Reply to bigalnews@fortunenow.com
Subject: The Goal Report You Requested

Thank you for becoming a reader of the free Big Al
Recruiting Newsletter. Here is the special report on
'Setting Goals Is Easy - Achieving Goals Is Difficult.'
Enjoy.
Tom 'Big Al' Schreiter
http://www.fortunenow.com
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

'SETTING GOALS IS EASY. ACHIEVING GOALS IS DIFFICULT.'
Dear Fortune-Building Friend and Subscriber,
You've heard the gurus, the so-called experts, the trainers and
the local big mouth after six beers. They all say the same
thing:
'You gotta set goals. That's the key to success.'
Right. Sure.
If setting goals is the key to success, then we'd all be super-
successful now, right?
Well, we AREN'T.
You see, it's easy to set goals. Every year we set goals for the
new year:
to earn more money
to exercise
to lose weight
to be more loving
to win the local tennis tournament
to wake up an hour earlier
to sponsor more people
to spend more time with the kids .
. .

Hey wait! These are just a list of some of my goals that I
didn't achieve.
And that's the story of our lives. We all set goals. That's
easy. That's no problem.

The PROBLEM is that we seldom ACHIEVE these goals.
Does this sound like you? Like your downline? Like your
prospects?
I bet it does. Because failing to achieve our carefully planned
goals is just human. We mean well, but we consistently
under achieve our goals.

y is this?
I think that we secretly make a list of all of our shortcomings
and then set goals to fix them. Unfortunately, there is a reason
we have shortcomings in our lives.
WE HAVE SHORTCOMINGS BECAUSE THOSE THINGS ARE HARD FOR US TO DO!
I'll give you an example.

I'm fat because I love watching The Travel Channel on cable
television much more than I like to exercise. For me the choice
is easy.
Sit in a relaxing chair, eat popcorn and chocolate ice cream,
and enjoy viewing shows about travel and far-off cultures. Or, I
could change clothes, drive to a local gym, sweat, strain, and
work myself to a painful exhaustion while achieving nothing more
than moving iron upwards and downwards in space. Then return
home an hour or two later and be too tired to watch the Travel
Channel.

However, my good friend, Tom Paredes, looks at things quite
differently. He is full of energy. He can't sit still. And he
loves to go to the gym and work out. It would be a painful
penance to force him to view the Travel Channel for hours every
evening.

For either of us to CHANGE, we would have to set a goal. And
this goal would be DIFFICULT for us because it is not what we
like to do.

SO, WHAT DO WE DO?
I'm not going to waste our time here talking about setting
goals. That's the easy part. We all have plenty of experience
SETTING goals.

Instead, let's concentrate on ACHIEVING goals.
Wouldn't it be nice to consistently achieve goals? Or wouldn't
it be nice to help our downlines to consistently achieve goals?
Sure it would, but the solution has to be simple.
Because if we have to follow multi-step, complex formulas, then
we would have plenty of time to fail. We need a solution that's
quick, easy to implement, and will work.

SO FIRST WE'LL NEED A GUINEA PIG.
Every experiment needs a test subject. I tried to get Art Jonak
or Craig Tucker again, but they are wise to my volunteer work
schemes. So that leaves me . . . and you.

You and I are going to set a tough goal, something near
IMPOSSIBLE. And, we're going to try just ONE simple method to
achieve that goal. Remember, we want to learn a goal-achieving
technique that's simple and easy to use. That's the kind of tool
that works in the real world. Let's start with me.
I'M GOING TO PICK A NEAR-IMPOSSIBLE GOAL THAT HAS ELUDED ME FOR YEARS.
Now I don't usually have a lot of trouble with setting and
achieving goals. A lot of my friends say:
'Tom, you just decide something and go do it. It's not that way
for us. We can't just decide and go out and achieve something.'
Well, this is only partially true. I decide to do some things
that are easy for me, like sponsoring some more people, standing
in front of a group, starting a business. I can do these things
because they are EASY FOR ME.

Like my friends, I just can't decide and do things that are NOT
EASY FOR ME. For example, here are some things that would be
extremely difficult for me to do:
* Car mechanics
* Exercise
* Standing on a mosquito-infested riverbank and waiting for fish
to bite
* Enjoying social chit-chat at social hours
* Shopping
* Watching ballet
* Spending time on the telephone
* Watching Jerry Springer on television
* Sky diving

We all have some strong skills and weak skills. Your downline
may be weak in sponsoring because they despise rejection.
However, they may have strong dedication skills and show up at
every meeting - unfortunately, without guests.

Since I have to pick a near-impossible goal, I'll ask the
resident authority in my household, my wife, Susan. I'll let her
pick my challenge for this test.
And what did Susan pick?
A DIET.
A diet?

Now I've gone alligator hunting in the Amazon at night with only
a small boat and my bare hands. No problem.
I've piloted small airplanes in blizzards. No problem.
I've even survived questionable Mexican food in Matamoros,
Mexico. Only a temporary problem.
But dieting?
I don't know how to lose weight. I only know how to gain weight.
So I asked Susan for an easier near-impossible goal. But the
answer was, 'No.'

SO HOW FAT AM I?
I don't consider myself fat . . . just undertall for my weight.
And it's not a fat waistline, but an underdeveloped stomach
bicep.
I'm in shape, really. After all, round is a shape. But I guess I
should have taken notice when the local supermarket offered to
build a chain of stores around me.
Okay, okay. I'm 179 pounds of out-of-shape lard. I've never met
a meal I didn't like. I've steadily increased in weight every
year of my life. I don't believe in going backwards.

My wife, Susan, insists that if I can talk about motivation and
goals, then I should DO IT. She hates consultants and trainers
who just TALK about what to do, but never do it themselves.
So the challenge is on.

Susan insists that I set and achieve a goal weight of 150
POUNDS. That's a total weight loss of 29 pounds of precious,
paid-for body fat. And I have only 90 days to achieve that goal.
THAT MEANS I MUST WEIGH 150 POUNDS BY DECEMBER 31, 1999!
Yikes!
This is definitely a near-impossible goal. Because just like
you, I have many reasons why I shouldn't attempt to achieve this
goal.
HERE COME MY EXCUSES.

FIRST, I have to spend 12 days in October in Italy on a food
tasting tour with some network marketing leaders. This will be a
weight gaining trip, not a weight loss trip.
SECOND, I'll be spending the last week of October and the first
week of November in Australia with my good friend, Mark Davis.
We're going to see my hero, the Crocodile Hunter. He's based
near Brisbane, Australia. It's hard to diet when you're
traveling, right?
THIRD, from November 12 to November 29 I'll be vacationing on a
cruise ship in the Southern Caribbean. Maybe I'll see a few of
you there. You can find me by the 24-hour ice cream machine on
Lido Deck. Anyway, five gourmet meals a day certainly won't help
my weight loss.
FOURTH, when I return from the cruise, our family will have to
celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas. And think of all the
chocolate candies during the Christmas season. Wow!
FIFTH, exercise is hard since I had that double shoulder
operation. I know it has been over seven years ago, but it still
hasn't fully healed.
SIXTH, I'll probably sneak in at least one visit to my Mom for
some of her awesome homemade chocolate chip cookies.

THIS WEIGHT-LOSS GOAL ISN'T NEAR-IMPOSSIBLE.
IT'S IMPOSSIBLE!
Unless I'm motivated, really motivated.
And that's the key to achieving goals, finding the right
motivation. WITHOUT motivation, we simply waste time drawing
graphs, putting up pictures of things we'll never achieve,
reading more books, breaking more promises . . . well, you get
the picture, right?
MOTIVATIONAL TECHNIQUES TO THE NEAR-RESCUE.
Well, let's pick a few motivational techniques to help me do the
near-impossible feat of losing weight. Because if I can lose
weight, YOU CAN DO ALMOST ANYTHING!

First, let's remember that losing weight is only a goal. Sure we
can put a time limit on this goal, make it specific, devise
little subgoals, and do all the stuff that . . . DOESN'T WORK IN
THE REAL WORLD. After all, you've set plenty of goals that
you've never achieved, haven't you?
Setting the goal is no big deal. Anyone can do that. What we
need to do now is to find out ways to ACHIEVE that goal.
Everyone has a preferred way to get himself motivated. I'm sure
there is no one right way for everyone.
Here are some common motivational techniques that I could use to
achieve my weight loss.

1. Attitude motivation. Yes, I could listen to motivational
tapes and read motivational books. Maybe I could add some
subliminal recordings too. Actually, I've tried these things,
but they only make me hungry. And what if I fail? That would
mean that I have a bad attitude. Definitely not good for my
self-image.
2. Change my self-image. This is powerful, but is much easier to
talk about than to do. Usually this takes a lot of time and
effort. This will be much too complicated for most of us as
we're conditioned to want results right away. Anyway, I don't
have time to gradually change my self-image. I only have 90
days.
3. Fake enthusiasm. You know what I'm talking about. Jumping off
chairs, cheering, stupid smile, and becoming hyperactive.
Usually this is done to impress others, but there is no real
change in the person.
4. Place a picture of a thin person on the wall. You've heard
about this one too. Just place a picture of your goal where
you'll see it every day. This is kind of nice. It reminds us
daily about our goal, but doesn't give us the emotional
determination to actually achieve the goal.
5. Meditate and visualize thinness. I've tried this. All I see
in my visualization is Thin Mints, extra-thin crepes with
whipped cream, long thin strings of chocolate toffee candy, etc.

LOGIC VERSUS EMOTION.
You've heard me talk about this on my 'Live In London'
recruiting workshop tapes. We know that logic is nice, but
emotion is what drives us as humans. If we're going to change,
if we're going to get motivated, we need emotional reasons.
If you look at the list of motivational techniques we've
discussed so far, none of them seem to give us a deep,
passionate emotional drive. That's why they WON'T work. We need
a highly emotional reason to achieve our goal. Then, our goal
will be easy to achieve, even if it is an almost-impossible
goal.

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN.
Before I show you how to create a highly emotional reason that
will catapult you to achieving your goals, you have to pick a
goal too.
Here is your chance.
Pick an almost-impossible goal that you'd like to achieve. It
doesn't have to be as hard as losing 29 pounds, but stretch your
horizons. Pick something you'd really like to achieve.
Can't think of anything? Here are some ideas to jump-start your
thinking:

* Personally sponsor 10 new distributors this month.
* Help your newest distributor reach manager level in just seven
days.
* Qualify for your company's car program in just 14 days.
* Wake up every morning two hours earlier.
* Don't fight with your spouse for 30 consecutive days.
* Walk two miles during lunch every day.
* Discontinue the daily newspaper and turn off television for 60
days.
* Risk rejection by prospecting 10 strangers a day.
* Read a motivational or self-help book 30 minutes every
morning.
* Reach Grand Puba rank in your compensation plan.

Got any ideas yet?
Before we go on, take a moment now to pick your near-impossible
goal. Remember, you're part of this case study too.
DON'T CHEAT YOURSELF. Don't continue reading on until you've
chosen that ultimate goal you'd like to achieve.
Write it down now.
My ultimate goal is: ______________________________________
___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
Okay, have you written in your goal? I hope so. Because if you
didn't, you're only cheating yourself.
LET'S GET MOTIVATED - EMOTIONALLY.
I'm going to share with you a terrific way to get emotionally
charged to achieve your goal. Now, it's not elegant, it's not
pretty. In fact, some people might call it crude.
But it works!
And it works where it counts - in the real world.
Elegant, neat, pretty theories and 17-step formulas look great
in books, but they don't work when you're really challenged. And
you're really challenged, right? I'm sure you didn't pick an
easy goal.

There are really TWO FACTORS here in the technique I'm going to
share with you. And please remember, this is only one technique.
There are many other less effective techniques that we've talked
about that you could also use (if you wanted to go the slow way
to achievement).
But we're only going to choose one technique, right? So the
technique that I'm going to use to reach my goal is . . .
BLACKMAIL!

Yes, that's right. Blackmail.
If you've read my book, 'Big Al Tells All: Sponsoring Magic,'
you know that the FEAR OF LOSS is always GREATER than the DESIRE
FOR GAIN.
For example, we are extremely motivated not to pay a speeding
ticket. Maybe we'll take a half-day off work, hire a lawyer,
drive down to the county courthouse, and we'll fight the
judicial system to save the $100 fine.
Yet, we won't spend an extra hour on the telephone prospecting
for new distributors, even though that extra hour could earn us
hundreds of extra dollars.
FEAR OF LOSS IS ALWAYS GREATER THAN THE DESIRE FOR GAIN.

So, if I'm going to get motivated to the maximum, if I'm going
to overcome my exercise aversion, and if I'm going to reduce my
chocolate intake by a pound or two a week, then I'll have to use
the fear of loss motivation tool.

Here is how it works.
I'll have to pick a PENALTY if I don't achieve my goal. And this
PENALTY must create a terrific emotional pain in my life.
So let's go. Let's pick the penalty that is so painful that I'll
be sure to reach my goal. Here are some ideas.
If I don't reach my goal of losing 29 pounds:

* I have to go and socialize at my worthless cousin's New Year's
party. (I hate to socialize. I hate my worthless cousin. But I
could suffer for a few hours.)
* I have to personally paint the house. (This is a big job. I
would hate it. But it's not painful enough to give up
chocolate.)
* I have to go shopping with my wife for seven consecutive days.
(Oooh. This one really hurts. However, I guess I could read a
book while waiting for her to browse through merchandise.)
* I have to eat eggplant and broccoli everyday. (Yuck!
Disgusting stuff. But maybe if I closed my eyes and quickly
swallowed I could get through this ordeal.)

What's happening here?
None of these penalties are big enough or severe enough to get
me motivated to lose weight now.
I NEED A BIGGER PENALTY.
If the penalty isn't big enough, this technique won't work. It
has to be a big, big penalty.
So what would be the most evil, distasteful, disgusting,
wretched penalty I could think of? What penalty would be so
terrible to me that I would start losing weight immediately? So
terrible that I would even lose weight while on a cruise ship?
What penalty could be that bad?

THAT I WOULD HAVE TO DONATE $1,000 TO THE BILL CLINTON LEGAL
DEFENSE FUND!
Ooooooooh! Now that's bad.
That is so bad that I just lost my appetite!
I can't think of anything worse than donating 1,000 after-tax
dollars to a politician's lawyer. I don't care that much for
lawyers either. And the Defense Fund is to defend a politician
for having sex with subordinates!
To donate $1,000 to the Bill Clinton Legal Defense Fund would
just about kill me. This is truly BLACKMAIL of the lowest kind.
And it will WORK!

You can bet that I'll make sure that I weigh 150 pounds or less
by December 31, 1999. Because if I don't . . . well, there is NO
'if I don't' - it just won't happen!
AND NOTHING WILL THROW ME OFF COURSE.
If my Democratic party friends offer me free chocolate, my
emotional feeling towards my penalty will make me say:
'No thanks. I don't have an appetite right now. In fact, I'm
feeling a bit queasy.'
If I'm sitting by the 24-hour ice cream machine on the cruise
ship, I'll be thinking:
'No way! 1,000 hard-earned after-tax dollars so he can fool
around? No way! No way! No way!'

AND NOW IT'S YOUR TURN!
This is a GROUP project. You know my goal. You know my penalty
if I don't reach my goal.
You know your goal. You've already written it down.
What you have to do now is to choose a suitable, disgusting,
outrageous penalty that has some strong emotional issues tied to
it. You want a penalty that makes you almost sick and nauseous
just thinking about it.
Now what could that penalty be? Here's your chance to write it
down.
My penalty for not reaching my goal is: ___________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
Okay, have you written in your penalty? I hope so. Because if
you didn't, you're only CHEATING YOURSELF.
You should be feeling pretty emotionally motivated about now,
right? If you don't, go back and choose a more severe penalty.

BUT WHAT'S THE SECOND FACTOR?
Remember earlier when I mentioned that there were TWO FACTORS to
make this technique work?
Well, the FIRST factor was choosing an appropriate emotional
penalty.
The SECOND factor is to announce your goal and penalty . . .
PUBLICLY!
That's right. We would easily weasel out of our goals if no one
knew about them. And we want the emotional support of our
friends and non-friends who will taunt us and challenge us to
reach our goals.

Can you see this happening?
'Hey chubby! Have some more ice cream. Bill's lawyer needs a new
swimming pool!'
Our friends and non-friends will go out of their way to
constantly remind us and motivate us to achieve our goals. Isn't
that nice of them?
So announce your goal and penalty to the world!
The more you announce your goal and penalty, the more committed
you'll become. And to avoid personal embarrassment and the
dreaded penalty, you won't let anything get in your way.
That's it. The rest is up to you.

Remember, anyone can set goals -- that's the easy part. But you,
a highly-qualified 'Fortune Now' subscriber, will actually be
ACHIEVING goals. You'll be the envy of your peers, friends, and
even your non-friends.
So go out and achieve!

- Tom 'Big Al' Schreiter
P.S. Get my "Four Strange Insights" by going to:
http://fortunenownewsletter.com/
Tom 'Big Al' Schreiter
Fortune Network Publishing
PO Box 890084
Houston, TX 77289 USA
Phone: (281) 280-9800
http://www.fortunenow.com
bigalnews@fortunenow.com