not."

You see, it’s only a lot if it’s going to get you what you want. But if you don’t know what you want, how do you know what you have to do in order to get it? And, if you don’t know what it is, how do you know you didn’t already have it, but because you couldn’t recognize it, you just let the opportunity pass you by.

When you have a clearly defined goal, sense of purpose and direction, it makes it much easier to take advantage of the opportunities that come up simply because you’ve already defined, on paper, the ones you want to pursue.

When writing down your goals, please be specific.