It’s October and though it seems 2014 is coming quickly; we have a full 3 months of 2013 to make “it” happen.

What’s “it?” “It” is whatever goals you have for 2013. You have a full one quarter of the year to execute and achieve your goals. Have you already given up or as one sales rep recently told me, “Faced reality?” Well, it might be time to adjust those goals­­­­ because you don’t have to fully abandon them.

As I wrote in this blogpost, achieving your goals is more probable when you have worked through all the components needed to achieve your goals and identified:

• The goal
• Plan with milestones
• Resources
• Stakeholders
• Reward for reaching it

Each of these components is important to the outcome. Yet one of the components that is often overlooked is the need to identify and involve your stakeholders.

What’s a stakeholder? A person who has a stake in your goal or in you.

I was reminded of the value of a stakeholder this past weekend. Quite a while ago I shared a goal of mine with a stakeholder, my friend, Connie. I told her that I have wanted to go skydiving ever since I can remember.

It was a goal in my mind, never on paper. When I was younger I couldn’t afford it, then came children and it was too risky, and lately I’ve just been too busy. It was a dream of a goal until Connie set the wheels in motion this past July.

On Sunday I achieved that goal—I jumped out of an airplane two miles above the earth and had a one minute complete free-fall before the parachute was released.

Wow! What an experience. With the plan in place, the right resources (a trusted man as my tandem jumper), and a lot of support on the ground, I bravely boarded the small airplane and off we went to ascend to 10,000 feet.

My support included my brother, sister-in-law, and even my daughter who decided to jump as well.

Without having shared the goal with someone who understood my need to achieve it, I would have delayed the jump until my old, feeble knees couldn’t have made the jump.

Now to you: with 3 full months left in 2013, who do you need to support you, provide resources, and provide the accountability to go for what you want or need to achieve?

Seek them out, share your goal, and then go out there and make it happen!

Your turn! What have you found provides the accountability and support to reach your goals? Share your comments  here and be entered into a drawing for a signed copy of the Conversations That Sell book.