[00:02 - 00:06] The following program is a Nightingale-Conant production for Simon

& Schuster Audio.

[00:17 - 00:29] It's a fact that people who set goals accomplish more than people
who don't. Yet fewer than 5% actually set goals, and fewer than 1% consistently
achieve them.
[00:30 - 00:38] By listening to this program, you've taken the first step on the
road to becoming one of that elite 1% who consistently achieve their goals.
[00:39 - 00:44] Welcome to Managing Your Goals, the proven system for personal
success.
[00:45 - 00:53] In this audio program, authors Alec McKenzie and Mel McKenzie-Brown
are going to give you an easy-to-implement system
[00:53 - 01:04] that will help you to manage your life in a way that your goals are
met seemingly without effort. Alec McKenzie is a sought-after time management
consultant, author, and lecturer.
[01:04 - 01:14] He's presented his principles of self-management and goal
achievement in over 40 books, and he's also been a member of the New York Times.
His book, The Time Trap, is considered to be a classic among business books,
[01:15 - 01:24] selling more than a million copies in 12 languages. Mel McKenzie-
Brown is an entrepreneur, executive, and successful keynote speaker.
[01:24 - 01:32] As president of Alec McKenzie & Associates, she actively promotes
the concept of practical training and time management in a corporate setting.
[01:33 - 01:38] Ms. Brown is particularly interested in goal achievement as a way
to empower the individual to achieve their goals.
[01:38 - 01:46] She is committed to helping her clients achieve success in their
work and personal lives.
[01:47 - 01:54] In this program, you'll learn that there is an intricate
relationship between the concepts of success, goals, and time.
[01:55 - 02:00] Only people who master the second two, goals and time, ever achieve
the first.
[02:05 - 02:17] In this audio cassette program, we invite you on a quest which will
lead to the development of your personal life. This is a personal system for
putting it all together and making it all work.
[02:17 - 02:29] Your goals, your time, and your successful life. Whether you are
already literate in time and self-management, or a newcomer who needs the
[02:29 - 02:41] best system available, this step-by-step series will enable you to
pull your life together in a way more coherent and more satisfying than you ever
thought possible, especially
[02:41 - 02:52] if you aspire to be a successful business. We'll build on the
foundation developed by Dr. McKenzie, and we'll take you beyond that
[02:52 - 02:59] to the imperative of the 90s, developing lives which are not only
productive, but fulfilling.
[03:00 - 03:12] Only then can the highest quality of your professional life be
sustained, and only then can you achieve goals much more demanding than those you
are now accomplishing.
[03:12 - 03:24] So join Alec and me on this quest. for quality. Be prepared to
transform your life so that you not only achieve more, you enjoy it more.
[03:25 - 03:36] It is a fact that people who set goals accomplish more than people
who don't. It's also a fact that people who manage their time expertly accomplish
more than those who don't.
[03:36 - 03:48] It should be no surprise then to discover that those who do both,
that is, manage their goals and their time effectively, will be among the most
successful people anywhere.
[03:49 - 03:56] But there's an intricate relationship between these three concepts,
success, goals, and time.
[03:57 - 04:04] Through a new definition of success, we'll see that the most
successful people are not always those who accomplish the most.
[04:05 - 04:17] Much depends on what they accomplish and whether they are
performing up to their potential. We'll discover that goals... Goals not only
provide direction to our efforts to achieve success,
[04:17 - 04:28] they also provide motivation and a means of measuring our progress.
Finally, the intricate relationship between time, goals, and success is illuminated
[04:28 - 04:35] when we realize that no goal was ever accomplished when there was
no time left.
[04:35 - 04:43] In brief, to be successful, one must have goals, and to achieve
goals, one needs... time.
[04:44 - 04:56] For several decades, I've been talking about these three elements
with executives, managers, other professionals. These discussions have ranged from
Bangkok to Boston, from Copenhagen to Cape Town.
[04:56 - 05:08] In 40 countries, three major concerns have emerged time and again
in seminars and personal consultations. One, how can I be more successful?
[05:08 - 05:18] Two, why is it so difficult for me to focus my energy... on my
goals? Three, why am I always running out of time?
[05:18 - 05:25] In this program, we will confront these fundamental questions head-
on and draw some conclusions that may surprise you.
[05:25 - 05:32] Then we'll introduce you to the most powerful tools for achieving
optimum results in all three areas.
[05:32 - 05:44] Perhaps the greatest mystery of all is why no one seems to have
enough time, yet everyone has all there is. How can all there is of any kind be the
same? How can anything not be enough?
[05:44 - 05:54] The answers to these and many others of the most often asked
questions in time management lie ahead. It is imperative that you record these
answers in writing.
[05:55 - 06:06] You will then develop a total system with everything accessible as
you define, plan, execute, and reassess. Let's begin by asking a basic question.
[06:06 - 06:13] What does success mean to you? If you are driving in your car,
please take a minute to answer this question.
[06:17 - 06:30] Let's redefine the meaning of success, probably in a way different
from what you think you really believe about success. When we say someone is a
success, we often continue by specifying the field.
[06:30 - 06:39] He's a successful dentist. She's a successful lawyer in a
litigation firm. He's had a successful career in architecture.
[06:41 - 06:49] Executives in the 90s and people in all walks of life. Are
insisting on a more intelligent definition of success.
[06:50 - 06:54] And in almost every field of endeavor, we find a curious
phenomenon.
[06:55 - 07:03] Well below the level of so-called success are individuals who are
working harder than those at the top.
[07:04 - 07:15] They are striving to improve themselves and often are performing
much closer to their potential than those at the top. When I first arrived in the
United States, I was in the United States. I had observed this phenomenon.
[07:15 - 07:27] I began wondering why people performing at or near their potential
should not be called successful. Then an event occurred which solidified my
conviction that success should be defined as doing your best.
[07:28 - 07:34] A young man who lived in a town near me wished to compete for the
gold medal in Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling.
[07:35 - 07:45] However, his family was unable to provide him with the specialized
training usually mandated for Olympic hopefuls. In addition, he'd contracted
Hodgkin's disease.
[07:46 - 07:56] But his life's motto was, do your best. He lived by that motto. He
did his best and he won the gold medal. Then the cancer returned.
[07:57 - 08:08] Still living up to his motto, he continued his fight against the
disease and began training for the next Olympics. When he was interviewed by the
press about his ambitions for the upcoming competition,
[08:08 - 08:19] reporters pressed him about how he would view the Olympics. He
said, I would view not winning the gold medal if that should be the case. My target
is not simply to win, he said.
[08:19 - 08:29] My target is to prove to myself that I've done the very best I
possibly can. If that's good enough to win, so be it. If not, so be that.
[08:30 - 08:41] Doing my best is winning for me. I've never heard anyone suggest a
better definition of success and never was so clear a definition more clear.
[08:41 - 08:54] Without such a definition, we are crowning false heroes, bestowing
unearned honors, and increasing the burden of failure when much of failure is
really success.
[08:55 - 09:04] That valuable insight applies to all of us at some point. And when
we turn it upside down, we gain a further insight
[09:04 - 09:16] that much of what passes for success is really failure. Hence the
question with which you answer, how do you sometimes confront clients? Are you a
successful failure?
[09:17 - 09:29] The most powerful result of defining success as doing your best is
the motivation it provides those who take it seriously. A 28-year-old record
breaker in the insurance business proved the point.
[09:29 - 09:41] He was extremely successful for his age with an income exceeding
several hundred thousand dollars. His problem, he'd become bored with his
profession, which was no longer challenging to him.
[09:41 - 09:54] He was preparing to leave his job to find something more
stimulating. I was asked to talk with this agent. The concept of being a successful
failure startled him. No one, it seemed, had ever suggested such a thing to him.
[09:54 - 10:03] The word failure was virtually unknown in his vocabulary. But he
admitted that he had never really extended himself in his professional career.
[10:03 - 10:16] When I asked him how long it would take him to reach the top level
of income in his profession, which would be a minimum of $400,000 of income per
year, he instantly replied, six years.
[10:17 - 10:29] I asked how he knew so quickly. Because, he explained, if I do
nothing differently, I'll make it in six years. Since goals need to be demanding, I
replied that that didn't qualify as a goal.
[10:29 - 10:40] I suggest that he think it over and come back the next day with a
demanding goal for making that step which required doubling his income. He returned
to say he could make it in two years
[10:40 - 10:49] using a formula we had discussed in a seminar the day before. The
formula holds that a salesperson who increases closing attempts,
[10:49 - 10:57] closing ratio, and average commission by 25% will increase his
income 95%.
[10:57 - 11:06] Hundreds of people using this formula are doubling their income
every year. To make a long story short, this man made the big jump
[11:06 - 11:18] to over $400,000 in one year instead of the six he originally
projected. Success for him had taken on a whole new meaning
[11:18 - 11:30] which changed his life. Success was no longer being the best.
Success for him had become doing his best. Now take another look at your definition
of success.
[11:31 - 11:44] Are you a successful failure? You are failing if you are not doing
your very best. Many so-called successes due to outstanding talent or luck or
timing
[11:44 - 11:53] often perform at half speed and do very well. Sometimes, as with
salespeople, they've made a very lucky sale or two
[11:53 - 12:04] and then proceeded to massage those accounts from then on. Are they
successful or merely lucky? Are you a success in the eyes of the world but merely
coasting
[12:04 - 12:15] if the truth were not? Now, try rewriting your definition of
success so that it expresses doing your best. Don't exclude any possibilities
[12:15 - 12:26] until you've listed what you would really like to do if you could
work miracles. Describe it in detail, including professional, personal, and
individual interest areas.
[12:27 - 12:39] Now describe your ideal life. Your ideal life includes success.
That is, you are doing your very best. But it also includes your ideal existence.
[12:39 - 12:49] In this vision, doing your very best has led to your ideal
existence. Don't allow yourself to limit your vision in any way.
[12:50 - 13:01] Now compare your best definition of success or doing your best to
your ideal life. Are the two compatible? If they're not compatible,
[13:01 - 13:12] spend some time assessing the real reasons for any contradictions.
Doing my best is real success. But if I am doing my best
[13:12 - 13:24] and not achieving my ideal existence, why not? Then, answer this
question. What do I need most to achieve my definition of success
[13:24 - 13:37] and to live my ideal life? Not what would I need most if I were
going to pursue my definition of success and my ideal life. I am going to pursue
them. So what do I need now
[13:37 - 13:50] as I take the first step toward living that life? If you can, limit
your answer to the single most important thing you need, the one most important
thing you don't have now
[13:50 - 14:00] that you must have to accomplish your full success. Take your time.
What you're doing will change your life.
[14:17 - 14:29] If it was difficult for you to limit your answer to the one thing
you need most to achieve your vision of success, you're not alone. If you did not
include goals, you're not alone either.
[14:29 - 14:41] You are among the 95% of the population who do not regularly set
goals. If so, it follows that you may be among the 99% who do not regularly achieve
goals.
[14:42 - 14:53] But let's hope you are among the select 1% who do. Why is it that
so few of us set goals? A study done at Yale University followed the class of 1953.
[14:53 - 15:03] Only 3% of the students in that graduating class had set clearly
defined goals. 20 years later, the 3% who had set goals back in 1953
[15:03 - 15:15] were out-earning the entire rest of the class put together. This
startling evidence of the power of setting goals should be sufficient to inspire
imitation of the 3%.
[15:15 - 15:28] But it likely won't be. It is a fact. It is a long-established
axiom of research that knowledge alone will not cause humans to change their
behavior. What then does cause people
[15:28 - 15:40] to adopt the goal-setting process that is at the heart of life
itself? Knowledge is necessary, but the other necessity is confronting our feelings
about goals.
[15:40 - 15:53] Well, whether we admit it or not, most of us find it easier to
acknowledge the real state of our information than the actual state of our
feelings. So let's start with the hardest part, confronting the feelings
[15:53 - 16:05] that cause us to pay lip service to the goal-setting without
physically practicing it. As I talk with executives and people in all walks of life
about goals, they often begin by praising goals
[16:05 - 16:16] as highly as they would other valuable areas of life we are all
supposed to be expert in. Exercise, financial investment, nutrition. But as the
conversation progresses,
[16:16 - 16:29] they frequently reveal one or more of the following feelings.
Feeling number one. Much of the time I've done okay without goals. If it's working,
why fix it?
[16:30 - 16:41] Feeling number two. Of course I have goals, but I keep them in my
head. I believe in using the fewest motions possible to get things done. Feeling
number three.
[16:41 - 16:53] If I set a goal, I may fail. Without goals, I don't have to worry
about failing. Feeling number four. If I set a goal and achieve it, I'll be
expected to live up to that goal in the future.
[16:54 - 17:04] Feeling number five. I set goals when there's a need. If I have a
major task at work or when I wanted a larger home, of course I set goals.
[17:05 - 17:15] At work, I always meet what's expected of me, and I think I'm a
good manager. But I'm also interested in quality of life, so I try to stay open to
new experiences.
[17:15 - 17:28] If I restrict my life to pursuing goals, I may miss some exciting
adventure along the way, and who knows? That very adventure may change my whole
life. I just don't want to take the chance of missing it.
[17:28 - 17:39] These are a few of the feelings people have uncovered as they began
the process of actually changing their goal-setting and goal-achieving behavior.
Let's look at them one by one.
[17:40 - 17:50] First, much of the time I've done okay without goals. Given the
power of goals to transform lives, it is astonishing how often this view is held,
[17:50 - 18:01] even when lip service is paid to goal-setting. It's easy to be
satisfied if you've never set goals. It's convenient to say, everything is fine if
you don't know where you're going.
[18:01 - 18:13] You can always say that any destination you arrive at is okay.
After honestly confronting the subject of goal-setting, a salesperson for Hallmark
Financial Planning had this to say,
[18:13 - 18:24] I took to heart many of the things you said, and I feel that I fit
right into the category of being a successful failure. I am determined to change
that.
[18:24 - 18:34] I may need some help from you, but I am determined to do it. I've
been in the life insurance business for 11 years. I've been very successful at
selling in the eyes of my peers,
[18:34 - 18:45] and in my eyes too, but I have been a failure at planning. I shoot
from the hip almost all the time. I know I have a problem, and it must be
corrected.
[18:45 - 18:56] I have never really set any goals. I've met with my manager many
times. We talk. I seem to get motivated, then do nothing. I've never developed a
plan.
[18:57 - 19:09] Last year I grossed about $460,000, so I guess I'm what you call a
successful failure, and I'm determined to change that. The second feeling about
goal-setting
[19:09 - 19:19] people often deceive themselves with is this, of course I have
goals, but I keep them in my head. I believe in the fewest motions possible to get
things done.
[19:20 - 19:33] These people don't have goals. They have wishes, desires, hopes,
and dreams. Dreams come to all of us as we go about our daily business, wishes
flitting in and out of our consciousness,
[19:33 - 19:44] new interests we'd like to pursue, changes we'd like to make, and
great things we'd like to achieve. Someday. We're pretty sure we have the ability,
[19:44 - 19:56] and we fully intend to do all those things, sometime in the future.
The ludicrous nature of this proposition becomes apparent the more fully it is
played out.
[19:56 - 20:09] Unless these vague intentions are translated into specific goals,
they will drift into that Neverland called might-have-been, and they will take your
life with them.
[20:10 - 20:23] Yet this is precisely, or should we say vaguely, the way most
people conduct their lives. They claim they have goals when they have none at all.
Until dreams are translated into specific goals, they are not realized,
[20:23 - 20:33] except very occasionally by accident. And even then the beneficiary
is denied the deep satisfaction which would have come from translating his or her
dream
[20:33 - 20:44] into specific goals and consciously achieving them. One of the most
fulfilling moments in life occurs when you can say, I set out to do this
challenging,
[20:44 - 20:54] worthwhile thing I had never done before, and I did it. What
happens, of course, as with other deeply fulfilling experiences in life,
[20:54 - 21:07] is that you will want to repeat the experience again, and again,
and again. Gone from your frame of reference will be the idea that you've pretty
much gotten everything you want out of life without goals,
[21:07 - 21:20] or that vague thoughts about the future constitute goals. Once you
get the habit, setting and achieving demanding goals is more powerfully addictive
than any drug.
[21:20 - 21:31] It's the high that lasts a lifetime. It's the health-creating
process that is at the heart of human life itself. When you have made this skill
your own,
[21:31 - 21:44] you will have achieved a measure of control over your own
existence, and you will have learned how to act intentionally. With effect, the
first step is learning how to develop goals that work.
[21:45 - 21:57] What are the criteria for effective goals that turn dreams into
satisfying reality? One, they must be written, so they're not forgotten,
[21:57 - 22:08] so they are not lost, so they don't change character and become
watered down. Two, they must be measurable, so you can measure your progress,
[22:08 - 22:20] and so you know when you have achieved them. Three, they must be
visible, on the wall, on a flip chart, in your daily planner, so you don't forget
them,
[22:21 - 22:32] so you stay on target, and so you can use regular measurement as a
motivator. Four, they must be deadlined, to provide a sense of urgency
[22:32 - 22:44] and to permit checkpoints for measuring progress. Five, they must
be participative. Include those affected and those who must help achieve the goals
[22:44 - 22:55] to ensure both their motivation and their cooperation. Six, your
goals should also be consistent with the goals of your organization, of those
affected
[22:55 - 23:07] and those who must help achieve them. Seven, they must be
achievable, to help you accomplish your success, not endlessly frustrate you.
Eight,
[23:07 - 23:19] they must be demanding, to be truly motivating and to help you
achieve your best, that is, your own real success. Ask yourself some hard
questions. If money were no longer a consideration,
[23:20 - 23:32] what would you choose to do? What demanding goals would you set?
Where do you want to be in 20 years, in 10 years, in 5, next year,
[23:32 - 23:43] next month, tomorrow? Nine, goals must also be flexible. Give this
some careful thought. What external influences
[23:43 - 23:56] are likely to impact your goals? What changes are you willing to
make, if necessary, to deal with or accommodate those external factors, without
compromising your goals
[23:56 - 24:07] or wasting energy on anger and frustration? If you really prefer
the high of adventure over the high that comes from achieving demanding goals,
[24:07 - 24:19] build more flexibility into your goals, but only after trying them
both. Most people who try both for any length of time find that setting and then
achieving
[24:19 - 24:32] very challenging goals is the highest adventure on earth. Now, it's
time to develop your own goals using these criteria, even though you've developed
goals in the past.
[24:32 - 24:41] Don't forget, criterion number one, they must be written. Then lay
them aside until tomorrow and continue listening to these tapes.
[24:43 - 24:56] The third feeling people have about goals is hard for them to
express directly, but all of us have felt it at some time, and it is one of the
chief reasons we put off developing written, deadlined goals.
[24:56 - 25:08] If I set specific goals, I may fail. Without goals, at least I
won't have the feeling of failing. You can't be born without risk. You're only
kidding yourself
[25:08 - 25:19] if you think you can live without risk, no matter how carefully you
arrange the financial, physical, and emotional aspects of your life. And a number
of people think you can't die without risk.
[25:20 - 25:32] So face it, setting goals involves risk. You may succeed. In fact,
the entire system presented in this program is designed to maximize in every way
your chances of success.
[25:32 - 25:45] But you may also fail. If you do, then what? Risk-taking is
inherent in the process of growth. So is failure. You must be willing to risk
failure
[25:45 - 25:56] again and again if you want to be in the company of the world's
greatest successes. As Brian Tracy put it, you have to leave the play-it-safe
comfort zone
[25:56 - 26:07] and embrace the concept of failure. Make a friend of failure. Use
it as a valuable learning tool. A great motivator and a necessary step on the road
to success.
[26:07 - 26:17] Some of the world's most successful people have at one point or
another in their lives been miserable failures. Winston Churchill said, I would
rather fail my way to success
[26:17 - 26:29] than be a successful failure. Thomas Edison was deaf most of his
life, but he used it to his advantage by listening to what he called
[26:29 - 26:41] the still, small voice from within. For each of his successes, he
had thousands and thousands of failures. The fact is that his principal method of
achievement
[26:41 - 26:53] was to continue trying experiments until he could prove all of the
things that didn't work and finally find one that would. Charles Kettering, whose
innovations led to the development
[26:53 - 27:04] of high-octane gasoline and the high-compression engine, said, an
inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds, once he's in.
[27:04 - 27:14] He treats his failures simply as practice shots. One sage put it,
I'd rather fail in the pursuit of a worthwhile and demanding goal
[27:14 - 27:25] than succeed in the pursuit of nothing. Now, pause the tape and
prepare to confront your failures. Face your failures directly.
[27:26 - 27:38] Make the beneficial effects of your failures a permanent part of
the paradigm from which you operate. These are the lessons you have learned. Don't
throw away their value
[27:38 - 27:48] by burying them in an attempt to forget them. Once you have learned
to fail forward in this way, failure has no more power over you.
[27:48 - 28:00] It will no longer hold you back. Now, let's look at feeling number
four. If I set a goal and achieve it, I'll be expected to live up to that goal in
the future.
[28:00 - 28:12] Not only will you become more motivated as you approach the goal,
if you achieve the goal, you will want to try a more demanding one. Nothing
approaches the motivating power
[28:12 - 28:25] of systematically setting and achieving your own demanding goals.
And finally, feeling number five. I set goals when there's a need. If I have a
major project at work
[28:25 - 28:37] or when I wanted a larger home, of course, I set goals. At work, I
always meet what's expected of me and I think I'm a good manager. But I'm also
interested in quality of life,
[28:37 - 28:49] so I try to stay open to new experiences. The realization that goal
setting is not an occasional need is a realization which transforms lives.
[28:49 - 29:00] Because mastering the process of setting and achieving goals is at
the heart of life itself. If we don't act intentionally, with effect,
[29:00 - 29:07] we are condemned to busyness in which meaningful activity occurs
only accidentally.

That’s the end of your recording! We hope our transcription made your workday more
enjoyable. If it did, consider trying out our pro version on goodtape.io:

- All your transcriptions*

- Skip the queue = minimal waiting time
- We will store your transcriptions (including this one) safely

*) Well, up to 20 hours/month, which is kind of a lot. If you need to transcribe

more let us know on yourfriends@goodtape.io