Goals, What Do They Have to Do With Networking?

The other day, I was cleaning out my notebook that I use to hold all my important membership "stuff" for my BNI chapter. It was getting a little thick and it had that bulging look that meant it was time!

I found an interesting piece of paper. It was a goal sheet that had used to set my target for what I wanted to achieve with my BNI membership in 2010. I remember when I set the revenue goal at $17K, I thought to myself, "That's a pretty big goal."

Well, guess what? At the end of last year, I hit almost $19K in revenue; even more that I thought was a big stretch.

OK, so what's that got to do with networking?

Two things.

1) If I set goals for networking and write them down, my brain will help to make sure I reach the goal.

2) Without networking, i.e. doing one to one meetings with my fellow members, I would not have developed the relationships needed to gain those results.

Pretty simple, but I think most of us don't want to have the chance to fail. (I must admit that it was a thought in my mind when I set the $17K goal.) So not setting goals protects us from failure, but it also helps us to settle for less.

And in my book, that is failure!