Goals & Friends are like Peanut Butter & Jelly.
Grab a pen and a friend. Quick.
There is new evidence from a Dominican University study that you can really, truly move yourself forward, whatever your objective, if you just follow a simple three-step process.
The Dominican University study broke people into five groups:
- Group 1 – were simply asked to think about their goals
- Group 2 – write them down
- Group 3 – the above, plus create an action plan
- Group 4 – the above, plus send their action plan to a friend.
- Group 5 – the above, plus send a weekly progress report to a friend who would be supportive.
The Result?
- Group 5 – Those who reported weekly to a supportive friend accomplished significantly more than those who just sent the action plan once.
- Group 4 – Those who sent the action plan only once to a friend still accomplished significantly more than those who simply wrote their goals and an action plan.
- Groups 3 and 2 – those who wrote down what they wanted accomplished significantly more than those who just formulated the goals in their head.
The point?
This study is even more evidence that three things create success – a written objective, public commitment to it, and ongoing outside support to finish the plan. I’m a recovering “rugged individualist” who has learned that the most effective results are achieved in community, not by ourselves.
Once you know your objective, success is three simple steps away:
- Write it down
- Share it with others in public
- Work with friends on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to achieve those objectives.
We call these types of business groups, “Committed Communities”. These live at a much higher level than any of the standard networking groups, with much better results.
I used to lead small mastermind groups of 6-8 business owners as a great expression of Committed Communities. We now have three Committed Community approaches to working with business people – 3to5 Club, FasTrak, and OnTrak. All three were built around the belief that written objectives, public commitment to them, and ongoing outside support are the best way to get where you want to go.
So go it alone if you want, but just know you’re taking the road more traveled – the hard one. I’ve been on that road – it’s really bumpy and slow-going. Lots of blowouts, over-heating and break downs.
If you want to move from survival right through success to significance with the least number of rebuilt engines along the way, find a Committed Community of business owners near you and jump in with both feet. If you can’t find one, guess what you’re next step should be.
