Act Like a Success, Think Like a Success: Discovering Your Gift and the Way to Life's Riches (9 page)

        
1.
   
What will be my next goal?

        
2.
   
What will be my target and timetable for the next goal?

        
3.
   
How will this goal prepare me for the next milestone?

        
4.
   
If goal A doesn't work, how can I put myself in a better position to achieve goal B or goal C?

        
5.
   
Whom can I partner with to make the next step happen at a higher quality or a quicker pace?

As I mentioned at the start of this chapter, your goals should be a step-by-step process tailored just for you. You can't expect to use my ladder to get to where you are going, and I can't expect to use yours. The key is to have the right number of steps that will be attainable and have just the right amount of challenge to keep you motivated and moving forward.

        
1.
   
WRITE DOWN YOUR DREAMS
!
If you do not have your dreams written down, they might as well not exist. Whether you are a no-tech, low-tech, or high-tech person, keep your goals with you in a way that works for you and your lifestyle.

        
2.
   
CREATE A LIST OF GOALS UNDER EACH DREAM
.
Your dream will immediately come alive when you specify the goals that you need to make your dreams come true. One of my goals is for
The Steve Harvey Show
to earn a 3.5 rating. For those of you who are not familiar with the television industry, earning a 3.5 means that I have an average of 3.5 million viewers per show. I have the number “3.5” sown into the cuffs of hundreds of pairs of pants so that every time I step into them, I am stepping out on faith and believing that my show will become a 3.5. When I hit that goal, my earning potential will go to another level. Here is a working set of goals that I am developing for my team and me:

              
DREAM
:
Earn a 3.5 rating for the 2014–2015 season.

              
GOALS
:

              
•
      
Schedule two working retreats with production staff during summer 2014 to add three new segments to the show.

              
•
      
Add weekly segment with Lisa Nichols for new “Motivational Monday” segment.

              
•
      
Create a more robust social media plan to expand the show's reach on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

        
3.
   
CREATE A TIMETABLE WITH YOUR DREAM SUMMIT IN MIND
.
Imagine where you want to be in the next five years, and begin creating your goals from the perspective of achieving that dream. For example, let's say you want to write your first book in the next three years. Map out the development of that book over a three-year period, so you can track your progress.

        
4.
   
GET
SMART
AND
SET UP
YOUR GOALS WITH POWER
.
Using the SMART method and the SETUP process are powerful ways to make your goals practical and attainable. Walk through the steps that we covered in the previous section to ensure that you are creating goals that you can achieve and be proud of.

        
5.
   
PRIORITIZE YOUR GOALS
.
I want you to be excited about your goals. But I don't want you to neglect your family, your health, and your overall well-being in the process. Working toward your dream doesn't mean that you get so laser focused that you lose sight of your priorities. Create your goals in such a way that you can still be a great parent, a great spouse, and, yes, even a dedicated employee while you are planning your exit strategy. And it's okay if prioritization means making smaller steps so that you can have balance in your life. If all you can do is save five hundred dollars toward your dream this year, you're now five hundred dollars closer to putting your gift into the right vehicle.

        
6.
   
CELEBRATE YOUR PROGRESS
.
For every goal you achieve along the way, celebrate your journey. Often we get so caught up in reaching the summit that we forget to stop as we take in the journey and acknowledge our accomplishments. You have to be your first cheerleader on the road toward success. If you like to journal, create a Goals Journal to capture your progress. Create this journal as your personal space to articulate your thoughts, feelings, frustrations, and triumphs. If you need to process your journey with another person or other people, set up a regular celebration checkpoint with your team so that they can take pride in your accomplishments, too. Celebrating your goals is as much about honoring your work as it is a source of motivation to keep you moving forward.

The end of your success ladder may be hosting your own inspirational podcast or setting up fitness classes to help seniors in your building get healthy. Whatever your dream is, don't let it swirl around in your head as just another lofty thought. Create goals for your dream that will make your gift come alive. As the saying goes, “Goals are dreams with their feet on the ground.” Take this chapter and use these steps to put some feet up under your wildest dreams.

What dream are you committed to fulfilling this year?

Create SMART goals for your dream using these definitions:

S
pecific

M
easurable

A
chievable

R
ealistic

T
ime-Sensitive

N
othing disappoints me more than hearing people filled with big dreams but without goals or vision to make them a reality. Having a vision comes down to one thing: Do you know where you want to go? You have to be clear about your vision because it will drive everything else you do.

Here's a quote that I love from Albert Einstein: “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.” Your imagination
is
everything. If your focus is on where you are right now, then your right now becomes your forever. Until you change your focus and elevate your imagination, your present situation
will
define you. If imagination is everything, we have to start by changing how we view the coming attractions.

No matter how much we achieve, we have to keep pushing our imagination. Back in 2001, one of the things I really wanted was my own plane. Tyler Perry had the exact plane that I wanted, so I reached out to him to get the interior sketches for his plane. I immediately showed the picture to one of my partners. “I'm never flying in a commercial plane domestically ever again,” I said.

It may not be your vision to fly privately, but why not create a vision to fly first class? Get out of your comfort zone and treat yourself to a first-class ticket for your next business trip or vacation. Once you experience first class, keep up the work to make that your regular reality. If you don't think any higher of yourself, why should anyone else?

Now, don't get stuck on the airline analogy. If flying privately or first class isn't important to you, that's okay. Your interpretation of first class may be different. First class may simply be achieving the financial wherewithal to take a vacation once a year, especially as you haven't been on a vacation in years. But what about having a first-class vision for your life? What about providing a first-class education for your children? What about creating a first-class business? How about imagining a first-class marriage? First-class appearance? You cannot get to the first-class life if your imagination will allow you to see only visions of coach.

If first class is important to you in some areas, why not make it important in all areas? Flying first class may not be important to you now, but one day it will be. Once you do enough first-class things, second class doesn't even fit your image anymore. Once you taste first class enough times, second class will never do.

I'm not sitting in the back where they hand out half a Coke and a little pack of peanuts. I don't want to have to buy the sandwiches. I want to be where they are giving out three or four sandwiches. Dick Gregory taught that to me. He said, “Steve, just go see first class. It will condition your mind to settle for nothing less.”

First class conditions your mind. Treat yourself every now and then. Go on a nice vacation somewhere. Quit going to your family reunion every year. Drive down to Mississippi to sit under a tree. Dick said to me, “Sometimes you have to take your family somewhere really nice, and watch what happens after that. You'll start dreaming about that real nice all the time and so will your kids.”

When kids let their imaginations go, they come up with some ideas that are out of this world. Kids don't think about what is logical, practical, or even doable. They just let their imaginations rip. Get back to that space of being like a kid and let your heart and desires guide your vision. There will be time and space for logic down the road. But for now, allow your imagination to take you into that first-class vision that moves you beyond where you are now.

Your vision will matter only when it is connected to your gift. If your vision is disconnected from your purpose, you will be working in opposition to the bigger picture for your life. I am a husband and a father. Those are priorities that are bigger than anything else I do. I can't create a vision that gets in the way of my responsibilities as a husband and a father and think that it will lead me to my best future. Make sure you are clear about what your gift is before you create a vision, because you don't want to be on a first-class flight to the wrong city.

God bestowed upon you a gift and placed in you a vision for your gift that does not harm others, because he wants you to have your heart's desire. Do
not
limit your vision because you don't think you are in the right place or know the right people. The greatest thing about creating your vision is that it is as expansive as your imagination. You deserve a first-class future, and your vision should reflect this belief. Even if you had a past filled with failure, you can create a new vision now. Let go of the past and think toward the future. Leave a history of mistakes behind and dream of wonderful, successful tomorrows.

This written expression of your vision for your life is a literal manifestation of the lifestyle you will attain. In writing your vision down in your journal, it gains momentum.

I took writing down my dreams further by building a vision board. Not only did I want to read about my vision, I wanted to see my vision. When I first started building my vision board, most people around me didn't understand. Some people said, “Steve, you have plenty of money; what are you doing with a vision board?” But let me tell you something: I don't rest on my laurels. I want to spend my entire life growing and learning. This may be the case for all successful people I know. Their life is not about getting more; it is about doing more. I have a vision board to offer my life continued direction. There are still things I want to accomplish. I have learned from my past that the best way for me to accomplish my goals is to put them in front of me where I can see them at all times.

Wherever I am—whether I'm sitting at my computer in Atlanta or Chicago or checking my iPhone—the first thing that pops up on all of these screens is my vision board. Regardless of where I am, I want all of my visions to be at the forefront of my mind and in my spirit.

And not only is my vision board visible everywhere I look; every vision I have is directly connected to advancing the areas of my life that are most important to me, and I find ways to make those visions live beyond the screen. Some of the current images on my board include the following:

        
•
     
EARNING A 3.5 RATING FOR
THE STEVE HARVEY SHOW
. I'm at a 1.9 right now; Dr. Phil is at a 3.4 and Ellen DeGeneres is at a 2.9. I've been to both of their houses, and I can tell you that I'm ready for a 3.5 kind of lifestyle.

        
•
     
MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN AFRICA
.
Right next to my “3.5” is a map of Africa. My goal is to make millions so that I can help millions of people on the continent. I don't know what that looks like yet, but that's the beauty of the vision board. I am open to this vision, and I am talking to people about Africa in ways that I never have before. I am confident that as I keep this vision in front of me, the right opportunity will come along at the right time.

        
•
     
PROVIDING SCHOLARSHIPS FOR STUDENTS
. Next to my map of Africa, I have a picture of college students that represents the ten thousand kids who will receive full college scholarships from me and my wife. I plan to give $10 million of my own money to my foundation. I am already on my way to achieving this goal, and the more I focus on it, the more God sends me partners to make this a reality.