Day 6 – Carry a reminder
Carry your goals. Every person who is ambitious and striving for achievement should carry their goals with them as a reminder and a purpose. I have already said that life is not one amazing upward trend of achievement. We all have our ups and downs, our good days and bad days. Very few people have to learn how to cope with success, and when you have experience success, you will quite naturally be more motivated by it. If you ever find that you are distracted or you experience a setback or perhaps – even more commonly – somebody else tries to deflect you from your goals, you may find it useful to have a copy of yours on your person – either written in a diary or on a card – to act as a constant reminder. This helps you to remember your purpose. Many yachts are sailing the oceans of the world right now without a helmsman. The sails are preset, the self-steering gear is in operation and the yachts will invariably be on course for their destination. Robin Fielder, my ex-partner and co-founder of Leadership Development, tells the story that when he was sailing out of Hayling Island with a visitor on his yacht, his quest asked him: ‘How come there are some yachts sailing north and some yachts sailing south yet the wind is coming from one direction, the east?’ And he replied: It is not the direction of the wind that is important, it is the set of the sails. And so it is with goal achievement and self-motivation: the stages are essential.
