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Why you should focus on the problems

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“Obstacles are what you see when you take your eye off the goal.” I’m sure you’ve heard this platitude, or many like it, but I have some contrarian advice for you. Focus on the problems and obstacles; focus on removing them. 

Low water crossingDr. Ken Jones, President of Lubbock Christian University, presented this idea at the Texas Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus conference.

Key fact: Only 15% of people are truly goal oriented. The rest are problem solvers.
Only 15% of people can start with the vision, set goals, and then be motivated to work effectively towards those goals. Most of the rest of the population are problem solvers, and they are very good at it, he said. 
If you’re one of the 85% who are not easily motivated by traditional goal setting, you shouldn’t feel so alone. And you should pay attention to this idea. 
Examine your vision and goals. Think about what is keeping that vision from coming true. Now, what would happen if you could remove those obstacles? 
The leader sets the vision. Then the whole team works together to identify the problems and the obstacles in the way. Everyone works on removing the identified obstacles and solving those problems, Jones said. 
What do you mean you don’t have a team? Of course you do. There’s you and your board of advisors at the very least. 
There will always be problems, but keep removing the problems. Remove the obstacles, and the vision comes true. 
(If you’re wondering about the picture, yes, we made it across.)

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About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband own a retail liquor store in Alva, Oklahoma, and a small cattle ranch nearby. Becky is an international speaker on small business.

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Comments

  2. I loved this post, thanks so much for sharing!

    However I was curious where the 15% of people are truly goal oriented statistic and research came from?

    Not that I am doubting, I am just hungry for more information on the subject matter!

    Best,

    Brandon

  3. Andy, it’s a bit of relief, isn’t it?

    Brandon, Dr. Jones said he learned it from a coach working with university presidents, though he did not name a specific source.

  4. Great perspective Becky. I was an account manager in telecom sales for 8 years and was successful because I focused on removing the next obstacle to sales. Our sales meetings would always start with goals and objectives, but then we would spend the majority of time figuring out how to remove the obstacles. It worked pretty well in that situation. Thanks.

  6. My approach to obstacles is a little more free-form. I’m a novelist, so my business is all about entertaining my fans. Is this funny? Will that bring us closer? Keeping people engaged in a meaningful way is my bottom line. That may seem overly simplistic, but it works for me.

    This isn’t to say that I don’t pay attention to things like cash flow and cost analysis, I do, but it’s not the focus of my attention. My fans are what keep me grounded. I may come up with ideas for what I believe is a cool experience, but ultimately they will decide if they want to play along and if I get the chance to try again.

    I love having a symbiotic relationship with my fans: we all benefit when I succeed so it’s in all of our interests to make that happen. We’re all invested.

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