Page 219 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

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198 � mAnAgIng the moBIle workForCe

Crossing the Rubicon
Between goal setting and goal accomplishment lie commit-
ment and willpower. The stronger the commitment to the
goal, the more likely it will be achieved. I can set specific,
difficult goals of all sorts until the cows come home, but if
I’m not committed to put forth the effort to achieve them, it
won’t make any difference. Sure, on January 1 my goals are
to grace the cover of People magazine (why not?), get a date
with Angelina Jolie (it could happen), or win the Masters
Golf Tournament (who knows what Tiger and Lefty will be
up to this year?), but they are irrelevant unless I plan to put
the effort (do something wacky to get a magazine cover, get
on my hands and knees and beg for a date, invent Flubber-
irons for my golf clubs) to accomplish them.
“Crossing the Rubicon” represents the emotional and
cognitive leap people take between goal setting and goal
pursuit. In 49 BC Julius Caesar’s decision to cross a small
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river called the Rubicon, thereby breaking a Roman law and
therefore risking death, has come to represent the process
of making an irreversible commitment. After traversing the
river he had to move forward, seeking a military victory, be-
cause he was already marked for death. Setting goals with-
out committing to them is practically worthless.

principle eight: Build willpower
Willpower takes over when the attractiveness of the goal wears off
and the real work begins. Sure, I pledged to do something wacky to
end up on the People cover, but do I really want to ruin my reputa-
tion to do it? Absolutely, I’ll beg Angie for that date, but it will take
lots of effort just to get past the security guards to get close enough
to do that. Yep, I want to win the Masters, but I’m not all that keen