A target is something that needs to be done by a certain time. So it's not just something that you want to be done, there has to be a time specified. A lot of people talk about things that they want to get done, e.g. “I want to clean up my kitchen”, “I want to go for a run”, “I want to talk to my employee”, “I want to get a sale”... none of those are targets.
Why? Because you haven't specified when it needs to be done by. So to change those into targets would be, “I want to clean the kitchen within the next hour” or “It will be done within the hour” or “I want to go for a run and it will be a 20-minute run and it will be done by 5 pm”, or “I want to talk to my employee today”. A target always has time connected to it.
That is really important because if you don't set a time, it will float on forever. We all have these things in the back of our minds that have been floating on the back burner for who knows how long that we've never gotten to. And part of the reason other than of course self-discipline or things just got too busy, whatever the, I hate to say it, the excuse, whatever the excuse that we all use, the big reason was that you didn't set a proper target and push through to get to that target.
Let's come up with some examples of targets. “I want to get a sale by the end of this week”, that's the target. Or “we are going to sell 400 tickets by the end of the month”.So that concept of something done by a certain time, that is what a target is.
Why are targets so important? What I've learned is that using targets in my business and in my life - but right now let's talk about the business first - in my business has made such a big difference. We set up many, many targets in my business. We set up individual and company targets. There are daily and weekly targets. And those have increased our production exponentially! When there's no target, we get what we get done. But when we say, “this week, we're going for eight deals” for example... it's something that is almost magical, but everybody puts their attention on that and works. We see, “we got five deals, six deals come on, we have one more day of the week left! We have to get two deals today to make eight!”. So everybody works on that Friday to get the two more deals somehow. And we push and push and what do you know? We make the target. And then the next week you make another target.
So how do you structure targets? You take what can be realistic and you make it just a bit beyond what you feel is realistic. So for example, if you want to lose 15 pounds over the next two months, that could be very easy for you. So you say, “you know what? I'm going to lose 18 pounds over two months”. That's the target. Or if you could easily make five phone calls or five cold calls over the next hour, you say, “you know what, I'm going for nine cold calls. That's my target”. You challenge yourself with targets and you'll see that magically, your team will produce more. You will produce more and things just start to happen.
Think of it as the top of the mountain that you're going for. We have a beautiful hike here in Cape town called Lion's Head hike. It's a beautiful mountain and it's very clear where the peak is. You start and it's challenging, but you can always look up and see the top of Lions Head mountain as you're hiking through the challenges. No matter what, if you look up you see where you're going, that gives you not only where you're going but some kind of a perspective. You have this feeling of, “okay, I'm getting that much closer” or “I'm that far away. So I need to increase my production a little bit”.
I have another great example. Everyone's probably experienced when you have a plane to catch or a bus to catch or some kind of a time that something is leaving. That is the target. Like I have to get on the plane by 11, which means I have to be at the airport by nine. And if I'm not at the airport by nine and I miss check-in, I'm not getting on the plane. That's the target and magically things happen, you pack and you get all your things done. It's always crazy before you fly, but you know what? You get on the plane because you have that thing that you're looking at and you don't miss the flight.
I'm not saying that people don't miss flights, you do, but I've seen magic when it comes to all the things you can get done before a flight and people making their flight because they had that target. Imagine if the flight was at 11 and you needed to arrive by nine, but it's no worries... The plane will wait. It'll leave at 11:30 or 11:45 if needed. Do you know how many people would arrive late to the airport? No, the plane leaves, the bus leaves, you're either on or you're off. And everybody acts accordingly. It's the same with targets. That is so vital because if the target is eight deals this week, we are going to act accordingly.
So that's the concept. Now what I suggest, make a list of things you want to get done and add a time to when they will be done. In the beginning, don't make it too challenging. Make it something that you can do. Over time you'll increase how challenging it is. But by that, you will see that you'll start to improve your ability to meet your targets. And you'll just start making targets for things. My target for this week is going to the gym three times. I should be able to do that. Great, meet the target this week. Next week, make it four or increase how much time you're at the gym. This can apply to any part of life. You can have a target, even for your relationship where you say, “I haven't been spending enough time with my spouse. I'm going to set a target that we have at least two nights a week that are quality time nights”. So that's your target. Two quality time nights for the week.
Play around with that concept of targets, start setting them up for yourself. Start seeing that you can meet the targets. My wife has a great thing that she does where she'll set a 10-minute timer and she'll say “by the end of these 10 minutes I'll have done the dishes and the cleaning”. Or “I'm giving myself 10 minutes. And in those 10 minutes, I am getting as much of my emails done as possible”. So she has this target and it almost becomes a game because anyone can do their cleaning or their work for 10 minutes. That's what a target should be, a game. And what ends up happening is you're not motivated before, she doesn't want to do the dishes right now, but she sets up that 10-minute timer. And what do you know? She gets it all done in 10 minutes. And now that she's into it, she'll do another thing and another thing. So sometimes she and I together will say, “all right, the place is looking a little messy. Let's put on a 10-minute timer. We're doing as much cleaning as we can”. And we both don't really feel like it but 10 minutes it is. And we start cleaning and you know what? The 10-minute timer goes off and we're like, “all right, five more minutes”.
It's not just something for business. It's a life tool that you can use. Set up all kinds of fun targets for yourself in your business, in your life, for your employees, for whatever you might be doing!
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