“A MAN, A PLAN,
A CANAL, PANAMA”
-- FINDING THE SUCCESS LESSON
IN THE PALINDROME
Today’s headline is one
of the best-known palindromes, a phrase that, ignoring punctuation, reads the
same front-to-back or back-to-front.
Why palindromes today? It’s about the goal-setting strategies we’ve been
chatting about since before the start of the New Year.
Big 2012 Q: So how’s all that goal setting been working out
for ya, huh?
If you’re
thinking sheepishly that you nearly instantly strayed from the path to success
you envisioned, here’s –
Good news. You (ahem, “we”) are not alone.
First let me
remind you again that the first purpose of setting any goal is to focus
attention.
So let’s admit we
lost our focus in the fog of adjusting to the New Year.
And that leads to
the observation -- perhaps clichéd, but even clichés are grounded in a truth –
that:
Failure’s not all bad. Derailed is not necessarily a train wreck. New
Year resolution/goal-setting “failure” is seldom fatal.
Failure certainly
lets us know our limitations under the conditions in which failure occurred.
But in doing so it alerts us to areas that need attention; places where we
still have room to change and grow.
So now’s as good
a time as any to --
Push Reset. At the outset of almost any journey, the destination is a bit of an illusory end point. It’s where you think you need to get to. But what you learn along the way may inform or even alter that view.
So, especially if you stalled before you even started, perhaps –
The “going” should be the goal. We often believe we have a definite goal when the thinking about it is still in some foggy, nebulous stage. And maybe the lack of New Year’s action … the lack of getting going … was a sign that your “goal” was a bit vague.
TGIM ACTION IDEA: When you push “Reset,” readjust the goal-setting process to include the “going” – not just specifying a desired end-point.
To make it easier to do this, consider applying –
The Lesson
of the Palindrome
The “goal” of an easy-to-navigate canal joining the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans was a wish since early in the 16th Century. (The earliest mention of a canal across the Isthmus of Panama dates to 1534, when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, ordered a survey for a route through the Americas that would ease the voyage for ships traveling between Spain and Peru.)
 |
| George Washington Goethals 1858-1928 |
A goal he diligently planned and a plan he diligently executed.
TGIM Takeaway: The end point of goal-setting can be reached only via the vehicle of a plan in which you must earnestly believe and upon which you must enthusiastically act.
TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: The best plans are straightforward, spelling out the famous “who, what, when, where, why and how much.” Strategic planning done this way at the outset helps you fully uncover the available options, set priorities for them and detail the methods you anticipate will enable you to achieve them.
A true goal is a solution to a problem. Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it NOW.
As George Goethals proved: When schemes are laid out in advance, it’s surprising how often the circumstances that arise will fit them. (After the completion of the Canal, among the many honors bestowed on him, Goethals was promoted from Colonel to Major General.)
Let’s give Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th US President who was instrumental in getting the Panama Canal built and gave Goethals his promotion –
The last goal-accomplishing word: “Power undirected by high purpose spells calamity; and high purpose by itself is utterly useless if the power to put it into effect is lacking.”
My new plan: Use the power of planning to accomplish more in 2012. You, too?
Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing
8 Depot SquareChief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing
Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com
P.S. “Aha” palindrome moments: Was the first palindrome coined in the Garden of Eden? Perhaps, if the first man’s pick up line to Eve was “Madam, I’m Adam.” And, if you investigate, you might find the President of the Palindrome Society drives “A Toyota.” Or maybe it’s a “Civic.” And, although my friend Eric Taylor is fond of, and somewhat famous for, noting in his more distracted moments, “Oh look … a bunny on the lawn,” I sometimes find myself asking palindomically, “Was it a cat I saw?”
A verifiable very-early palindrome is graffiti found buried by ash at Herculaneum, in 79 AD. It reads: "Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas" (The non-palindromic translation: “The sower, Arepo, holds works wheels.”) Added wonder: It can be arranged into a word square --
AREPO
TENET
OPERA
ROTAS
--that reads in four different ways: horizontally or vertically from either top left to bottom right or bottom right to top left. Wow!
P. P.S. You and Eric Taylor and I
can talk more about “bunnies on lawns” and many more ways to accomplish much
more in the days and weeks ahead at the –
Business Breakthrough 2012
…Live Event!
Thursday, January 26th 2012
5:30pm to 9:00pm
Location:
Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center - Eatontown, NJ.
There will be plenty of opportunity for informal networking and chat with scores and scores of your like-minded peers. Plus there’s a guaranteed uncut and uncensored opportunity to –
Get Real Answers
to Your Biggest Business Challenges
During The
Interactive Workshop!
Here’s just a
sampling of what you’ll hear:
•How to Develop a Practical Marketing Plan That Works
•Why Social Media and Your Website Aren’t Working for You
•How to Create and Expand Your Personal & Business Brand
•How to Position Yourself as an Expert
•Why Your Value Proposition Isn’t
Valuable
•Real World Marketing Tactics That Generate Quality Leads
•How to Create Personal Referrals and an Army of Business Ambassadors
•How to Cut Through B.S. and Sell More, More Easily
Seating is limited
and the event is filling up FAST.
ACT TODAY! Click through HERE: Business Breakthrough 2012 to –
Watch a Preview and Reserve
Your Place
A limited number of
sponsorship opportunities are also available.
CLICK THROUGH for contact info.
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