Page 11 - Hard Goals

2 HARD Goals

much, while others are left spinning their wheels? Well, we can
look to real achievers, in every walk of life, for the answer.
There’s the woman at work who lost (and kept off) 20
pounds and got promoted to upper management and who
fi nds time to attend all the big events at her kids’ school and
is gearing up to run her fourth marathon this year. There’s the
guy down the street who amassed $2 million in the bank—
on a schoolteacher’s salary. Then there’s the entrepreneur who
started a business during one of the worst recessions ever and
grew sales by 1,200 percent in the fi rst year. And, of course,
there are famous CEOs like Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos, the kind
of folks who blow our minds with their amazing and innovative
products again, and again, and again.
Are these superachievers just more motivated? Or are they
more disciplined? The answer to both questions is yes, but not
in the ways you might think. What these people have—what
anyone who’s ever tasted greatness has—is HARD Goals.

THERE’S A GOAL FOR THAT

What are HARD Goals? The short answer is that HARD Goals
are goals that are Heartfelt, Animated, Required, and Diffi cult
(thus the acronym HARD). But that’s not really an answer, so
let me explain.
Your goals are one of the few things you truly control in this
world; you can set them to achieve virtually anything you can
imagine. To paraphrase Apple’s famous line: If you want to lose
weight: there’s a goal for that. If you want to double your com-
pany’s revenue: there’s a goal for that. If you want to improve