Goal Setting is no piece of cake. There's a reason so many news stories focus on New Year's Resolutions. Lacking willpower the rest of the year, the hope is that the promise of a new year gives us the mental fortitude to accomplish what we couldn't in the year before.
But the change of calendar isn't that motivational. Instead, individuals and companies should foucs on what can be accomplished with goal setting, and the best time to do that is when it's no longer a cliche. Say, January 14th? The New Year has already started, and the only reason to set goals now is to be successful. No pressure, except that which you put on it.
Small Business Essentials breaks down goalsetting into personal and business goals, and further breaks down goals into digestible chunks. The idea is to make goals achievable, but relevant. Without goals, you drift. With goals, you need to make sure you're reaching them.
- Accountability.
With no goals for your business, you can feel free to slack off, work part time, not look for new clients, etc. If that’s what you want, that’s fine—but if your life plan includes running a successful business, then you should be accountable to that business. - Progress.
Setting milestones for your business helps you to see your progress and gives you the encouragement to keep going, much like the weekly weigh-ins at Weight Watchers.
My advice is to focus what you can do, and not on what you should do. Should is an evil word, and brings it with the sense of guilt that you're not perfect. Well, you're not, and it's better to focus on you what you will do, rather than on what you think you ought to do.
The way you phrase your goal-setting matters. It's like that saying you see on the boss's desk. Whether you say you can, or can't, you're right. As for achieving goals, remember to keep them flexible.
I work in a business that involves the use of a lot of technology. From my point of view, if I don’t remain flexible and able to adapt to trends quickly, I can get passed by really fast. For this reason, your goals should not be set in stone, and you should be able to revisit your short-term goals frequently to see if they still make sense for you. I feel like this concept is true for any profession or industry, as we are all susceptible to changes in the economy, technology, or consumer behavior.
We can't control the world around us, and if it changes, we need to adapt, and take the good of what have achieved.
Check out the link for more on how, why, and when to set goals. There is an excellent collection of goal-setting links at the bottom of the page.
