June 4, 2020—When it comes to how to achieve your business and personal goals, Scott Wheeler, president of Automotive Consultants Group, Inc., says change is really what reaching a goal is; you're doing things differently than you were doing. It just comes down to three things: planning, action, and commitment.
"If you took a triangle and put change in center of triangle—one leg commitment, second would be plan, third would be action," Wheeler says. "If any one of those things are missing, the triangle will collapse and change will not occur."
A person needs all three parts of the triangle.
If someone is committed, and they have a plan, but the plan has been sitting on their desk for six months, change won't occur. If someone is committed and puts it into action, but does not have a plan on how to carry it out, change won't occur. And if someone has both a plan and takes action right away but commitment level is weak, as soon as you hit a roadblock, they'll quit.
For example, Wheeler has been working with one client who says within 5 years he wants to open five new locations.
First, it's coming up with a plan. When do you anticipate opening the second location? Build a timeline of how you'll reach that goal and break it down into smaller goals so you can commit: this owner wants to start and open the next location in the next two years. Then, you need to back out of that goal even more to take action. What do we need to do today to make that happen? Break the bigger goal down to sub goals to make it a present action. Do you need to apply for a permit? Are you going to buy or rent?
When it comes to setting up these goals, Wheeler says you need to be very, very specific so you are able to take that goal, put a structure to it, and adhere to its small principles. Some of the planning can be a little hazy, he says, so you have to dig down deep and ask yourself what reaching that goal looks like to you.
