Skillset New Zealand Blog

Ideas to help your team develop personally and professionally.

Know your purpose. Then keep reminding yourself of it whenever you have a setback or you sense your motivation flagging.

Sound a bit soft? It's what the American Marine Corps teaches recruits to do these days. They use it in the notorius endurance event, The Crucible.

It's not enough to know what we want to achieve or even how to go about it. Knowing why a goal is important helps us to carry on.

Why are you studying? Maybe, so that you can get a higher qualification, so that you can be promoted and earn a higher income, so that you can give your family more security and opportunities.

Why are you developing your team's customer service skills? Maybe, so that your customers will enjoy dealing with them, so they will get more positive feedback and be more productive, enjoy coming to work and stay with your organisation longer.


Many years ago, Sir Edmund Hillary, conqueror of Everest and all-round Kiwi hero, was explaining in a documentary that the key to climbing mountains was to focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

I remember my reaction.

'Ed, that's kind of obvious.'

Now I realise that his advice was profound and we can use it whenever we are striving for a goal.

Here's why.

About Ralph Brown

ralph brown blog3





Ralph enjoys trips to France. He lives in rural Canterbury.

Interested in training in business writing?


Learn more

Interested in training to develop your teams’ resilience?

Discover what top achievers do when the going gets tough.

Learn more