There are two types of goals: Those you pursue because you feel like you “should”, and the ones that make you giddy when you think about accomplishing them.

Do you have any giddy goals on your list for 2012 that you haven’t accomplished yet? Have you given up on them?  Watch the video

Don’t give up so easily. There are still 24 days left in 2012. Notice I said still, not only. It only takes 10 days for a caterpillar to turn into a butterfly. The Apollo missions reached the moon in three days. And you still may have time to accomplish one of your giddy goals if you’re willing to make a crazy commitment. 



One of my giddy goals this year was writing my first book. Since 2010, I have had various fits and starts, none of which led to a finished publication.  I’d get about 80 percent done, but never make it across the finish line.

But then I did something downright crazy ― I told one of my clients that I’d have my book finished for their symposium in less than a month.  When my bestie got word of the commitment, he almost blew a gasket! But I knew that unless I had to finish it, 2012 would be another year where the goal went ummet. 

In just 11 days, I managed to complete the outline, conduct interviews, write, layout, and get the book professionally edited (thanks LaToya Rosario of Exclamation Publishing) and printed. And did I mention it’s a really good book?

I want to challenge you to make a crazy commitment to reach your giddy goal. Here are five tips to get you started: 

1. Make Sure it’s a Goal You Can Actually Accomplish
   No matter how committed you are, losing 100 pounds in three weeks just isn’t feasible. If you don’t have time to reach the original goal, identify an aggressive milestone to pursue. 
    
2. Publicize Your Goal
   As soon as I told my client I’d have the book finished, I posted it on Facebook. Telling a friend wasn’t good enough ― I had to be accountable to someone (in this case, over 4,600 someones) who I didn’t want to disappoint. Who don’t you want to let down?
    
3. Develop Daily Metrics  
   Know exactly what you need to accomplish each day to stay on track with your aggressive timeline. Not only did I know how many pages I needed to write every day, there were times when I broke it down by the hour. The fun part is that you have more opportunities to celebrate!
    
4. Know Your “Why”  
   About two-thirds of the way to accomplishing your goal, there’s a good chance that you’ll hit a wall and want to quit, so don’t be surprised when it happens. Being keenly focused on the purpose behind your efforts and why it’s so important to you and others will help keep your commitment intact.
    
5. Let Go of Perfection
   Define what “good enough” looks like when it comes to reaching your goal. Right after I published my book, I realized I didn’t like the title. So guess what? I changed it. Unleashing Your Unfair Competitive Advantage: 5 Rules to Win in the Business of Being You became 5 Rules to Win the Business of Being You. Ideally, I would have spent more time doing market research and developing my launch strategy. But we’re not talking about functioning in an ideal situation. We’re talking about an aggressive push to get it done. If you’re like me, you’ll always find something that you want to change. Unless you’re performing surgery, done is better than perfect.

Whether you’re thinking about quitting your job to start a business, planning to launch a ministry or nonprofit, write a book, or any other ambitious goal, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all of the things you don’t know or have.

But here’s a little secret – there aren’t too many obstacles that you can’t get over, under or around with proper planning. My advice to you this week?

Make plans, not excuses!

In a previous article and video, I talked about identifying the missing ingredients to your success. But what I’ve noticed from lots of folks I talk to – even some of my coaching clients – is that you may know what to do, but you still aren’t doing it.

If I called you out on it, you might have plenty of seemingly good reasons for not moving forward. Not enough money, the industry is too hard to break into, you don’t have the time to get the training you need, your kids are too young, your parents are too old, etc., etc., etc. Those could all be valid reasons, but if don’t develop a plan to clear out those barriers, they become excuses.

Have you ever noticed that some of the most successful people had to overcome the greatest barriers? R.H. Macy, the founder of the beloved department store failed seven times in business before he struck retail gold. Oprah Winfrey grew up poor, was fired from her job as a news anchor, filed bankruptcy, and was told to change nearly everything from her name, appearance and even her personality. There were plenty of people who wrote me off when I got pregnant at 17. But after juggling a baby with going to college full-time and working three jobs, I started to feel like there wasn’t much that I couldn’t accomplish with the right plan, diligence and focus.  

This week, I want to give you a free, downloadable action guide to begin developing your plan so that you can keep moving forward. I also work with a very select group of individuals who are serious about creating the professional lives that most only dream about. If that’s you, schedule a Test Drive & Thrive coaching session with me. 

Are you ready to start making plans instead of excuses? The sooner you figure out how you’re going to get there, the sooner you’ll arrive. And I can tell you from first-hand experience, the destination is even better than you can imagine!