It's the dogs' fault...

I'm pinching this from the book I'm editing, Building Your Business, Your Brand, Your Life by Peter Sinclair, published by Ark House and due out in February. It seemed very appropriate for the time of year and all of those New Year's Resolutions. 

The manager of a dog food company asked his sales team how they liked the company's new advertising program.

"Great," they replied. "The best in the business."

"What do you think of the product?" he asked them.

"It's the best," they said.

"And how about the sales force?" he prodded.

After a pause they declared, "We're the best!"

The manager said, "Well, if we have the best product, the best ads and the best sales team, how come we're 17th in our industry?"

After an awkward silence, one of the salesmen shouted, "It's those dogs - they just won't eat the stuff!"

My friend, your problem is not the dogs, your job, your business, your spouse or society at large. Be honest - your biggest problem is you. If your life is not going the way you want it to, you are the one responsible for changing it. But you must want change, decide for change and work each day towards that change.

And here are some statistics.

3% of people set goals, together with an action plan on how to achieve them.

10% of people set goals but have no action plan. They expect change to just happen.

60% have vague or limited goals. They watch things happen.

27% of people have no goals at all and don't change. They don't know what happened and are always asking, "Where has life gone? What have I achieved?"

Do you have any goals? What are they? And what's your plan for achieving them?