On a clear evening this past  January, I celebrated the launch of my speaker business by hosting a networking mixer that emphasized goal achievement.  In a way, it was a whim decision that would allow me to take action on a personal goal of my own: to follow through on the urging of my instinct. In the past I have lost out on many a good idea due to “analysis-paralysis”. If I wasn’t analyzing a matter deeply, then I found myself making a simple idea complex by layering with it so much detail that it would become burdensome. This would in turn lead to procrastination and sometimes feeling a little overwhelmed. Many times it meant that my good ideas were just that…good IDEAS. But not this time. I followed through, finding a venue, meeting with the venue manager, creating a flyer, and posting it on my social media pages, all within 24 hours! 

I was proud of myself for following through, but I would only have  a week to advertise the event, which also meant only a weeks’ notice for people who might be interested in attending the event. As you can imagine, I was a little worried about attendance. Turns out—the attendance was absolutely perfect.

I was joined by a few close friends, relatives, and former colleagues. The fact that all of the people who attended were already goal-getters in their own right was not lost on me.

Upon their arrival, they’d been asked to fill out a name badge and pick a sticker that matched one of four goal categories: Health & Fitness, Business & Career, Finances & Net Worth, or Personal Development. Their tasks for the night were to meet three new people and to seek out attendees who had the same color sticker. After some general mingling, I took a few minutes to discuss my vision and mission, shared how they could help me be successful, and how I could help them be successful at accomplishing their own visions and missions. After that, they settled into smaller groups to discuss their goals in greater detail and were encouraged to exchange contact information to follow up with one another for goal progress reports. I was heartened to see them quickly jump right in, enthusiastically sharing their goals and offering words of support as they listened to other Goal-getters share their aspirations.

At the end of the night I felt more inspired than ever, but I’ll admit, about 45 minutes in, a part of me wanted to be disappointed that the restaurant wasn’t teeming with people buzzing about their goals over a cocktail or beer, or that the waitstaff weren’t running about haggardly because they couldn’t keep up with the unexpected demand. 

Any hint of disappointment quickly dissipated as I listened in to people sharing their goals, their challenges, their work-arounds, and their encouragement. I had actually watched them exchange numbers and make new connections. The satisfaction I experienced in helping make this happen confirmed two things for me. One, I was right to follow through on my instinct. Two, the launch is complete! Next up – new horizons.

What do  you need to launch? What new horizon awaits you? Come share it with me and other goal-getters at the next mixer happening on Thursday, March 21, 2019!