**Whether you are a businessman, entrepreneur or working professional the following given “Arrow Model” will help you in building a successful framework to take your business or profession to the next level.** **What is Arrow Model?** **A** – Aim **R** – Reality  **R** – Reflection **O** – Options **W** – Way Forward **The following steps under “Arrow Model” will help you make your framework to achieve all your goals.**  **Identify Your Role Model** **Whenever a person wants to start anything new and wants to do it successfully, he has to ask himself two questions:**  ► Who is No. 1 in his industry?  ► How can he become better than him?  Every individual, whether he is an entrepreneur or an organizational leader, needs to have an aspiration of becoming like someone. You have to identify who you would like to become.  ► Identify a person who is the best in your industry ► Study about his habits and qualities  ► List out specific qualities that have inspired you the most ► Identify about your current lifestyle, for example, what is that he is doing and you are not doing, etc. # **Identify your Goal** Once you’ve recognized your role model, it is time to identify your specific short term and long term goal. While forming your goal you have to make sure that your goals are clear and reachable, remember to make it **SMART**, i.e.:  **S**pecific | **M**easurable | **A**chievable | **R**elevant | **T**ime Bound ► **Specific:** Your goal should be clear and specific, otherwise you won't be able to focus on your efforts.  ► **Measurable:** It's important to have measurable goals so that you can track your progress and stay motivated.  ► **Achievable:** Your goal also needs to be realistic and attainable to be successful. In other words, it should stretch your abilities but still remain possible.  ► **Relevant:** This step is about ensuring that your goal matters to you and that it also aligns with other relevant goals.  ► **Time Bound:** Every goal needs a target date so that you have a deadline to focus on and something to work towards. This part of the SMART goal criteria helps to prevent everyday tasks from taking priority over your longer-term goals. # **Gain the Required Skills** Do you need advanced training to gain essential skills to be able to achieve your goal? How long will it take you to acquire these skills?  In order to achieve your goal, you need to gain the required skills which may be your short term goal as getting additional training or experience.  It's important to give yourself a realistic time frame for accomplishing the smaller goals that are necessary to achieving your final objective. # **Identify Your Milestones** Once you’ve decided your goal, it becomes fundamental to define your “Milestones”. These “Milestones are your Measures of Success”.  Measures of Success are the “landmarks” that will tell you whether you are going in the right direction at the right speed or not.  It is like when you go on a highway, you see the milestones on the roadside that tells you the distance left to reach your destination.  ► Identify your milestones that you like to put as a measure of success that you are going in the right direction at the right speed.  ► These milestones will keep telling you about the status of your goal achieved so far. # **Identify Your Current Reality**  Just like “Aim” helps you in identifying where do you want to go; “Reality” helps you in knowing where you are at the moment.  ► Identify your current reality with respect to your goal statement.  ► You will have to give the same measurement to your current reality to know where you are at the moment.  ► Be descriptive in stating where you are right now in terms of distance from your goal. # **Make Your Own DILO** Make your DILO (Day – In – Life – Of).  A DILO is a minute by minute review of each and every activity performed by an individual. This is a superb exercise to help you identify the types, quantity and causes of your own non-value adding activities.  ► It will help you identify operational issues, their root causes, and their impact. ► Mark the activities that you feel are non-value adding and are negatively hampering your productivity.  It is important to identify them now because it will help you create a robust action plan for yourself. # **Identify your Signature Strengths**  While it is important to identify your mistakes and gaps in the process, it is equally important to know your strengths.  ► Knowing about your strengths will give you confidence and inspire you to go an extra mile.  ► Figure out your signature strengths that can contribute to achieving your goal. ► It will help your hidden potential come out in the most productive manner. This will help you create a robust action plan because these are those strengths that you possess but you haven’t used ever. In the above Part of our ARROW Model of Coaching, we learned about the first two aspects of ARROW. In the Part-II, we will learn the next three aspects of ARROW Model. These two assignments will help you in forming your complete Business, Professional, Entrepreneurial and Leadership Development Plan. To recall, **ARROW** stands for **A** – Aim **R** – Reality  **R** – Reflection **O** – Options **W** – Way Forward We have already covered A (Aim) and R (Reality) in the previous assignment. This assignment focuses on R (Reflection), O (Options) and W (Way Forward) # **Three Fundamental Questions** The entire ARROW Model is based on three fundamental questions: 1) Where are you now? (Reality) 2) Where do you want to go? (Aim) 3) How will you reach there? (Reflect – Look for Options – Create a Way Forward) We have already covered the first two fundamental questions in the first assignment. So, let’s answer the third fundamental question.  The third question has three components, viz., Reflect, Look for Options and Create a Way Forward. ### **R-Reflection** Reflection questions are purpose based questions. >_Nobody in the history has ever created a history for a salary hike_.  Whenever you want to start anything big you need motivation. Identifying the purpose behind the goal gives motivation.  Hence, it is important to first know the ‘WHY’ behind the goal.  Examples like Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and Abraham Lincoln – they all created history because they all had a purpose and hence were motivated towards their respective cause.  # **A) Identifying the “Why” Behind Your Goal** Entrepreneurs and organization leaders like you also can create a history when you are able to identify the purposeful “Why” behind your goal. Once the purpose is defined, it is now time to think and write the benefits that you will get if you are able to achieve your goal.  For example if you want to reduce weight, and you are able to reduce 25-kg, think about all those benefits that you will get. After the benefits, it is important to also think and note the consequences that you may face if you dot achieve your goal.  For example if your weight increases 25-kg instead of reducing, what will happen.  When you do a comparative analysis of benefits and consequences, it will help you do a cost benefit analysis and will result in increased motivation and confidence. **B) How to Find the Importance of a Goal to You?** Lot of times after doing efforts we realize that the goal on which we are working was not important, so as a natural self you will not put so many efforts. You will end up doing a theoretical assessment.  If you want to genuinely achieve something, then analyze how important this goal is to you. Rate yourself on a scale of 1 – 10. ► Rating (1-3): The Goal is Not Important ► Rating (8-10): The Goal is Extremely Important  ► Rating (10 Out of 10): The Goal is Sancrosanct **O- Options** After doing reflective thinking, it is now time to move to various options that one may implement.  **A) Creating a Laundry List** Think and create a laundry list of various ideas that you may want to implement.  For example, you want to lose weight, write down all possible things that you can do to lose weight.  You might apply just two or three, but here you will have to write all possible ideas that can help you achieve this goal of yours. **B) Identify Top 5 Key Drivers** First, write all possible ideas that can help you achieve this goal of yours. All the ideas that you’ve listed above will not be worth implementing. Think of top 5 key drivers that can actually help you achieve your goal. **C) Getting Rid of Average Mentality** While achieving big goals, sometimes we display an average mentality towards few things which might become a hindrance for us in achieving our goals.  It is important to identify and get rid of it. Make a promise to yourself that you will let go of them immediately. **D) Identify Your Navaratnas** Sometimes, in order to achieve big goals we need support of people around us. While you are on the journey of achieving your goal, you will find that few people will always support you.  Think about them, who essentially are your ‘Navaratnas’, and write about them.  In other words, identify those people around you who are technically strong and solid on Skill, Will, Performance, Potential, Values and Capability and can actually help you achieve your goals.  This will help you build a team and a strong network or channel partners who will help you in achieving your goals. **W-Way Forward** Once you have successfully identified your Navaratnas, it is time to now finally move to the next and most important topic, Way Forward, that is, Final Action Plan.  **A) Identify Top 3 Priorities** First, identify the Top 3 Priorities, which should be a Game Changer for you and pushes you on the positive side. Next, you need to create a schedule for an extra ordinary day for yourself. Be as detailed as possible in writing about how an ideal day of yours would look like.  Remember to make the schedule based on the identified top three priorities and practice it for next six months. **B) Track Your Progress** While it is important to achieve your goals, it is equally important to track your progress. It is said that “anything you cannot measure cannot be improved.” So keeping a track of What Went Well (WWW), What Went Wrong (WWW) and What Could Be Improved (WCIB) is very important because this will help you in re-strategizing.  **C) Create an Improvement Cycle** Basis the tracking of your progress, create an Improvement Cycle for yourself. Now, you need to check and improve your Improvement Cycle every week for next six months. Bring it in practice and start practicing them regularly.