We had a former Division 1 Golf coach at the University of Washington and Duke University come speak to our Young Insurance Agents Conference many years ago.  O.D. gave one of the most simple business and personal accountability concepts through the game of golf.

He said, every year at the beginning of the year our Freshman would come off the golf course and give some crazy answers to the most simple question.  The question: What did you shoot?  It would be a story, a narrative, a play by play, or something added to the simplicity of a number.  “The answer I was looking for was a two digit number with a period after it.”

This concept is so powerful.  When you are taking stock at the highest level of your activities and outcomes, you must start with the score only.  Everything else gives your mind a soft place to land if we missed the intended mark and can fill us with pride if we hit or exceeded our previous best.

In order to be great over time we must know what we shot.  Each day.  Each week.  Each month.  Each quarter.  Each year.  From there we can reverse engineer the actions that led us to those results and work to iterate towards more consistent, efficient and effective actions going forward.

Never arriving or giving up, but always striving for steady improvement.  So the only question beside “what did you shoot?” is “what are your targets?”

As Zig Ziglar often said, “if you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” Make the actions line up with your vision and ensure that they are specific, measurable, and time sensitive (i.e. today, this week, this month, this year, etc.)  Then become a relentless auditor or engage a coach to hold you accountable for your development.

Wishing you massive success in 2022!

Let’s GO!
John