Smartphone Goal Setting – Part I

Many of us think we need to set and achieve meaningful goals to live the life of our dreams. Who could disagree with the powerful notion of setting and mastering meaningful goals? It’s not that I suggest people buck the concept. Rather, I want you to examine the process involved in attaining these meaningful goals. The question becomes, “What’s the fastest way for me to accomplish something?” It just might be Smartphone goal setting. And it might not be setting the most meaningful goals.

Background

I grew up an average, moderately pudgy kid from a small town in Michigan. I got average grades, and I had your average childhood. My parents encouraged us to try our hand at everything. I never experienced the fear of trying something new. I usually stuck with an activity or sport (piano, volleyball, basketball, jazz, motorcycles, art…etc) just long enough to realize that I was only going to be average. It was on to the next thing, because I was always looking for that one thing that I was destined to be great at.  The problem with that approach was that as an adult I was still really good at trying everything, but I was still just living a very average life. I was in a tireless pursuit of greatness.

But there was one thing that I had never tried. Focus.

I experienced a moment of clarity on an overcast Southern California afternoon in 1997, as I drove from picking up our infant son after a grueling day of personal training. With a screaming baby in the back, and piles of paperwork and laundry waiting for me at home, I had a moment of clarity that dramatically changed the course of my life. As I sat in my Jeep Grand Cherokee waiting for the light to change, hypnotized by the sound of my own turn signal, it suddenly dawned on me why my life was average.

I remember feeling a surge of energy charge through my body and feeling as if I had just been snapped into full consciousness. It must be what detectives on a cold case feel when they finally discover the mystery solving clue. A tear slipped from the corner of my eye, as 25 years of “average” seemed to lift from my shoulders. “That’s it! That’s the missing piece! I must learn to focus!”

Art of Focus

Learning the art of focus in 1997 changed the course of my life. I spent the next 15 years not only putting what I learned into practice, but tweaking, refining and teaching my unique twist on goal mastery to others. Since that time, I’ve taught hundreds of thousands of others the art of setting and achieving the most insanely cool, mind blowing goals, whether physically or financially, by using the time tested teachings of goal mastery and adding two unique ingredients that turbocharge goal achievement.

Game-Changing Ingredients for Reaching Your Goals

Let me share two game-changing ingredients that will have you blowing through your goals so fast that your only challenge will be identifying new mountains to climb.

By learning this system of goal attainment, you will be able to achieve your goals faster than you ever dreamed possible, reduce a major amount of stress and, more importantly, live your life with purpose.

Your two secret ingredients: a “Push” Goal and your Smartphone

Smartphone Goal Setting:

The fact that you’re reading Success magazine means there’s about a 99.9% chance that you are either reading this on yours or it’s an arm length’s away.

With the market flood of iPhone, Blackberry and Androids, the average person thinks they’ve invested in a high-tech communication device. The smart entrepreneur realizes what they hold in their hand is a goal crushing turbo booster.

Regardless of the brand or operating system, there are a number of time-saving features and productivity apps that every smart entrepreneur must have.

Dumb users with smartphones allow mind distracting games, and pointless digital pursuits to distract from their destination. Success minded users realize that they actually hold a mini computer in their hands. Let me share my suggested Do’s and Don’t’s for Smartphone success.

DON’T:

• Don’t play games. You’re too smart for dumb games. They’re like crack. Delete them. Period.
• Don’t repeatedly check social media sites from your phone. Schedule those times as it relates to your business pursuits.
• Don’t allow random text messages and the demands of others to derail your time-management. Turn your phone to “airplane mode” for at least two hours a day, so that you can work with uninterrupted focus!

DO: 

• Place productivity apps on your main screen.
• Turn your homescreen photo into a vision board by creating a photo collage.
• Put our Push Goal in writing by creating a word-art photo of your jpeg that you can use as your lock screen! (I assure you that looking at your Push Goal in writing, dozens of times per day, is going to dramatically improve your focus.)
• Use the NOTE feature to capture creative brainstorms and list your current goals.
• Use productivity apps like Evernote, Elance, Awesome Note, Voice Memo, Voice Notes, Drop Box, High Rise, Yammer, Exec., etc.

Written goals give us clarity and direction. Desires or thoughts such as, “I wish I could fit into those jeans again!” or “I’m going to take my business to the next level!” are often mistaken for goals. Those are thoughts. For a thought, a dream, a desire to morph into a goal, it needs to be in writing, include measure and a deadline! Goals give us a specific destination to focus our actions and energies. Written goals help you to better communicate your plans with others and to keep your eyes on the prize. Goals remove uncertainty and inspire us to action. Written goals provide motivation and accountability far superior to the “dreams” we’re trying to keep straight in our head.  Smartphone goal setting, along with a measurement for success, and a pending deadline, sets you light years ahead of the pack.

This article is Part I of II. Click here for Part II with more on smartphone goal setting!