Wouldn’t It Be Nice
MY FAVORITE ROCK group is the Beach Boys. I particularly like their song Wouldn’t It Be Nice. It’s about young love, and how life would be so wonderful if only they were married and lived together.
I believe that phrase “wouldn’t it be nice” has been voiced by most of us at one time or another. The notion: If things were different, all would be good.
Unfortunately, few people display the persistence needed to turn their dreams into reality. How do you go from wishing to achieving? The method I’ve used is to break down a goal into the smaller steps needed to get me to what I wanted.
If I needed a job, I could wish for a fairy godmother to grant me my wish, or I could hope friends would do the heavy-lifting by identifying that ideal employer. These would fall into the “wouldn’t it be nice” category. But I assumed such things wouldn’t happen.
That’s why I did things like sign up for LinkedIn to build my professional network. I was supposed to invite only people I knew or friends of people I knew. But I didn’t think that would result in a large enough network. I simply requested to connect with anybody who was currently in the insurance industry in the New York metropolitan area. The result? Before LinkedIn told me to stop asking strangers to connect, I’d greatly enlarged my network.
Although this tactic didn’t land me a job, the one I did get was from someone who’d known me for years and saw my LinkedIn profile. The important takeaway from my LinkedIn efforts: It allowed me to do something productive, so I felt I was getting closer to my next job. Each LinkedIn invitation I sent out was a small step that helped get me closer to my goal.
Indeed, doing is the key element here. Regardless of the ultimate goal you’re seeking, taking action will make you less anxious and keep you focused.
How do salespeople meet their sales target? They try to sell to lots of people. Each sales call is a step toward their goal, and improves their odds of success. This same approach works with other goals. Even if the things you do each day don’t get you directly to your goal, you’ll probably gather useful new information.
This step-by-step approach also works if your goal is to be rich. Your first step is to get income. In most cases, that means getting a job. The next step is to acquire the habit of paying yourself first. Before your money goes to any bills, entertainment or other spending, be sure you sock away some money. Your next step might be to increase your income without increasing your expenses, so you can save even more.
As you complete each step, you should acknowledge that the step has been achieved. That will give you strength to achieve the next step. Inch by inch everything's a cinch. Yard by yard everything gets really hard. Go for the inches to achieve your yards.
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