Setting A 500 Year
Goal
--Leaders have a plan for 25, 50, 100, and
even 500 years
My mentor once asked me for my life plan. I
didn't have one. He made me go home and not come
back to work until I had my plan down on paper.
After a few days I returned to work and
handed him several pages. He asked me why my life
plan only went 50 years? (At the time I was 27 and
I figured that was a pretty good life plan.) He
said, "Don't you get anything?"
I was thoroughly confused. He asked, "Why set
goals that last only as long as the body?"
He said, "Don't you realize you are a
spiritual being who HAS a body? And, if that's
true, why not set 500 year goals for what will be
going on in the world as a result of when you had
a body."
"At the least," he continued, "set 100 years
goals, figuring that you will leave a wake on this
company, your family, your community and your
church much like a boat leaves a wake behind in
the water when it passes."
How big a game do you want to play? You can
be average, like most people, and not even set
goals at all, or at best have New Year's
resolutions.
You can set yourself apart by having a plan
that lasts as long as your think your body will.
Or you can be a visionary and play a really big
game. It's your choice.
Do you have the courage to take one hour this
week and set a 500-year goal, a couple 300-year
goals, a handful of 100-year goals, and a few more
50-year goals?
Don't be afraid. You can change them. In
fact, you most likely will. The biggest benefit
you'll get is that you are now beginning to take a
very long view of your life on earth instead of
being myopic and limiting your contribution.
TAKEAWAY!
Look for the long view. Ask yourself, "Will
this really matter five years from now? Knowing
your purpose is a longer view than simply having a
goal.
Action Step #1
Write a page on what you want to be
remembered for seven generations from now.
Action Step #2
Write three: 500-year goals, 100-year
goals, 50-year goals, 25-year goals, 5-year
goals, and 1-year goals.
An Example
There was a well-known study of the Harvard
University class of '53. In this study, the
researchers revealed that only 10 percent of the
students had established any goals at all, and
that only three percent of the men and women in
that class had written their goals down on paper.
Twenty years later, the researchers again
interviewed those very same former class members.
They were involved in their careers and had
families now.
The three percent who two decades earlier had
written down their goals were now worth more in
economic terms than the entire remaining 97
percent of the class combined!
Of course financial success isn't everything,
but this study clearly shows the results of
writing down your goals.
Now, imagine the results you'll achieve
by writing down your goals for 25, 50, 100, even
500 years!
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