Start at the End

Always know the end of a business venture before you begin. Plan for it and don't lose sight of it. While it may seem paradoxical, the end will one day come and you need to know your exit strategy before you step through the door.

Are you planning to build a business that will give you a good living until retirement? Are you planning to build an international enterprise that will not only support your lifestyle, but effectively financially position your children's children? Are you intending to build the business to a certain point, sell it, and move on? How does your venture contribute to your vision of life in ten years, and when will the time come for you to part ways? What will be the key indicators that will signal that the end is near? Knowing how the story ends is key to determining how it will begin and how decisions will be made as the business grows.

If you're thinking about starting a new venture, or diversifying your corporation in new directions, or buying a new enterprise to complement the holdings you already have, take a long look at how you picture the end of the road. I recommend reading Start With Why by Simon Sinek, or Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur by Richard Branson. Make sure you know where you're going, why you're going there, and how you will know when you have arrived. And when the time comes, execute the exit strategy you have always planned.

Giving Back

A recent announcement by ActionCOACH outlines a new initiative that will reward veterans for the service they have rendered with the opportunity to join our community and reintegrate into society. This move reinforces one of the 14 Points of Culture that ActionCOACH proudly upholds:

Abundance

I am an abundant person, I deserve my abundance and I am easily able to both give and receive it. I allow abundance in all areas of my life by respecting my own self worth and that of all others. I am rewarded to the level that I create abundance for others and I accept that abundance only shows up in my life to the level at which I show up.

In a recent conversation with an old friend, we discussed the importance and desirability of "giving back." This particular friend had a series of great opportunities that rewarded him with substantial material wealth and prosperity. Up until this point he had led a good life and was able to achieve many worthwhile goals. But the realization had hit him that it was time to give back. I was impressed as we discussed ways and means to invest in the people and world around us to better the legacy that we would leave one day for others to carry on.

The emphasis that ActionCOACH places on "World Abundance" is one of the many reasons I am proud to be a part of this community. Don't spend all your days picking the roses this world has to offer - plant some of your own. You can experience the joy of giving in no other way.

Celebrate!

Ladies and gentlemen - when you achieve a goal, celebrate! Setting a reward really ought to be part of the process of setting a goal in the first place. When you set out to achieve something, make sure you decide on a reward that is commensurate with what you're shooting for. And when you feel that milestone under your feet, take a minute to reward yourself! You did it! You got it! You made it!

Congratulations!

To Be or Not To Be

Take the pains required to become what you want to become, or you might end up becoming something you’d rather not be. --Donald Trump

Look around you. Is this where you imagined yourself ten years ago? Is this the house, the family, the car, the lifestyle you had in mind? If so, congratulations! If not, why not? Where did you turn aside from the things that mattered to you and made concessions that have led you to where you are today? Because contrary to a popular belief that life just happens and we ride the waves as they come, where you are today is largely a product of your own choices. Perhaps your priorities changed; maybe an unanticipated life-altering event occurred that was completely beyond your control; perhaps you simply decided that what you originally wanted isn't what you really wanted. The reasons aren't essential at this point. What is essential is that you take a pitstop on the road of life to decide if where you're headed is where you want to go.  Let's take a lesson from an old childhood classic - Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland:

"Cheshire-Puss," she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider.

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.

"I don't much care where---" said Alice.

"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.

"---So long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.

"Oh you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."

We can all keep on walking, but someday we may discover ourselves in a place we never intended to be. It's time to discover the power of goal-setting. At ActionCOACH we believe in setting a course, evaluating progress, and ensuring we are moving in a positive direction. Where you are right now is your starting point. Where you want to be is your end point. It's time to plot the course that will get you there. Start building your dreams. Start reaching for those goals. This life is the only life you've got - the only chance at success. Learn why planning is so important, and then put that knowledge into action. It's time to live that dream and be that person. If you don't do it now, when will you do it?