March Presidents Message:
Chamber Members,
Wow! What a month! There has been a lot going on at the Chamber in February. From Ribbon Cuttings, to Open Houses, to a great-turn out at the Chamber Luncheon with 70 people joining us. The Committee for the Women’s Seminar and Expo is in full swing and the event is going to be fabulous, better than ever no doubt. The Ambassadors new “Buck for Luck” program is outstanding and the events committee is gearing up to start planning the Golf Tournament. There are just so many things going on that are creating value to our membership.
There are many things that I would like to write about but I think that I will write about a life lesson that I learned a long time ago and just recently I was reminded of how important that life lesson really is. The lesson I am speaking of is the importance of setting Goals for myself in every area of my life. Please bear with me as I tell a short story about myself and how goals have helped me.
About a year and a half ago my brother, who lives in Boise, started running, I hadn’t seen him for a while and when I did he had totally changed. He lost around 70lbs in six months. He looked great! Well needless to say, he inspired me to start getting into shape and start running myself. We got together one Saturday and went for a run. Now mind you, this is the 1st time I have ran in many years. He proceeded to tell me we were going to run 3 miles; I probably don’t have to tell you what I was thinking. I would be lucky just running 100 yards let alone 3 miles. Well we ran and ran and ran, and I thought for sure I was going to have a coronary right there on the green belt in Boise; this had to be 300 miles! When I finally finished the 3 miles, I was so proud at what I had accomplished. Before I knew what hit me, he had talked me into signing up for a half marathon! Well I started training, if that is what you would call it by running a few miles here and there. Race day came and my ultimate goal was to just finish the race. Well as you can see I didn’t die by running a half marathon, even though it felt like I had. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. But I had the goal to finish the race and that is what I did. During the race I twisted my knee and injured my heel but I still finished the race. I was unable to run for 7 months due to my injuries in the race. At the end of the race I decided that I would never do that again because of the pain that I had went through. Well just recently here we go again my brother starts talking me into running another half marathon. But this time I am going to train the right way and be really prepared. So we not only are going to run a half marathon in June we are also going to run two 10k’s between now and June to help prepare. Now you are probably asking yourself what any of this story has to do with anything, let me explain.
When we set goals to do something whether in business or in our personal lives, it may really be hard to accomplish and you may feel like you want to die, or you feel like the goal is unattainable, but the truth is that anything worth having is worth the pain and discomfort it takes to attain it. The key to successfully obtaining a huge goal is to break it down into small accomplishments that move you closer to the ultimate goal. The funny thing is that once you attain that impossible goal you look back and say “that wasn’t that hard” and you then set your goals higher, you put yourself through a little more pain and Wow you attained that goal as well.
My point is this! If you don’t take the time to set Goals and write them down (Writing them down is the key) you will never achieve or attain anything you will just go through a whole lot of pain and hard work and not know what you have accomplished.
So my Challenge is this: Set a Goal, Write it down, and determine the steps required to attain it.
