Same goal, third year running. Written on the whiteboard, underlined twice for commitment.
Still hasn't happened.
At this point it's easy to blame motivation, discipline, whatever's convenient. The real problem is simpler: you skipped the one step that's mildly uncomfortable and jumped straight to deciding what to do about a situation you never actually looked at honestly.
This week's idea: the GROW Model
Credit where it's due - this comes from Sir John Whitmore, one of the founding figures of executive coaching. It's a four-question check for anyone who's set a goal and then wondered why it never quite arrived.
Goal - what do you actually want? Not the vague version. The specific one.
Reality - where are you actually standing right now, no spin? This is the step most people skip, because it means admitting things aren't as under control as the whiteboard suggests.
Options - given where you honestly are, what are your real paths forward? Not just the one you already like. All of them.
Way Forward - which one are you actually doing, and what does that look like this week?
Skip Reality, and your Goal is just a nice thought. Skip Options, and your Way Forward is a guess dressed up as a plan.
Proof from the field
A client of mine had "double revenue" as his goal three years running - same words, different sticky note each January. When we finally worked through Reality properly, it turned out he'd never once asked why the previous year had stalled. He was the bottleneck on every big sale himself. Once that was out in the open, the Options conversation actually had something to work with. Revenue didn't double that year. But for the first time in three years, it moved.
The blunt take
Most business owners don't have a motivation problem. They have a "won't sit still long enough to be honest with myself" problem. Skipping Reality doesn't make you more decisive. It just means you fail faster, with more confidence.
This Week's Challenge:
Take one goal you've been quietly avoiding progress on. Before you touch it again, write down your Reality - the actual, unflattering truth of where things stand. Not the version you'd give a customer who asked how business is going.