Are You Driving Blind?

Are You Driving Blind?

By

Eric M. Twiggs

  

"If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there" Lewis Carroll

My afternoon took a strange turn.    I was talking with a shop owner named “Mark” and our conversation began on a high note. I asked him: “Are you feeling the value of the coaching program?” ‘Absolutely! “he replied. 

“Do you have more money in the bank than before?” “I Sure Do Coach!” And then, things got weird. “Mark, are you on track to achieve your 2016 goals that we agreed to?”  “Umm, what were my goals again?”  Mark was driving blind.   I felt even worse about his condition after reading the following research findings of author & consultant Jon Gordon.

In his book  The Energy Bus,  Gordon writes about a study of two airplane design teams who were placed in separate rooms.  The first team saw a model of the finished product and was given a vision of exactly what they were building.  The second team was told to design each piece without seeing a picture of what the end result would look like. 

The first team with the vision worked twice as hard and finished in half of the time as the second group.  In other words, you will work longer and finish later than someone in a comparable situation who has visible goals.  Driving blind will cost you time. 

July marks the start of the second half of 2016.  Most shop leaders lose sight of their annual goals around March and spend the rest of the year driving blind.  Does this sound like you?  Stay with me and you will learn one big idea to keep your goals in sight:

Visibility

The first half of 2016 is over.  In sports, the great teams use half time to assess what occurred earlier in the game.  Victory on the scoreboard is their visible goal, and they compare their performance to this objective.  As long as I’ve been watching sports, I’ve never seen a team go into the halftime locker room without knowing the score!  Unfortunately, I see this every day as I interact with shop owners. 

This is why having visibility to your goals is critical.  Your phone is the best visibility tool you have because it’s easily assessable and it’s always with you.  Here are two phone apps to help keep your goals visible

Evernote

Evernote is a FREE app which is available on both android and IPhone formats.  Its cloud based, so you can update your notes from any computer as long as you know your USER ID and password.   If your phone is lost or damaged, you can sign in on the app from your replacement device.

Evernote allows you to either type or speak your goals into the app.  It has a key word search feature that gives you access to previous notes by typing in key words. 

For example, let’s say you titled your entry “2016 goals”.  Three months later, you could regain access to your goals by typing the title or any of the key words in your entry into the search bar.    

SMS Scheduler

The SMS scheduler app is available in both android and IPhone format.  This FREE app allows you to schedule and send text messages to yourself at whatever time intervals you set.  You can text  your goals to yourself, and schedule a reminder text  to arrive on either a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. 

You can also schedule a reminder text to your accountability partner or coach, encouraging them to check in with you on your progress.   Texting while driving a car is frowned on, but texting your goals while driving your shop is encouraged!

Summary

So there you have it.  Keeping your goals on your phone via Evernote and the SMS scheduler will keep you from driving blind.   Are you on track to achieve your 2016 goals that we agreed to?

. 

Sincerely,

Eric M. Twiggs

The Accountability Coach

www.autotraining.net

PS.  Are your goals Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time bound? Email etwiggs@autotraining.net  and I will send you a checklist to make sure your goals pass the S.M.A.R.T. test.