Goals, Plans, and Agenda – The How, What, and Why of The Things We Do

We all have goals. A good goal is measurable and focused. Like; I will make five blog post this week. Or, I will make twenty calls this week. Or, I will exercise each day for thirty minutes each morning at 6am this week.

Plans are broad goals. Like; I will exercise more this week. I will post more this week to my blog.

Agendas are even broader reasons for doing something. They’re not a goals or plans but they are the “why”. Like; I am blog posting to help people learn and save people time and money and possibly sell something in the future. I’m exercising to help me look good and be healthy, feel better, think clearer, and be more energized. So I am around longer on this planet. Those are agendas.

I’ve started a Mastermind Group and we’ve been focusing down to our goals and plans for the week. It starts to sound cold and calculated because we are not backing up and talking about the big picture, our agenda.

Today one of our masterminers as I call them, called us out. He said I hear a lot about doing things for building an audience and ways to make money but I am not hearing about the bigger picture stuff. He went on to say his wife was working on her business and looking for ways to market and sell but it was a lot of chasing the dollar. What worked was getting back to helping people and solving problems and the marketing became secondary. He told us he wasn’t hearing what our primary agenda was and this is why he joined the group.

There is a famous TED talk about the Golden Circle by Simon Sinek. If you never scene it take a look. great stuff! In the talk he draws a target and labels the bulls eye with the word “WHY”. What he is talking about is the agenda, the why is your agenda. His main point is that people don’t care about the “how” and the “what” if they don’t know the “why”.

It’s the way the brain works. Our limbic system of the brain controls behavior. It doesn’t think in words, facts and figures just emotions. People need to buy in to why you are doing something to care about what your doing.

Plans are the “what” we do. Goals are the “how” we do it. But, our agenda is the “why” we do it.

To keep people engaged and interested in any project don’t forget to reiterate your why.

If your why is just money your not keyed into providing value. The money is the product of good business, never the agenda. All business is first and foremost solving a problem. In fitness, for example, I would guess that it’s getting people fit, healthy and active and solving the problems of weight based illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

We all have our calling, our reason to pick one business over another. Our agenda ultimately is to help people and give them more value than they can possibly pay us. This added value is our gift. I speak for us all when I say we are all in business serve and help those we come in contact with. That is our “why”, no hidden agenda, that’s our agenda.

-John David Tupper

Comment below if this made you think about something. Thanks for reading!