A number of years ago, I had the opportunity to run a marathon while visiting New Zealand. During the preparation for, and the running of this race, I learned a number of lessons that apply both to life and to work. The lessons I learned have to do with the ability to establish, put in place, and complete effective goals for my life. The first of these lessons is discussed here.

Whenever an organization or an individual focuses attention in order to accomplish a specific goal, there is a cost involved. That cost may involve specific resources, money, or people. It is important to understand these costs before the goal is put into place. Too many times we start something without understanding the full cost.

Training for a long running race takes a great deal of time and effort. It forced me to prioritize my time and my relationships in order to be fully prepared for the race. The result of that prioritization was the loss of a significant relationship at the time as well as many other smaller sacrifices. The cost ended up being much more than I had originally thought when I put my plan into action.

This happens frequently within organizations. Putting in place a major goal or objective will always have an effect on your people. Granted, there are some objectives that will energize your people upon completion. There are others, however, that will leave them drained and on the road to burnout Determining which of these situations will occur at the completion of the goal is dependent on many factors, some of which cannot be appraised at the start.

Another real concern with not accurately counting the costs before beginning is literally running out of resources before the goal is reached. This is obviously a poor use of the utilized resources, but can also have a devastating effect on morale, your reputation (both personal and organizational), and reduce your ability to rally the troops for a future endeavor.

One other cost that is frequently overlooked is the opportunity cost that is lost. By this I mean that if you are busy working on one goal. It limits the opportunity to be working on other objectives. Prioritizing the needs of your organization appropriately is critical to your success. You not only want to being doing things right, you want to be working on the right things at the right time.

Remember, everything comes with a cost. Understanding what that cost will be for the organization and your people up front will allow you to determine if that cost is worth expending for the result provided. Manage the process. Do not allow the process to manage you.