Meaningfully specific

Today's Business Lessons

Meaningfully specific

BUSINESS MATTERS (Beyond the bottom line) 
By Francis J. Kong (The Philippine Star) 
Updated October 20, 2012 

Binky Ocaya is the general manager running our consultancy business. I knew we got a winner when she decided to join our company. Charming, articulate and hard-working to the core, Binky’s sense of commitment and dedication has inspired an entire team of young newcomers in our company, and they’ve brought in a lot of new businesses and leads that amaze me to this day.

As I study her style, I realize that Binky is successful in running the business because she’s extremely specific. This makes her activities meaningful.

Allow me to explain.

“I want to be successful, Francis, so what should I do?”

This is a common question thrown at me either through Facebook messages or during the Q&A in my talks. The problem with this question is that it’s too general. It begs to be qualified to be answered. So I would ask:

“You want to be a successful what?”

You want to be successful in what?”

“You want to be successful at what?”

“What exactly does success look like to you?”

When I ask them these questions their faces go blank.

You and I need to be specific to be meaningful.

Consider the following:

• “To lose some weight” is not as specific as “to lose five pounds within the span of 10 days, to stay off it and maintain the poundage.” The latter would make the work-out plan more meaningful.

• “To get a promotion” is not as specific as “to make the VP post within the next three years and to be a specialist in that particular function.” The latter would make everyday work more meaningful.

Being specific gives you an idea of what your “success goal” should look like. In turn, having a clear idea of your success goal will help make your action plan directed and will help keep you motivated as you move towards that direction. If your goals aren’t specific, you’d easily get distracted from achieving them.

Here are some more general goals that I think need a lot of refining:

To find more balance in my personal and work life

To eat healthier

To make more money

To spend less money

To save more money

To become a better person

These are all good goals, but too general and of little meaning. One needs to work out the details of each to make them specific, more meaningful and more achievable.

Success is an outcome. In order to arrive at a desired outcome, one needs to do the right actions. Wrong actions lead to wrong outcomes – and a lot of time, energy and other resources wasted.

Business operates in the same way. Successful businesses are thus because specific goals and targets have been set. Goals and targets were articulated, the vision, casted, and key players rolled up their sleeves and get things moving towards the set direction.

Most people are well-meaning in their quest for success, but they haven’t seriously worked on being specific. Popular motivational author Zig Ziglar says, “Do not be a wandering generality, you need to be a meaningful specific.” If what you’re striving for is vague, it will be all too easy to take the easy way out and miss your success goals. Binky is specific. She knows what she wants, and she’s determined to do the right things in order to get there.

Here’s one more commentary on being specific with goals: the ultimate reason for setting goals is to encourage you to become the person it takes to achieve them. To do right is good; to become right is infinitely better.

Now this is just as meaningfully specific as it can be.