Business

Saturday September 22, 2012

Don’t be headless, set your goal

By JOHN LOH
johnloh@thestar.com.my


THERE are two kinds of people in the world: the headless, and those who know where they are headed.

To me at least, the singularly most important thing in life is to have a goal, and next to that, the ability to set out and achieve it.

You might not have everything figured out, but if you plan to go nowhere, or the plan leads nowhere, there is but one logical conclusion.

I was particularly impressed by a friend who already has her goals for the next few years laid out: run in 10km marathons this year, 21km the next, and in four years, the clincher 42km. Perhaps foolhardily, I think I agreed to do the same.

And why might that be important? For no other reason than the desire to see improvements year after year.

A former boss once asked me to list out my aspirations, at which I rattled off the usual spiel: I want to be (insert title) in five years, drawing a monthly salary of (insert ridiculous amount).

His reply has never left me: “John, it isn't about the position. What do you want to do?”

The best-laid plans do, of course, fail regularly and spectacularly.

For example, I have told myself for a while now to buy a “job board” of sorts, which I want to divide into three sections: IQ, EQ and PQ (physical quotient). The idea is to group my weekly to-do's under these three buckets for that all-important, all-elusive work-life balance.

Alas, procrastination got the better of me and the board hangs invisibly in my study.

But that's sort of the point. Nothing good ever came easy and the best things have to earned, perhaps with up to 10,000 hours of your time, if you believe Malcolm Gladwell.

As (some) companies endeavour to grow their profit and shareholder value each year, setting various performance targets and KPIs to arrive there, we can also do the same.

That's it for this week's ramble. Now to get that job board.

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