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Back to work – What does that mean?

By Jerry Robertson January 6, 2014 #my500words

I’m here. Been off most of the holiday and just got back from Disney World. First time ever without the kids. Just Susan and me. We had a great time. The picture is from our hotel. We stayed at the All Star Music Resort on the Disney property and had great access to all the parks and food we wanted.

This was the best vacation that Susan and I have had together ever (I think, I’ll have to check with her to be sure :))

So, what does it mean to be back to work? One thing it means is I am writing. I signed up to do #my500words with Jeff Goins. The project is to write 500 words everyday in January. The rules say I can’t make up any I missed and I started today but we’ll do that and see what happens. Sign up over to the right if you want to see how it goes. I’ll push to facebook and twitter too but you won’t see everything if that is how  you found me this time.

I will be on the phone and sending out things in the mail too. That is what work looks like for me sometimes. I am also working on a new project to host some house concerts. Lots of details to work out but stay tuned and we’ll see how that goes.

I have written some new goals (not sharing publicly, since that seems to deter achieving them) but writing them down seems to help get them done. Most of us have heard about the Yale or Harvard study where 3% of the graduating MBA class wrote down their goals and achieved more than the 97% who didn’t.

Turns out the ‘study’ was a myth that has been cited over and over so much that most believe it actually happened. However, I found this source that cites a study done at the Dominican University of California that does show evidence that writing them down helps but it is even better if you share them with one person for accountability and then track progress of actions. It shows the unwritten goal is 43% likely to get done but the written, accountable goal is over 70% achieved.

One thing I learned last year was about essential truth vs. absolute truth. The goal story from Yale has been used by big time speakers (Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, etc) to make a point and I suspect it has encouraged many to actually write down the goals even though it didn’t happen as told. We know writing down the goals helps and this story is an ‘essential’ truth that served a purpose. To get you to write them down.

I say this to encourage a couple of things.

First, do the research on the things we assume are true but don’t miss the essential truth even if the story turns out to be bull sh*t.

Second, as I write for the next few weeks I might be tempted to cite some things or refer to some things that are bull sh*t and if I do I don’t want you to cosign them for me.

I want you call me on it. You can comment down below or on facebook or twitter but don’t let it stand if you think I am full of it. I will be writing on lots of things to meet the goal of #my500words and it might be late when I do it or involve adult beverages at times so please call me out if you think I need to be held accountable.

Now, on to my next task for the first day back at work. Hope your day is productive too.

Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson