In one of my personal all time favorite movies, “Apollo 13”, Tom Hanks holds his thumb up at arm’s length and uses it like a bead on a rifle to focus on his target destination, the Moon.
Later in the movie, as the crew of Apollo 13, in their hobbled spacecraft, and in the depths of despair of ever returning to earth safely, come around the dark side of the moon, Tom’s character peers out the tiny window of the spacecraft toward the earth coming into view, holds his thumb up at arm’s length, this time pointing at earth, and asks his crew, “Gentlemen, what is your intention?”
Poignant, powerful. And, needless to say, in spite of overwhelming adversity, they made it back. I believe this illustrates the power of setting a clear intention, even in the worst of circumstances.
And I believe we can use that power every day in our personal lives and businesses.
To that end, I’d like to share with you what I’ve found to be an incredibly powerful tool, with thanks to Dan Sullivan of Strategic Coach.
It’s a set of questions I review and answer, in writing, before any significant meeting:
1. What’s the purpose? Why am I doing this? (Purpose is the Why. Write it down.) What am I trying to accomplish?
2. What difference will it make? What is the importance?
3. What’s the ideal outcome? (A sale occurs when you intellectually engage in a desirable result that’s good for you – but maybe you decide it’s not worth it, thereby saving a lot of time and money and wasted energy.)
4.What’s the worst that can happen if I really blow it? (scare yourself, important for high performance, remember, there are consequences)
5. What happens if I do the best job ever? (Great combustion happens out of fear and excitement.)
6. What are the success criteria? (Must be measurable; either a number or an event)
I would be absolutely astonished if you ran this exercise and didn’t notice an immediate difference in the outcome of your next important meeting.
Best of success,
– Mike Connolly
P.S. Speaking of meetings, did you know what beats a product launch for long-term sustainable product sales? Have you ever heard of “Evergreen Event Driven Marketing”?
Geoff Ronning’s “Stealth Seminars” and Mike Filsaime’s “Evergreen Business Systems” offer high caliber “off the rack” systems that are compatible with Infusionsoft that you can have up and running in a matter of days.
Feel free to contact me if you have questions about any of these high-powered marketing tools.
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Being challenged in life is inevitable. Being defeated is optional.
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