Daily Quote: “Champions know that success is inevitable; that there is no such thing as failure, only feedback. They know that the best way to forecast the future is to create it.” Michael J. Gelb
In the business environment market research is used to determine what products might be useful for the target market and which ones could be profitable and popular. In our lives we seldom do any market research. We decide on a goal and just go for it.
Use feedback like market research. There are several ways of going about it. You can ask around for feedback on an idea you have and build your goal around the answers you receive. For instance you might want to start a new hobby and think that playing a musical instrument could be fun.
However, you have no idea what kind of instrument would appeal to you. So you ask around a bit. You talk to music teachers and find out what kind of lessons are available in your town. You don’t want to go to the expense of buying a tuba if there is nobody far and wide who can teach you.
Then you have a look and see whether the instrument you have chosen is easily available. Or if you want to learn to play a piano, will the instrument fit into your home? Have you got space for it and can it fit through the front door? Then you might need to see how noisy the instrument is. If it’s too loud your neighbours might not approve.
Many questions later you might find that you can’t actually learn an instrument because you live in the wrong area and have no teachers near you never mind that you can’t afford the instrument or the lessons if you could get to those. You might want to reconsider your hobby and take up painting instead.
Do your market research, ask your questions, get feedback. This doesn’t only apply for when you start on a new goal. This could be all along the route you are taking. Get feedback to help you along your journey.
If you are entering a new degree programme you might want to ask your professor whether your project work and assignments are good enough. If not what else could you do to improve on them. Maybe you even need to change subjects.
Use the feedback you ask for to help plan your route and get your directions. You will want to ensure that you are on the right path. One of the easiest ways of doing this is to ask for directions.
Amongst the people you might want to ask could be fellow travelers. These could be co-students for your degree programme or team members in a sport club or fellow runners if you are attempting your first marathon.
It might be people at work when you start a new job or are promoted to a management position. Asking your co-workers as to how you are managing the transition could give you invaluable feedback and excellent directions on how to approach your job.
As long as you view the feedback as positive guides and see them as offers of help you will be able to make use of this to help smooth your path and find your goals with less effort and possibly even with greater happiness.
