When I was a kid, all I wanted to do was join the Royal Marines.

Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s, I was consumed by a diet of war comics, military magazines, and watched documentaries and any news that contained action. Partly because I was fascinated with the military, and partly because I was bullied a lot as a kid. I thought (rather than standing up to said bullies) that ‘joining up’ would solve my confidence problems and ‘make me a man’.

Needless to say, as my mother became more aware of this, she did what any mother would do and tried to dissuade me from such a course of action. Commando basic training is some of the longest in the world and Northern Ireland was still very much active. It was always my fall back, if I don’t do well in school, I’ll join up, if I can’t lose weight, I’ll join up.

Instead of having a framework of achievable goals, I created one huge goal with little to support its success attainment. I did little preparation to achieve such a goal and failed at the first hurdle twice. But my mother’s opposition created an excuse. I could now blame her for my not fulfilling my life’s dream, instead of course, of blaming myself. I was more than happy to stay out late, experiment with alcohol and generally be a pain in the backside, all against her wishes.

Yet, when it came to the subject of enlisting, it was ‘oh no, can’t do that as it would be against mum’s wishes’! The duplicity was ridiculous! And I see this play out with people’s goals, especially at this time of year. 1^st January rolls around, and we’re all amped up. 2018 is going to be my year we proclaim! I’m going to: Go to the gym Lose weight Stop smoking And so on…….. How many of you have done, or find yourself intending to do, this? I know I have, sometimes multiple times a year.

And I fail.

Because I put it all on one big event, one big outcome without having a proper plan in place to actually achieve the goal.

Because of this, I work with a mentor to help crystallize and achieve my business goals. I train in class instead of on my own, as I know I’ll be kept on track more effectively. I write my goals down using the S.M.A.R.T. technique. I don’t focus on the ultimate goal, rather breaking big goals down into small shorter-term goals. 

If you have goals you want to achieve but aren’t sure about how to get from A-Z, give me a shout.

I’ll help you get some structure around what you want to achieve, and some tips on how to get there.

Cheers Paul