Ambition Letters and Goal Setting

If you want to succeed in your life and career, you must become an outstanding performer.  Outstanding performance is one of the five keys to success that I discuss in my book “Straight Talk for Success.”  If you want to become an outstanding performer, you need to do three things.  You need to become a lifelong learner.  You need to set and achieve high goals.  You need to be well organized.

In this post, I’d like to share with you an interesting idea that I picked up from David Rayner of www.successtheory.com.  In a recent success tips e mail, David suggested creating an “Ambition Letter.”  I think this is a great idea to facilitate goal achievement.

Here’s how to create your ambition letter and what to do with it…

• Set a goal or goals for where you want to be in one year.
• Write this goal or goals.  Make two copies.
• Display one copy in a prominent place in your work area.
• Place the second copy in a sealed envelope addressed to yourself.
• Put this envelope in a larger envelope.  Send it to a friend.  Include a note asking the friend to mail the first envelope back to you one year from the date you sent it.
• Circle the date you will receive your sealed envelope from your friend.
• Create a set of milestones to help you achieve the goal or goals you’ve set.
• Do whatever it takes to achieve your goal or goals.
• Visualize how happy you’ll be when you’ve accomplished your goal or goals. 
• Use this visualization to motivate as you work towards achieving your goals or goals

I know this might sound gimmicky to you.  However, this is a gimmick that works.  I’ve used it successfully myself.  What do you think?  Will you create your own ambition letter?

The common sense point here is simple.  If you want to become an outstanding performer, you need to set and achieve high goals.  Goal setting can be a difficult and frustrating process.  But you are much more likely to succeed if you set high goals.  Goals are great motivators.  An ambition letter is a good way to keep yourself focused on your goals.  Try creating one and see what happens.

That’s my take on goal setting and outstanding performance.  What’s yours?  As always, I’m interested in your thoughts and comments on my ideas.  Thanks for reading.  Please take a few minutes and comment on the ideas in this post.

Bud