“You have no shot of knowing the score and telling the difference between the winner and losers if you do not keep score.” – Keith Cunningham

Keith J. Cunningham is an entrepreneur, international speaker and published author of two successful business books. He teaches life-changing business skills to thousands of top executives, small business owners and entrepreneurs across the world. Keith is a man who does what he teaches. One of his strategies is to teach others to set SMART goals.

The acronym SMART has several slightly different variations, which can be used to provide a more comprehensive definition of goal setting:

S – specific, significant, stretching

M – measurable, meaningful, motivational

A – agreed upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented

R – realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented

T – time-based, time-bound, timely, tangible, trackable

So in setting goals, Keith follows the SMART plan but he also advises that every business person must do 4 key things to set goals that work for you and your business.

1. Get clear on where you are. Get clear on your financial status, # of clients, accounts receivable, billing cycles, etc. Check out your numbers and compare them often to know where you are and what your trends are.
2. Decide where you are going and what things are non-negotiable on the journey to get where you want. For example, if your goal is to work x amount of hours and you have commitments at certain times of the day, are those commitments non-negotiable or negotiable? Keep the non-negotiables and re–evaluate the negotiable things, so you can fit in the x amount of hours you want to work on your own business.
3. If you have a goal that you just can’t reach. Dig down and figure out what is truly blocking your progress. Is it a skill or talent that you need, do you need to delegate, or is it a deep-rooted belief you hold? All of those things are fixable.
4. The final key Cunningham recommends is that you build a system to execute change and address the problem. Not only should you build a vehicle that creates change but you must measure your progress to make sure that the new path is creating the results you want.

I find Keith highly inspirational and successful. I hope you do too. Here is another inspiring video of his talking about High Achievers.

Much Success!

Have an outstanding day!!

Sara