THE POWER OF GOAL-SETTING.

Effective leaders leverage the power of personal and institutional goal-setting. But the reality is that the power of goals leading to personal and organizational actualization is, to some extent - a mystery. In my 20s I read a book by author Ron Reynolds, The Magic of Goals, that changed my life. And while I'm not typically a proponent of magic as applied to results (because with magic the thing that appears to happen usually doesn't actually happen), I do believe in mysteries; because sometimes 'a thing works' and we don't know or can't explain all the details behind 'how and why it works.' This, I think, was Reynold's point. He observes, that goals involve a push-pull phenomena in which the daily review of goals and the push towards daily disciplines to achieve those goals pulls individuals and organizations, at times inexplicably, into new dimensions of effectiveness and new realms of influence and outcomes. In sports we call it "the zone" - the place where a player or team (seemingly all of the sudden) elevates their game to a whole new level. In education we call it automaticity - the place where a skill is internalized to the degree that it is performed spontaneously, without conscious thought or intention. As Reynolds explains: "self [i.e., team, system] - imposed limitations are removed by the application of self [i.e., team, system] imposed disciplines... [and] the most exciting awareness of life is that we can have more than what we've got because we have the capacity of becoming more than we are." #LeadWithGoalSetting

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