2nd Half with a ‘Slight Edge’
Obviously as a coach and trainer, I’m a huge fan and proponent of written goals, road maps, assessment tools, and progress reports. Over the years I’ve referenced many times a ’study’ that both Zig Ziglar as well as Tony Robbins have used regarding a study at Yale (according to Robbins) and Harvard (according to Ziglar) regarding how the financial worth of 3% of graduates who had clear written goals were greater than the combined 97% of graduates who did NOT have written goals.
Well, turns out this study is an urban legend according to multiple sources I just found in a google search. I did however find an article supporting goal setting conducted at Dominican University. Okay, maybe at some point we’ll discover that even this study is bogus, but if someone is going to go to the trouble of writing a fictional article about the credibility of a fictional study, more power to them! Here’s the article: Goal Setting pdf.
The study done by Domincan University shows that people with written goals and progress reports didn’t have a ridiculous advantage over those who didn’t, but rather, that they had a Slight Edge . And according to Slight Edge Theory, it’s this small advantage accumulated over time that makes all the difference in our health, wealth, relationships, and significance. So in my opinion, the Dominican survey is more POWERFUL than the Yale/Harvard story. Begin your 2nd half of the year with some written goals. Finish your year with a slight edge !
