Let’s imagine this conversation between “Coach” and his student, “Jed”.

Jed: Coach, I hear a lot on the floor about achievement and activity. What’s the difference? And why does it matter?

Coach: Jed, an activity is what you do, an achievement, what you’ve never done. You need activities to get an achievement. You do need to know whether a “goal” belongs to which. Goals for activities are called lead measures, and those for achievements are called lag measures. For example, you’ve never deadlifted more than 170 lbs; it would be an achievement to do 180 lbs. You’re making monthly sales of $20,000; $30,000 would be an achievement. But you must focus more on activities because you have more control over them. Achievement, not as much; in sales, you don’t control if a client will buy. We can predict from your activities what achievements you will make.

Jed: Activities are more doable than achievements?

Coach: Just more control, direct control. And easier to meat because of it. But goals of any kind must be SMART. SMART means Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound. Let me illustrate by way of example. You can work out the explanation yourself.

1. Specific. You don’t want to just be “better”. You want to “deadlift a bigger weight”. You don’t want to be “richer”. You want to “increase your sales”. Specific goals are easier to imagine.
2. Measurable. You want to lift 180 lbs in 3 weeks. You want to increase your sales to $30,000 by the end of this month.
3. Achievable. KC from Marketing, he deadlifts 200 lb and he’s smaller than you. You already lift a 1 rep max of 160 lbs, your form is good, and you’re motivated. Next week, we will add 10 lbs; the week after, 5 lbs; on the 3rd week, another 5 lbs. All doable. You’re already at $20,000, you will have 2 months of experience by tomorrow, you’re highly motivated, and Orly, who we hired just two months ago is now doing $35,000. Doable.
4. Relevant. Your 1×1 rep max is the big attempt, the achievement in 3 weeks. But, let’s work on our activities. Your strength activity is to do a 3 sets of 3 reps per set, at 135 lb, 3x a week for 3 weeks. You’ll attempt 180 lb for 1 rep at the end of that 3 weeks. For your sales activities, you are going to focus on increasing the number of daily cold calls. You’re now at 50; you’re going to increase that by adding 50 progressively. Wrecks makes 150 cold calls a day, and he’s our top guy. Sales is a numbers game: more calls, more sales.
5. Time-bound. We will get you to 180 lb working out 3x a week, 1.5 h each time, for 3 weeks. On March 8 we will attempt 180 lb. We will use this Excel sheet to track the number of cold calls you’re making everday.

Jed: Got it. What’s going to be our working arrangement?

Coach: I want you to click the following checklist on your journal. Did I dream today about what I want to achieve? Did I review my activity goals for the day? Do I visualize successfully enjoying my next cold call? Do I enjoy the thought so much I can’t wait to make my next call? Do I imagine hearing the next client telling me he is eager to buy? And while I’m on the phone, do I keep a smiling face? If you find that last one hard to do, hold a pencil between your teeth while taking.

Visualize, hear, act: what we coaches call the VAK system. Let’s review your journal every Friday.

Jed: Isn’t this like daydreaming Coach?

Coach: Yes, and no. If you mean fantasy, it’s not that. Fantasies are not SMART in some way, usually, they are not achievable or relevant. But what you’re doing is relevant to your health and income. By doing what I outlined here, you’re telling your brain what you’re imagining can be real, is real. You’re just taking advantage of the fact that your brain can’t tell if what you’re imagining is in the past, future or present..

But, you can be delusional. I’m here to stop you from biting off more than you can chew.

Still, it’s good to be ambitious. It might even be good to be a bit absurd. Read 2001: A Space Odyssey if you have the time. Clarke wrote:

The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.

Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008)

(Q.C., 230613)