You have now reached the most powerful and impactful part of the course. Why would I say that? Because of all the coursework that I have taught, I have found that the degree to which an individual successfully applies what they have learned is directly correlated to the effort that they put into, first, setting goals and then following their action plan. From my client work, I've discovered these consistent findings: we underestimate the amount of work needed to achieve our goals; we try to change too many things about ourselves at once; and when the pressure is off, we snap back to old behaviors. The good news is we can overcome these, they're not preordained. Shortly, we'll set up no more than three goals to achieve optimal performance. Why no more than three? Because to change more than that about ourselves, our habits and our activities, will cause potential for failure, and that is the most debilitating aspect about change. So I want you to focus on no more than three things that you would like to do differently. I call it the 10 percent solution. We can't change more than 10 percent about ourselves at any one time. This may not seem like a lot, but think about it this way: if you were sailing in the ocean and the captain changed course by 10 percent, which is 36 degrees, after five minutes, you would be a short distance from where you would have been without a change of course. However, after one hour of sailing, in the new direction, you would be a substantial distance from where you would have been, had you stayed on the original course. That is the power of the 10 percent solution. After you have set your goals, you will develop actions that support the goals. These are specific activities you will undertake. Again, I would recommend no more than three activities per goal. After you write them, check to make sure that were you to complete those activities, the goal would be accomplished. Next, set dates for completing all of the actions. I recommend that your completion date be no more than 90 days in the future. Why is that? It is because research has shown that we have difficulty staying motivated to achieve a goal if the expected completion date is more than 90 days in the future. Finally, identify resources that you will need to accomplish the goal. They could be other material, such as books or coursework. They could be access to people or experiences that will build your skills or help you on the way to optimal performance. Perhaps you could access a role model, who is achieving optimal performance themselves. The most critical resource though is an accountability partner; an accountability partner is someone who will be willing to hold you accountable for your goals. Obviously, you would not ask them to be a fill-in parent or a nag. Their role is to talk with you about how you are doing working on your goals; perhaps give you advice, ask questions to help you puzzle through the challenges, and most importantly, be a support for you. I want you to start thinking about who that person should be. Let me give you some stunning facts about the importance of accountability partners. If you set a goal in your head and then write it down, you have about a 30 percent chance that you will achieve the goal. If you share your goal with an accountability partner, you have over an 80 percent chance of achieving your goal. This is why breaking a difficult habit is much more successful when you have an accountability partner. Think about working out at the gym and how much easier it is with a buddy. So now's your chance to make this course a guaranteed success. Complete your worksheet, add your goals, and then post your worksheet on the discussion board. You will receive great feedback and support from your fellow students. Who knows? You may even find an accountability partner there. Then read the posts of at least two other students, score their document based on the rubric provided. Once you are done with that, join me in my last video as we wrap up the course.
