One morning, two weeks after I started working for him, Mr. Shoaff and I were having breakfast together. Just as I was about to finish my eggs, he said, “Jim, let’s take a look at your list of goals so that we can review and discuss them. Maybe that’s the best way I can help you right now.”
“But I don’t have a list with me,” I replied.
“Well, is it out in your car or at home somewhere?”
“No, sir, I don’t have a list anywhere.”
Mr. Shoaff sighed. “Well, young man, looks like this is where we’d better start.” Then, looking directly into my eyes, he said, “If you don’t have a list of your goals, I can guess your bank balance within a few hundred dollars.” He guessed right. And that really got my attention.
I was astonished. “You mean that if I had a list of my goals my bank balance would change?” I asked.
“Drastically,” he said.
That day I became a student of the art and science of goal-setting.
[#rohn1996sevenstrategies]: Jim Rohn (1996): Seven strategies for wealth and happiness: power ideas from America’s foremost business philosopher, Three Rivers Press.