Review: `A goal is a dream with a timeline.'
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 21, 2014
South African Eddie De Jong is a born teacher/trainer. He worked for years as a corporate Technical Manager before opening a training school emphasizing Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office and it was in that role that he caught the bug for one-on-one training that eventually developed into his successful series of books on the various aspects of Excel. Bitten by the written word he now writes novels as well as training manuals for personal development.In GOAL SETTNG FOR SUCCESS (Book 1 in his Personal Devlopment series) he keeps the written portion short (though the thought aspect lingers for a long time). He opens his book with some success stories of very famous people who started with little and became notable: Lincoln, Einstein, Disney, Cher etc. and from there he addresses the importance of following dreams and setting goals to achieve those dreams. He divides his book into sections: Life Areas, Goal Requirements, Write your Goal(s) Down, Questions to help you set goals, Questions to help you achieve goals, Pleasure and Pain, and S*** happens. Each section is explored with excellent examples of the point being made.By the end of the book de Jong summarizes his teaching as follows: Decide for which area of your life you want to set a goal, Brainstorm and design your goal to meet all the requirements of a well-structured goal, Make sure your goal inspires you, Write your goal down, Read your goal every day - use emotion and be inspired!, Break your goal down into smaller chunks, or milestones with timelines, Monitor your milestones, Celebrate when you reach your milestones, Take the actions required to get the job done, Don't take on more than what you can comfortably handle, When s*** happens (and it will), first get your life back on track.You may have read all of this before, but it is the manner in which de Jong infuses energy and spirit into the process that makes it count! Grady Harp, June 14