Get SMART with Your Goals

Attaining of goals is a defined process that helps to increase outcomes. It isn't about shooting in the dark in hopes of blindly tripping over your goals. A little planning can go a long way in fostering positive outcomes. The SMART goal setting technique can help you define what you want to do and in the time frame you want.

Specific: Be specific and write down exactly what you want. Don't be too broad.

Measurable: Your goals should be measurable.

Attainable: Your goals should be reasonable and realistic.

Time Bound: Make sure that you have a specific time-frame to complete your goals or they will go on forever and not be achieved.

Everyone Should Appreciate the National Forests

As a business lover and nature lover I find that protecting our natural resources is important for our survival as a species. We spend a good amount of the country's early days conquering nature and now we must move on to living in harmony with nature. Protecting national forests for recreation and our species health is important.

If you ever walked in the forest after a snow storm, or live in a rural area, you are likely more connected to nature than many city dwellers. It becomes a part of your life and who you are. If you enjoy it then you may spend a considerable time in nature oriented activities and reaping its many benefits. I encourage everyone to spend a little time in nature to appreciate it.

Study Says People Dying Younger-Maintain Your Health Routine

Life expectancy in the U.S. declined over the past year and people are now dying younger than over a decade ago. According to a study by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the biggest increases are related to drug overdoses, car crashes, and gun shots but most revolve around health related issues.  The study helps us highlight the importance of staying healthy and fit.

We have only one life to live but our health is a series of small decisions that relate to our health. The study highlighted that heart disease, injury, respiratory, stroke, diabetes,  suicide, and Alzheimer's are some of the main causes of death. While some of this is genetic, is also related to lifestyle choice.

Each day we make many choices that lead to our health or illness. The obvious big ones are smoking and heavy drugs. However, there are many small choices such as exercise and eating. For most of us is the later that eventually leads to illness.

Eating is based on habit and culture but can be changed to create a more healthy lifestyle. As a french fry addict I have to learn to replace those artery clogging goodies with something else like sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes. These small choices add up over our lives and lead to a particular health outcome.

It is also important to keep a strong work out regiment. This can be anything like running, jogging, yoga, boxing, hiking, stair stepper, or anything else that interests us. We only must find a way to incorporate this into our lives in order to avoid the sudden decline in Americans health. Getting involved in fitness can help you enjoy your life more and be more active.

Building a Reputation of Quality

There is at least one thing the U.S. did well and that was build cars. We can learn from our past dominance, decline, and reemergence. Almost all cars once came from the U.S. until our quality and innovation suffered. We are coming back as a nation in manufacturing abilities but it is important to remember the values of quality and how that can influence long-term sales performance.

When given an option people are willing to spend a little more on a product that has higher quality than one that doesn't. Of course that is dependent on the purpose and use of the product. While someone wouldn't spend much on a screwdriver they are going to use once they will spend more on one they plan on using for a long-time.

"Big ticket" items like cars, appliances, and houses should be of high quality because they can last many years. These "big ticket" items have price flexibility and can work quality in their value proposition. However, when items continually adapt every other year then product life-cycle might be a better approach ensuring the product lasts as long as its intended relevance.

Quality builds a reputation. People who perceive a product as having high quality will find more value in it and this turns into increased sales. More specifically it turns into a value proposition that leads to word of mouth marketing and repeat sales. When the product builds wide market reputation based on quality it increases its overall sales potential.

Fostering Performance Based or Developmental Based Training Programs

Developing the workforce takes time and effort matched with strong planning. Plans are crafted in a way that help strengthen the overall business model and ensure that qualified workers are available to fill needed skill sets. As the labor market continues to change and adjust it becomes even more important to ensure that training programs are effective in their expected outcomes. Taking the performance based or developmental based approach to training will determine the the results.

Performance based approaches seek short-term return on training dollars spent in an effort to spark greater applied skills. The strategy is effective for justifying budgets and calculating returns. It is also beneficial for finding immediate actions that lead to improve performance in the short-run.

The only problem with the approach is that the skills are specific and limited in their ability to transfer to other activities. Learning the use of a new tool leads to greater specific performance but doesn't necessarily develop the overall personal and professional functioning of the person.

To develop the whole person and improve specific skill sets through broad learning training should be focused on creating awareness of the "big picture". These skills are core development and might include training in conflict management, critical thinking, and human motivation. They will apply across a broad range of different scenarios.

Sometimes it is best to develop training that is based on short and long-term performance results. Training in general human motivation could be included with specific techniques the manager can use right away to motivate their employees. They gain broad skills and specific actions all in the same training session.

Once the performance and developmental training sessions are enacted it is important to use metrics to determine general performance. Short-term metrics will study specific techniques while departmental or trend oriented data can measure general improvement of the entire entity. The choice of training program will determine the training philosophy of the organization.