Anna David is no stranger to meeting EPIC goals.
She’s remained sober for over two decades after conquering addiction, become a New York Times bestselling author of eight books, is developing her first book into a movie and is now a mother at the age of 53.
It therefore makes sense that corporations bring her in to speak about her unique method for goal setting.
David has coined her goal setting method as EPIC—an acronym for Extraordinary, Powerful, Impactful and Courageous.
As a leading speaker on goal setting, Anna David guides attendees through the EPIC Goal process, ensuring that each person leaves with their own EPIC Goal Workbook containing their initial EPIC goal.
David’s methodology has garnered praise from top entrepreneurs, business leaders and corporate bookers. Harvard Business School Executive Leadership Coach Matt George attests, “Anna propelled me to think and dream differently. Since working with her, my whole life changed.”
Anna David’s speaking engagements have left an indelible mark on the organizations where she’s spoken, including Omni Resorts, NYU, Genius Network and Entrepreneurs Organization, as well as three TEDx events. “Anna David is one of the most entertaining and powerful speakers I’ve ever heard,” says Genius Network founder Joe Polish.
David’s entire philosophy is meant to debunk the notion of the SMART goal. “EPIC goals are not Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant or Time sensitive,” she says. “They are Broad, Never-ending, Unattainable, often Irrelevant and Enduring.”
“SMART Goals are great if you want to achieve ordinary things,” David says. “But I’m not interested in helping people with ordinary achievements. I’m interested in helping them achieve extraordinary things. EPIC Goals are those things we should not be able to achieve. And yet we do.”
David’s method involves coming up with a “wildly unrealistic” goal and writing it out in present tense, as if you’ve already achieved it. “How does life feel, sound and smell?” David asks. “Are you feeling the wind as you sail during your retirement, saltwater hitting your lips? Digging into a sizzling sirloin as you and your boss celebrate the fact that your sales have quadrupled in a year? Whatever it is, describe it so that you truly feel it.”
When she’s speaking on goal setting at corporations, David provides each participant with their own EPIC Goal Setting Workbook and has them do the exercise in the auditorium. Occasionally participants will read their goals aloud so they can encourage one another. David then has them write down the actions they’re going to take to achieve the goals.
The next step is to take their journals home and find images that correspond to the goal to paste right there in the workbook—vision board style.
“One woman I worked with told me that she tore a seemingly random image out of a magazine to represent the house she wanted to live in because she liked the columns in it,” David says. “The house was way beyond her dreams at the time; she lived in a tiny apartment. Years later, she looked up and realized she lived in pretty much the house she’d grabbed the photo of.”
If that sounds too easy to be true, David acknowledges that the next step in the process is the most challenging: waiting. “The universe has a much bigger plan for us than we have for ourselves. So the next part is about allowing the universe to take over. You suit up, show up and let go of the results.”
This isn’t, David emphasizes, an overnight process. “It can take years,” she says, adding that the movie based on her book is in development 15 years after the book’s original release and that she became a mom decades after most of her friends.
EPIC Goals, she stresses, are worth waiting for.
For information about bringing Anna David in to speak about EPIC Goals, visit Anna David Goal Setting Speaker.
