Suppose there were a quick and easy way to undertake one task or activity in pursuit of two or more goals. Wouldn’t that be an economical, time saving, energy saving way to proceed? You already do this all day long in little ways. Getting eight hours of sound sleep each night, for example, undoubtedly is helpful in the pursuit of various health- or career-related goals. Similarly, caring for your teeth, getting regular dental check-ups, and assuring good oral hygiene supports both social- and health-related goals.

Okay, all of this is obvious, you say, but what if you were to actively seek ways of supporting two or more goals at the same time through a single activity, and the activity you engaged in to accomplish this mission was not so obvious?

Projecting Outward

Suppose that you’re not married and one of your goals is to find a mate. You’ve determined that whatever you can do to be more attractive would be in your best interest. Suppose another of your goals is to improve your interpersonal skills. What one basic activity could you engage in to accomplish both goals? Here’s a story:

In a made for TV-movie, the English actress, Jane Seymour, once played the dual role of identical twins. One sister was confident if somewhat shy, respectful, and forthright. The other sister maintained a facade of self-confidence betrayed by her sarcasm, lack of trust, impatience, and lack of respect for others.

Ms. Seymour’s portrayal of these two characters was remarkable, because even though she was physically the same woman, when she portrayed the first twin, she was attractive and charming. When she portrayed the second twin, amazingly, she was not as attractive. She was still Jane Seymour underneath, but the character was someone you wouldn’t want to know and certainly wouldn’t want to be around.

Look Around You for Confirmation

If one of your goals in life is to be more attractive to others, rather than engaging in cosmetic manipulations, one of the most effective and least expensive ways is to be more self- confident.

If you doubt that having greater self-confidence makes you more attractive to others, think about people in your office, or among your circle of friends. Is there someone in that group who objectively might not be so aesthetically blessed, but because of his or her self-confidence, and of course personality, projects outward and thus is attractive to others? Most likely, there is.

Conversely, is there someone in your professional or social circle who most people would regard as good looking if, say, they were to see a picture of this person. Yet, because of a lack of confidence and perhaps other factors, this individual is not regarded as attractive. We’ve all known someone like that.

Perhaps someone like that is sitting in your chair right now. If so, take heart, the key is self-confidence, and you can set a goal of having more self-confidence at any time you choose. As I discuss at length in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Assertiveness, a physical manifestation of one who appears self-confident, and hence, outwardly projects confidence, is but one of many steps you can take to be more self-confident.

Act the Part, Become It

Kinesthetics don’t lie. If you walk and talk with confidence, stand more erect, throw your chest out, take deep, measured breaths, and, in general, appear to be confident, guess what? You tend to be more confident. This confidence draws others to you. It doesn’t guarantee enhanced interpersonal skills, but it certainly increases the probability that your repartee with others will improve. As others begin to find you more engaging and attractive as a person, you’ll find that your interest in others increases as well. Hence, by focusing on improving your self-confidence, you will end up making progress on two or more goals that you’ve set for yourself.

Two Birds, One Bird, Take Two

Suppose you’re single, and you want to meet the right partner for you. Apparently, this person hasn’t shown up at the places you’ve been visiting such as singles’ bars, dances, and so forth. Concurrently, there are some new skills you want to acquire so that you’ll be more competent on the job, and you’ll increase the probability of getting a promotion and a raise.

Name that Activity

If you said that enrolling in some type of adult education program, presumably in the evenings, particularly a class that happens to have a large number of individuals in the proper demographic category for you, would serve such a purpose, then you are our grand prize winner!

The Best of Both Worlds

Suppose that one of your family-related goals is to spend more time with your teenage son or daughter. This hasn’t been easy lately since your schedules are rarely similar. Concurrently, one of your personal interests is historical biographies.

You’ve read some of the big tomes such as Truman, by David McCullough, Winston Churchill’s autobiography and Abraham Lincoln, by Carl Sandburg. Your teenage son or daughter likes you, would like to spend more time with you, and happens to like videos. Guess what? You have a potential vehicle by which you’ll reach multiple goals, using one activity.

Once a week or so, you pick up a historical biography on video or some other form of electronic media and schedule a time to watch it with your son or daughter. Stop the tape as necessary, and discuss interesting points as they arise. Eat popcorn or have other snacks as you so choose.

After the program, you can spend time talking about the special challenges that the person faced in his or her era. Fortunately, there’s enough good programming today so that you can select a video that will appeal to your teenage son or daughter and which also happens to be a historical biography.

Exploring the Possibilities

Suppose one of your goals is to safely and easily travel the world. Another is to keep advancing in your company. If worldwide travel is goal number two, and advancing in your company is goal number three, what activity would support your efforts in both areas?

You guessed it — being transferred to your company’s London office. Perhaps it would be for a six-month or one-year term. During that time, on weekends, you could visit Scandinavia, mainland Europe, and on longer weekends and holidays take jaunts to Gibraltar, Corsica, or the Black Sea. As you look at the goals you’ve set for yourself using a matrix, possibilities begin to open up that you otherwise might not considered. This kind of “what-if” thinking is exciting, if for no other reason than because it provides the impetus for you to look at your goals and your life in new ways. Each time you identify an activity that enables you to further your efforts in pursuit of two or more goals, you’ve reaped a personal bonanza!

Making Your Work Count Twice

Continually be on the lookout for any activity you engage in that can be used for other purposes. The late Bill Brooks, founder of the Brooks Consulting Group and author of the book, You’re Working Too Hard to Make the Sale, advised people to always be on the lookout for the downstream potential of whatever they engage in today.

No Eye on the Future

Bill observed that most businesses are only about ninety days away from bankruptcy. What did he mean by that? Unless a company has long-term and continuing business with loyal, repeat customers who have ever unfolding needs, it is largely earning its money from the sales and business that it does today.

To keep the cash flow positive, most businesses furiously fan the marketing flames to drum up sales now and keep the cash register or accounts receivable ledger humming along. The sales staff, or “rain makers,” if it’s a professional service firm, need to go out and drum up new business every day, for if they do not, in a matter of weeks or certainly within ninety days, that the company will yield no more revenue. There are many corollaries to your own life and career. If the job you’re doing and the effort you’re making today simply earn you a paycheck at the end of the week, how are you gaining leverage from your time and talents?

If you’re keeping your head above water financially, but not adding to your in-depth knowledge of how your industry operates by increasing your skill base or making contacts that could be valuable in the future, you are only months, if not days, away from bankruptcy if something unfortunate were to suddenly happen to your job.

A Storehouse of Resources

When you actively look for ways to make your work count twice, you begin to build a storehouse of resources for the future, much like the squirrel who instinctively gathers up acorns for the winter. Potentially, every report, every memo, and every document you’ve ever written has enduring value if there are sections of it you can extract and use again, or if you can simply model after them when tackling something new. Every outline, every plan, and every strategy you’ve ever put on paper or on disk and saved potentially has a continuing shelf life. Presentations that you’ve made, particularly those that you audio or video taped, are veritable gold mines.

If you have served as an officer in any organization, the experience, the procedures, and the interpersonal contact that you made are all likely to have some future value.

Other Ways of Serving Two Masters

As you consider your mental, physical, family, social, spiritual, career, and financial goals, continually look for ways to do something once but have it pay off in two or more goal areas. A friend was able to devise an envelope, for example, that he used in mailings for his business which

1. increased the probability of reliable and timely delivery, and
2. 2) was eye catching and appealing to the recipient.

How did he do it? Using an attractive color scheme on the outside of his envelopes, he printed a message saying that his company loved the Post Office and that’s why they entrusted the Post Office with their important mail. Postal workers loved this. In fact, a column about his envelopes was written up in the postal workers’ national monthly newsletter.

The mailing recipients found it to be unique and eye catching as well. Many people called my friend to tell him what a clever and innovative approach he had devised for sending his mail.

All Strategies are Fleeting

Nothing lasts forever. Perhaps, in time, others will imitate my friend’s idea, or those who handle or receive such envelopes will become used to it, and eventually, they will have less impact. If and when that happens, my friend undoubtedly will devise another strategy for accomplishing multiple goals with one effort.

Many film makers have long used the technique of producing movies that serve multiple goals. Whether you agree with his idea or not, that capital punishment ought to be abolished, you have to acknowledge that Tim Robbins produced a critically and financially successful movie in “Dead Man Walking.” In a nutshell, the movie:

1. made him a profit,
2. explored the issue of capital punishment in a way few other movies had before,
3. enhanced his credentials as a producer (he had already earned a solid reputation as an actor) and
4. provided a vehicle for his wife, Susan Sarandon, to earn her first Oscar after receiving many previous nominations.

Piggybacking Techniques

Undoubtedly, you have many ideas now on how to further accelerate your progress in reaching goals. Anytime you have the opportunity to piggyback, i.e., take care of one thing while you’re taking care of another, go for it! For example, the next time you’re at a conference or convention and you’re dressed to the nines, here’s a piggybacking idea you may not have considered:

Is there a photographer on site, hired by someone else to capture scenes at the meeting? If so, you can approach this person and perhaps engage them for a fee to take shots of you. Realistically, how many times in the course of a month or a year would you be able to get such high quality, professionally produced photographs of yourself in such a setting? You could use such photos for your Internet Web site, brochures, literature for your business, your resume, or in a variety of other places.

Before an event, take some time to think about other potential opportunites on which you piggyback. Jot down the potential opportunities as you currently envision them. Later, you can add to what you’ve written. Whatever you come up with may represent excellent opportunities for you to further your goals by taking best advantage of what you’re already doing.