The Best Type of Goal to Set and Why
I had an interesting conversation with Rodney Gainous Jr the other night. We talked about an entire range of different topics that include business, life, philosophy, and even love. He then asked me a very crucial question I wasn’t exactly prepared to answer. It’s a difficult one, one that is something even large corporations fuss and develop at for months. The question was one that usually brings fear to you and me alike; but today I felt brave. The question was, where do I want to be in 5 years. At first I was perplexed as it isn’t a question people usually ask. Usually the question people ask instead of 5–10–20 year goals is “What do you want to do?” or “What’s your dream life?”. When you are usually asked questions of goals of length it usually is about your financial situation and not about your personal achievements or position. But this question was and it is as simplistic a question as you could think. I gave it some thought for a moment, contemplating cash value and equity stakes. Thinking about traveling and not working. The “dream life” per-say. But I realized something, That that isn’t the right way to answer the question. What I should be asking myself to answer the question is what do I value?
Value does not equate to dollars.
This is something that I realized. I value people. I value people’s time and compassion. I value joy and love. I value people that do great things with great services and products. It then became deathly clear as what my goal was in 5 years.
Influence 1 Million People’s lives in a positive way.
Brining value to 1 million people is in my opinion one of the greatest gifts an entrepreneur can make. It makes people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates such titans. Their money overshadowed the real value they brought to the world that had nothing to do with monetary gain or power, but simply one thing.
Changing people’s lives.
A life worth living is one that is being indebted to those below, above, and around you. That is something I truly believe. If you can create or innovate on incredible things that reach and effect over a million people, you have done the greatest work in history. You have truly changed the world.
