So many of us create goals, resolutions and more at the beginning of the year.
Some of us choose themes or projects to help keep us focused and accountable.
And yet, the day-to-day of life and business outside the “holiday cocoon” often interferes with even our best intentions in achieving those goals and realizing those themes.
Let this be the year that doesn’t happen. Here’s how:
- Allocate. Achieving your goals takes time and resources. Set aside time on your calendar to do what needs doing, identify the resources you need (from new software to a virtual assistant, a business advisor or a piece of exercise equipment) and invest in them (or create a plan to do so).
- Own it. You own your own business. Take responsibility for your schedule and ensure your priorities come first. To paraphrase a well-known business quote, “your email inbox is full of other people’s agendas”. Take action on your priorities before focusing on everyone else’s.
- Inspiration. How do you stay motivated? What keeps you inspired? An accountability partner whether a mentor, like-minded colleague or small group combined with daily action moving you forward could be just the answer.
And if you’re not sure how/where to start, here’s a quick rundown of my goal setting process:
- Write down things that went well and things that didn’t go well from last year, quarter or month. Accept what didn’t go well and let it go.
- Write my goals for the year – usually around 7 of them. More or less depending on the year. Goals have all the requisite components: specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic, a timeframe and they’re exciting to me.
- Choose one goal from the list that’s the most motivating. It tends to be an “umbrella” goal that affects other goals/objectives.
- Then, just like with the business, identify my why for each of the goals. WHY is it important to me. (Note that this is a very personal process. These notes aren’t shared with others.)
- List what else is motivating about that goal. For example, If a goal is to “release 50 pounds”, the “why” may be “better overall health” and the other motivators could be: feel better, have more energy, fit into clothes I love, etc. List as many motivators as pop into your head.
- Next, list each goal with the next action step. Schedule that action step on my calendar. For example, if a goal is to “create an additional $100,000 this year”, the next step would be to create a lead generation and program/product launch calendar to do that.
The last step depends on you. You can either:
- List all the action steps for each goal, schedule them and take consistent action or, if you don’t plan that way,
- Each time you complete an action, write the next step (or the next few…as far as you can “see”) and schedule it.
It’s all about forward progress. . .
And because it’s not always easy to see the forest through the trees (or vice versa) on your own, join me for a Jumpstart one-on-one session.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions.