In 2014, Matthew McConaughey gave his Best Actor speech for the Dallas Buyers Club. Below is an excerpt I have listened to hundreds of times over the past few years:

“And to my hero. That’s who I chase. Now when I was 15 years old, I had a very important person in my life come to me and say “who’s your hero?” And I said, “I don’t know, I gotta think about that. Give me a couple of weeks.” I come back two weeks later, this person comes up and says “who’s your hero?” I said, “I thought about it. You know who it is? It’s me in 10 years.” So I turned 25. Ten years later, that same person comes to me and says, “So, are you a hero?” And I was like, “not even close. No, no, no.” She said, “Why?” I said, “Because my hero’s me at 35.” So you see every day, every week, every month and every year of my life, my hero’s always 10 years away. I’m never gonna be my hero. I’m not gonna attain that. I know I’m not, and that’s just fine with me because that keeps me with somebody to keep on chasing.”

Reread those last few words, “I’m never gonna be my hero. I’m not gonna attain that. I know I’m not, and that’s just fine with me because that keeps me with somebody to keep on chasing.” I am obsessed with this idea. Any entrepreneur would probably say the same thing.

About 3 years ago – before we bought the EBD – the management team came to our house and I shared with them my vision for a goal wall. I didn’t only want the EBD to be a place our staff liked working at, I wanted our staff to be challenging themselves outside of work. To me, this was going to help develop our community. This was the dream I wanted to chase.

Enter the Goal Wall.

At the beginning of their employment with us, all new employees are asked to write down (many times, reluctantly) a goal. I have heard every excuse in the book as to why someone doesn’t want to commit to a goal and, to be fair, I can understand their apprehension. Many times employers ask employees to come up with goals, or something similar, so they can check off a box for HR.

Well, we don’t. We don’t just require a goal because it’s a cool shtick for the EBD. We don’t do it because it will automatically make everyone successful.

We do it because it’s our duty as an employer to discover the staff’s talents and encourage them to utilize their talents in ways that positively benefit our community. *Chasing that dream* And by having our staff set small, manageable goals, we can get on track to hit those larger life goals. The good news? It’s working!

There have been some LIFE CHANGING things happening at the EBD over the last few years because of the Goal Wall. People have quit smoking, opening a bakery, increased their savings, bought cars, lost weight, found new careers, just to name a few.

This isn’t just for our crew, this is for you too. If you have something on your mind, something you want to accomplish, e-mail us or give us a call and we’ll write it on the wall for you. We’ll even send you a picture of where we wrote it! Or, ask me for a chalk marker the next time you visit, and write your goal on the wall. Remember, the dream were chasing is to develop our community… That doesn’t just end with our staff at the EBD.

Here’s a couple things to help you get started:

* make it measurable

* make it manageable and timely (4-6 months)

I’ll leave you with this:

Goals breed focus. Focus breeds success. Success breeds accomplishment. Accomplishment makes us yearn for new goals. When we set goals, we’re focused on an outcome. Help us continue to develop our community.

Next month we’re going to dig into how important it is to give ourselves the opportunity to “choke”.

Matt Lamos