How to Best Meet a Goal

Recently I was speaking with Mandy Schumaker, a Portland-based small business coach. One of the primary benefits of working with a coach is the accountability factor; that is, when you set a goal for yourself it is more likely to come to fruition if you have a partner of sorts to whom you must report. Related to this, Mandy shared some probability statistics with me from the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) on one’s likelihood of achieving a goal.

• You have an idea (10%)
• You consciously decide to adopt it (25%)
• You decide when you will do it (40%)
• You plan on how you will do it (50%)
• You commit to someone else that you will do it (65%)
• You have a specific accountability appointment with another (95%)

Now that’s tremendous evidence of the power of purposeful decision making, planning, commitment and
accountability!