A Goal Setting Master Class from Confucius

“To know and not to do is still not to know.” — Confucius

Here’s the problem with problem solving, goal achievement and driving results…

“I already know that” is very different from “I already do that.”

Just because a solution is known doesn’t mean it is utilized.

Even more critical, just because a solution is implemented occasionally, doesn’t mean it is implemented consistently.

We too often assume that new solutions are needed if we want to make real progress, but that isn’t always the case.

IMPLEMENT WHAT YOU KNOW

This pattern is just as present in our personal lives as it is in corporations and governments.

We waste the resources and ideas at our fingertips because they don’t seem new and exciting.

There are many examples of behaviors, big and small, that have the opportunity to drive progress in our lives if we just did them with more consistency.

Flossing every day.

Apologizing more often.

Never missing workouts.

Writing Thank You notes each week.

Prospecting and planting seeds for new business.

Saving and investing more than spending and consuming.

Performing fundamental tasks each day, not just when you have time.

Of course, these answers are not shiny or new.

While focusing on the fundamentals is not necessarily a sexy subject, their mastery leads to sexy results in the way of a fit body, healthy portfolio, strong marriage, and well-adjusted kids to name just a few.

No matter what task you are working on, there are basic fundamentals that you have known about for years — that can immediately yield results if you just practice them more consistently.

Success in all its forms consists of simple fundamentals.

Professionals respect while amateurs loathe them.

Professionals master while amateurs neglect them.

Professionals practice while amateurs undermine them.

Success is neither magical or mysterious, it’s neither complex nor confusing.

Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals.

When successfully applied…the fundamentals you implement escape notice, as they are quietly doing their thing below grade.

However, when you experience failure, their weakness is quickly exposed along with the fingerprints of mediocrity, flawed thinking and incompetence.

CONSISTENCY IS FUNDAMENTAL TO SUCCESS

There are no new fundamentals.

Truth has not, nor will it be changing.

Summer always follows spring, and it has been this way since recorded history.

So too are the fundamentals that govern success.

The fundamentals of investing, raising kids, mathematics, science, accounting… you name it has been identified, in place and not open to renegotiation.

Progress, growth and maturity often hides behind boring solutions and underused insights.

Confucius nailed it when he said over 2000 years ago…”To know, and not to do, is still not to know.”

That’s why for you to achieve your goals and succeed in any endeavor….

You don’t need more information.

You don’t need a better strategy.

You just need to do more of what already works.

You just need to consistently apply the fundamentals.

Everything Counts!

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Gary Ryan Blair is creator of the 100 Day Challenge…a radical approach to goal achievement that shows people how to achieve 10X size goals by applying the methods and best practices of growth hacking. Over 600,000+ members.