Goal Setting Will Change Your Life!

I recently had lunch with a great friend of mine. I always consider it an honor with someone I care about calls me and asks me to lunch because they respect my opinion. We had some great conversations through the lunch, but one of the great reminders that I received was a good goal setting reminder. It is one of my beliefs that you can’t get somewhere when you don’t know where you are going. I even like to use the example of when you get in your car, how will you get to where you’re going if you don’t have an end goal in mind?

The first step in goal setting is to think of what you want and write it down. It sounds easy, but you would be surprised on how many people have not taken this step. Use this as an exercise to think of as many things that you want, and write them all down.

Let’s do this… I’m going to write a few topics to consider, and I’d like for you to take a few minutes to think about what you want to accomplish in your life.

Do you want to own a home or homes?
Do you want a new car?
Do you want to make a certain amount of money?
Do you want to be worth a certain amount of money?
Do you want to have a family?
Are there certain things that you would like to accomplish with your family?
Is there someplace that you would like to go?
Is there someone that you would like to meet?
Is there a vacation that you’ve always wanted to take?
Have you always wanted a certain type of wardrobe?
Is there a certain job that you’ve always wanted?
Do you want to work with a certain company?
Do you want to own your own business?
Do you want to join a certain social community?
Do you want to make more friends?
Do you want to do more with charity?
Would you like to be more involved in your church or community?

If nothing else, take just one minute and write down one goal today. You’ll be surprised how much it will impact the things that you do.

I know a lot of people that write down daily lists of things to accomplish. This in itself is a list of goals. Think about how much more productive you are when you make a list of things to do as opposed to when you attack a day with no goal in mind. Jim Rohn says, “Don’t start the day before the day is finished. Don’t start the week before the week is finished.” He also says it’s a good idea to plan out your month and year, but of course these are much more difficult. At least have an outline so you can plan out time for your personal and professional life.

This is such a simple thing to do, and yet, many people don’t do it. Why? Because it’s easier NOT to do it! Take a minute and set a few goals for yourself!

Have a Voice to Help Create a Better California!

I just spent the last two days in Sacramento with some partners from Voices for Innovation (www.voicesforinnovation.org) and the MSPAC to talk to some of our key State Senators and Assemblymen.  This was quite an experience for me to get some firsthand knowledge of exactly what goes on at the state capital.  The thing that I walked away most was that these guys are honestly looking for our feedback of what’s going on out in the real world.  That’s not to say that they’ll be able to do anything with it right away (or ever), but they definitely need to hear about anything and everything that affects us personally and professionally.  When they get letters and phone calls, that really alerts them to things that they may want to bring up in a session.

One of the things that I was responsible for delivering the message about was how our Microsoft Partners play such a large role in California.  Here are some stats that I shared with them:

• There are over 19,000 Microsoft Partners in the state of CA
  • These companies employ over  655,000 employees!
• For every $1 of Microsoft licensing that we sell, there is another $8 in partner revenue attached.
  • Microsoft’s revenue is over  $70B.  If you do the math, that’s over half a trillion dollars in revenue for our Partners!

These stats were a big eye opener for many of the people that we spoke with.  The economic impact that the Microsoft ecosystem drives is actually much larger than just Microsoft.  That’s why the Voices for Innovation program is so important.  I highly encourage all Microsoft Partners to get involved and to become a voice back to Sacramento to let these law makers know what is good and bad for your businesses.

One of the Assemblymen brought up some legislation that is starting to circle at the capital right now that would affect many of you.  This legislation is about tax incentives for startups since 2008.  Basically he was telling us that there is a bill that they are trying to put on the table that would go back to companies that used there start up tax incentives since 2008 and take them back.  If you took advantage of any of these tax benefits they would come back to you and tell you that you need to pay back the incentives that they promised you for the last 4 years.  I’m sure you’ll see something from the VFI team on this one, as many of our partners are startups and have taken advantage of these incentives.

Another thing that was a hot topic was education.  Right now the tech industry is creating over 120k jobs per year, and the colleges/universities are only producing around 40k computer science graduates to fill these jobs.  This is a huge shortage.  We would love to get your support in letting these Senators and Assemblymen know that this shortage is not just for Microsoft, but it also affects your company as a Microsoft Partner.

The other side of course is that they really need to engage with the people in their district.  Since they are elected officials, they really need people to know who they are and what they stand for.  They’re looking for good ways to engage in the local community.  This is a great way for us (Microsoft and our Partners) to engage in some of our philanthropic efforts.  I’ve already started the process of engaging a new member of the Assembly with the President and Philanthropic Chairman of the IAMCP in SoCal.

You, as a Microsoft Partner, are so important to our local economy and to Microsoft.  I hope that you will consider joining Voices for Innovation and helping us to create a better California!