Alligators and Goals

Okay folks, the countdown to 2012 clock is in fast-forward mode. You have about 30 days, not counting holidays. You want to end 2011 on a high note, but first you have to cram in all the to-do work. Do you feel like you’re up to your, you know, in alligators?

If you do, then you need to read this post by Dan Kennedy.

Selected as the November article for GKIC [Glazer Kennedy Insiders Circle] members, Dan shares his take on what to do when the alligators are advancing.

Get Out Of the Alligator Pit At Least An Hour Every Day

by Dan S. Kennedy

Recently, two business partners came to visit me, looking for magical help with their host of terrible problems. Without dragging you through all the details, the bottom line: they have no terrible problems. They have a few minor problems. But, overall, they’re in pretty good shape. Theirs is a business that peaked at about 2.5 million, dipped to 1.6, but is now back up to 1.8, may break 2 this year “as is”, has lost some markets but gained different opportunities, and is satisfactorily if not excitingly profitable as compared to industry norms. But to hear these two, you’d think the sky was falling..

The blunt truth: they need a therapist, not a marketing consultant. Actually, they need to start with a very simple but important strategy….

Unlike most authors of most success genre content, he makes no attempt to deliver ideas that will be popular with a large audience. This mirrors my own approach as an author, spanning, now 32 years and more than 20 published books. (www.NoBSBooks.com), My scariest is No B.S. Ruthless Management of People and Profits.

One of the Eternal Truths that I quote in one of my books is: when you are up to your ass in alligators, it’s difficult to remember that your original objective was to drain the swamp. It’s easy to get so caught up in managing all the problem parts of a business that you never do anything else. And that’s a sure path to where these two partners are now: burn out. I could give ’em the all-time killer sales letter, the best marketing campaign ever devised, and it wouldn’t do them much good…when they go to the office each day wishing they weren’t there, fatigued from first thing on, going through the motions, viewing their activities as drudgery…and end the day without any sense of measurable progress toward meaningful goals…their ‘walking dead’ aura pervades ever nook and cranny, every employee, every customer, every aspect of their business. It’s the psychic equal of trying to attract a lot of customers to a restaurant that smells like rotting, burning flesh.

Prescription: each and every day, keep a pre-set, inviolate appointment with yourself or with one or two key people, out of sight and hearing of the alligator pit, no matter how many alligators there are or how hungry they are, to do nothing but focus and work on positive, productive plans and strategies that look to the future, that are linked to goals and progress, that you can be excited and optimistic about. Simplistically, this is a means of maintaining perspective. Even better, add taking one action, getting one thing done every day, no matter what, that you know moves you forward, toward positive goals. Go home if you must knowing you spent 7 hours and 58 minutes in the alligator pit, but at least you found 2 minutes to put something in motion that will improve things.

DAN S. KENNEDY is a serial, multi-millionaire entrepreneur; highly paid and sought after marketing and business strategist; advisor to countless first-generation, from-scratch multi-millionaire and 7-figure income entrepreneurs and professionals; and, in his personal practice, one of the very highest paid direct-response copywriters in America. As a speaker, he has delivered over 2,000 compensated presentations, appearing repeatedly on programs with the likes of Donald Trump, Gene Simmons (KISS), Debbi Fields (Mrs. Fields Cookies), and many other celebrity-entrepreneurs, for former U.S. Presidents and other world leaders, and other leading business speakers like Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy and Tom Hopkins, often addressing audiences of 1,000 to 10,000 and up.  His popular books have been favorably recognized by Forbes, Business Week, Inc. and Entrepreneur Magazine. His NO B.S. MARKETING LETTER, one of the business newsletters published for Members of Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle, is the largest paid subscription newsletter in its genre in the world.

Click here to claim Dan Kennedy’s most incredible free gift offer.

FTC Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means that commissions are paid when sales are made. I only recommend products and services I believe in and use personally. I joined GKIC in July, met Bill Glazer in September and am delighted to discover so many other successful people credit Bill and Dan Kennedy as key contributors to their success.

Take it from here . . . how do you stay focused on your goals?