Goal Setting
Goals are resolutions to achieve a desired result. Whether short or long-term, they provide a clear understanding of what you are striving to accomplish. Setting short-term goals to reach related long-term goals is a key to success for most any business. Thinking of short-term goals as “stops along the way” to large goals can clarify processes without losing sight of the big picture. Having goals gives everyday tasks more meaning and clarifies the reasoning behind your decisions.
I’m a big believer in having 3 types of goals and they’re all just as important as each other: I focus on business goals, personal goals and learning goals
Don’t just focus on your work life, because you risk forgetting about your personal goals along the way. The more you can weave and mix all aspects of your life together the easier it will be to create achievable milestones. You need to think about business, personal and learning goals.
Putting your goals and visions onto paper helps you be more strategic and tactical in your approach to achieving them.
From here, it’s easier to break these big goals down into 1, 5, and 10-year goals for the future.
How do we do this?
Whether you’ve got a super clear picture of your goals in mind, or they’re a little hazy around the edges, it’s time to write them down.
Think of this as your wish list for the future!
So how do we do this?
You’ve dreamed, you’ve written, you’ve shared — now it’s time for action!
Finding space for you to work on your goals is essential if you want to achieve them, and the easiest way to do that is to find ways to weave it into your day-to-day life.
It’s all about breaking everything down into smaller parts you don’t want this to become overwhelming.
When its convenient for you set aside one hour to write down your goals for the next month.
Write “Business Goals” at the top of a blank page, then list all the things you’d like to achieve in the coming month. If you already run your own business, write down your business goals. If you are yet to launch write down what you need to achieve to move forward.
Make sure you have a money goal! Other business goals might be to grow a social media following or get that website updated. Again, it doesn’t matter what they are, they are whatever you need them to be.
Just write down the goals as they come into your head without putting them into any particular order at this point.
Once you’ve finished writing your work goals, put the heading “Personal Goals” at the top of another page and write down all your personal goals for the month ahead.
In this category, include everything you’d like to achieve outside work, such as goals relating to:
- relationships with family members and friends
- hobbies and interests
- exercise
- personal development
You just need to choose goals that you appreciate and that you would be pleased to achieve.
Finally think about a Learning goals, these are also really important , we are always learning and should embrace this .This, may be reading books, listening to podcasts, or doing a course would be a learning goal as you have committed to learning.
Prioritise Your Goals
After you’ve written down all your goals, look at them again and prioritize them. Put a number by the side of each goal to indicate how much of a priority it is to achieve that goal in the month ahead.
So, the goals that are your highest priority are given a number 1.
Put a number 2 next to the goals that you’ll try your best to achieve but which aren’t the top priority.
Number 3 is for goals that are less of a priority — it would be good to achieve them in the coming month but it wouldn’t be a disaster if they were left until the following month.
Don’t prioritise any lower than 3, otherwise you risk making the whole process more complicated than it has to be. If you prefer, you can limit your prioritizing to just 1 and 2.
After you’ve set and prioritized your monthly goals, write three lists of work, personal and learning goals for the week ahead.
To do this, set some smaller goals that will lead you towards achieving the highest priority monthly goals by the end of the month.
Give these weekly goals a priority of 1. Then repeat the exercise with the monthly goals marked “2” and “3”.
On the last weekend of the month, review your progress over the past month.
Did you accomplish more or less than you expected? Did you enjoy working towards some goals and avoid others?
Did you feel energized and motivated by goal-setting or did you feel a failure because you didn’t achieve everything on your list?
If you achieved less than you expected to, perhaps you set yourself too many goals.
Try setting fewer goals next month and see if you feel the satisfaction that comes with achieving most of what you set out to.
If there were some goals that you avoided, listen to what this is telling you about yourself. It could mean that it would be a good idea to change your job or find extra help with your business, for example.
So the basics of goal setting are as simple as that.
- Break things down every month so you have a plan in place to get there.
- Make it realistic – don’t try every marketing avenue out there. Stick to one or two and be consistent –
It may take time for things to work so patience is key. Having a strategy and an action list will make you feel more in control of your business because you will know that you are doing everything you possibly can to achieve it.
As well as thinking about these goals you also need to think about what direction you want your business to go and what you want to focus on , do you want to specialise in weddings, or weddings and events, or weddings and funerals, or all aspects of floristry, do you want a studio, or a shop?
These are all goals that you need to think about you can add these to your short and long term goals.
If you want to learn more, check out my Goal Setting Masterclass that is available in my shop.