The mantra that I remembered at the beginning of my career was related to sales goals:

Always have a goal – UIC!

From the first sales training three decades ago to present day, UIC resonates in my mind on a daily basis. Each year brought the unpredictability of meeting a demanding sales goal.

“This is impossible to do” is a thought that has been spinning like a broken record after almost every budget.

Reality has shown that sometimes I have reached the set goal, sometimes surpassed it, but there were also years when I did not fulfill it. In all three scenarios nothing dramatically good or bad happened.  Brown bear has not eaten me for breakfast yet.

Then why paint the goal with agitated emotions and thoughts? Ego does not work well at high revolutions. Our decisions are then impulsive, whimsical and shifting from day to day.

Business demands that ego works at optimal revs. In order to enable it to do that, our perception of the goal needs to be balanced. Extremes in the description of the goal should be avoided – impossible, injustice or catastrophe. These are all expressions that do not define reality realistically. Thus, behavior is not prudent.

When the goal in our head becomes demanding or difficult to achieve instead of horrible, our conscious and unconscious become calmer. Then it happens that something “clicks” in us and an idea arises about how the goal could be achieved. Sometimes a dream gives us a message about how to move on. Ideas come from unknown depths. Let’s recall resources we haven’t used or experiences nonrelated business that can help us solve business problems.

We remember that we read something a long time ago or we remember a long-forgotten experience. Looking at the road map on how to reach the goal – we notice new, until now unseen roads.

Thinking about goals is an unavoidable mantra in business world, but experience taught me to avoid strong colors which I characterize sales goals with. That is when ego can peacefully excavate good ideas.

Mantra koju sam zapamtio na početku karijere je bila vezana za ciljeve prodaje :

Uvek imaj cilj !

Od prvog treninga prodaje pre tri decenije do današnjih dana UIC odzvanja u mojim mislima svakodnevno. Svaka godina  je nosila neizvesnost ispunjavanja zahtevnog  prodajnog cilja.

“Ovo je nemoguće uraditi “ je misao koja se vrtela kao pokvarena ploča nakon skoro svakog budzeta.

Realnost je pokazala da sam zacrtani cilj nekad dostigao, nekad prestigao ali je bilo i godina kada ga nisam ispunio.  U sva tri slučaja se ništa dramatično dobro ili loše nije dešavalo.  Mrki medved me za sada nije pojeo za doručak.

Zašto onda bojiti cilj uzburkanim emocijama i mislima? Ego ne radi dobro na visokim obrtajima. Naše odluke su tada impulsivne , hirovite i  promenljive iz dana u dan.

Biznis  traži da ego radi na optimalnim obrtajima. Da bi mu to omogućili, naša percepcija cilja treba da bude uravnotežena. Krajnosti u opisu cilja treba izbegavati – nemoguće, nepravda ili   katastrofa. Sve su to izrazi koji ne definišu stvarnost realno. Time i  ponašanje nije realno.

Kada u našoj glavi cilj postane zahtevan ili teško dostižan umesto užasan, naše svesno i nesvesno postaje mirnije. Tada se dešava da nešto “klikne” u nama i javi se ideja kako bi cilj mogao da se ostvari . Ponekad nam i san daje poruku kako dalje.  Ideje dolaze iz nepoznatih dubina. Prisetimo se resursa koje nismo koristili ili iskustava van biznisa koja mogu da nam pomognu u rešavanju poslovnih problema.

Setimo se da smo nekada davno nešto pročitali ili se setimo davno zaboravljenog iskustva.  Gledajući mapu puta kako da stignemo do cilja – primećujemo i nove , do tada nevidjene puteve.

Razmišljanje o ciljevima je nezaobilazna mantra u poslovnom svetu ali me godine uče da izbegavam jake boje kojima karakterišem prodajne  ciljeve. Tada ego može na miru da rudari dobre ideje.