WIth the recent popularity of "American Sniper", people were exposed to an important concept that leads to success anywhere in life.

Aim small, miss small

If you are a sniper and you aim at a shirt buttom, you end up missing your mark but still hit your target.

If you are a baseball pitcher, you aim for the center of the catchers glove, and if you miss your spot you still throw a strike.

If you are a golfer, you dont try to hit in a general direction, you aim very preciscely so that if you happen to miss your mark, you are still close!

The same concept applies in goal setting. You need to aim very specifically for an extremely difficult goal because that way if you fall short you will always still end up in a favorable situation.

When I started my first business partnership while still a broke college kid, my mentor (a tremendously successful entreprenuer) sat down with me and encouraged me to set very lofty short term goals. I set the goal to have the equivelent of about $55,000 in sales in my first 100 days, a goal that if achieved would give me the company record for somebody with no industry or sales experience previously.

This goal gave me the ability to backtrack and figure out what I needed to be shooting for in the first week, first full month, month 2, month 3 and at the 100 day mark. That night, I studied the product line with the intensity of a law school student trying to pass the Bar, spending nearly the entire evening ignroing the outside world as I sat close to a computer screen reviewing videos, product fact sheets, scientific studies, and all the other information I could find related to the industry, products and major competitors.

The next day, just before launching, my mentor and I talked on the phone, reviewing and role playing all possible conversations, objections and sales situations that may occur. Finally, it was time...

I compiled my initial list of 500 potential leads and LAUNCHED! While the most commonly occuring answers i recieved were "no" "not right now" and *click* (hanging up on me), I persisted. I thought back to my goal and was determined to hit my numbers. Finally, after about 60 days, my business caught fire...

My first 10 days in this period of momentum, sales equaled somewhere around $38,000 and I earned more money in a single weeks check than I had ever seen in my bank account at one time prior to that.

The first time I ever really applied myself to setting and keeping a series of short term goals leading up to an overall goal, I surpassed my main goal by almost double. I ended up doing about $105,000 in sales in my first 104 days.

When you shoot for the moon, you land among the stars...and sometimes those stars are further than you ever anticipated!

I encourage you to push yourself to set goals, find someone to help keep you accountable and keep your goals in front of you at all times!