Today’s topic of discussion is all about the 5 Tips to Setting Realistic Business Goals. Most people think that setting goals are easy, and they are, but you need to get down to the specifics. Just what kind of business goals will help you create a successful business?
When it comes to setting your goals, it can be tricky to find that middle ground. If you set goals that are too high, you might get discouraged. If you set them too low, you may end up bored or complacent. You might even become disillusioned with your business. So how do you strike a balance?
The 5 Tips To Goal Setting
The tips below should help you to make your decisions.
1. What do you want?
First, you need to determine what you want. Go ahead and brainstorm – make a list as you do. Put it down on paper and don’t hold back.
2. Assess your list
Now, take a look at your list. Make a sub-list of steps you have to take to reach each of those goals and dreams. Are there some items on your dream list that involve steps you can’t take? If you cannot take the steps necessary to achieve that goal, then it needs to be modified or removed from your list.
What Comes Next?
3. Strategize
As you are making your sub-list of steps, you need to develop definite strategies for those items on your dream list that are achievable. Being able to see what is necessary to achieve that dream can help you decide whether or not to pursue it. Because the strategy may in fact be doable, you might be unwilling to take those steps for personal reasons. That is fine; it’s your list and your goals.
Go ahead and don’t judge yourself – if you can’t/don’t want to adopt a certain strategy for your own reasons, then cross that goal off the list. The point is to narrow things down.
Determine a timeline for your goals. Do you need to make more money right now, as in this month? Or do you have more long-term goals, such as eventually quitting your day job? On your master list, write down your timeline. This will help you further narrow things down – if the goal can’t be reached within your allotted time, then it doesn’t belong on your list of goals.
Being 100% Honest
5. Know yourself
So, one of the keys to succeeding is to be really honest about your strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes we think we can do it all, or do anything…and other times we think we can’t do anything. Neither of these extremes is likely to be true! If you can, ask others what they think they can see you doing. Once again, break out your pencil – list things you like to do and abilities you feel confident about. Just about any skill or attribute can be channeled into helping your business succeed.
These list-making exercises can help narrow down your goals and keep them realistic and reachable.
Need help figuring out how to create your goals? Let’s set up a time to do that. Here’s my booking link to make it easy for you to schedule a time to get together. → Calendar Link I would be more than happy to help you.
If you missed the SMART GOALS WORKSHEET you can get it here →Worksheet
I hope you enjoyed today’s article on goal setting. See you next time!
Why it’s important to set goals for your business is today’s topic of discussion. Why do you think they are important? Bet you can’t guess what mine are!
The Importance of Setting Good Goals
Goals are very important when it comes to the success or failure of your business. Why are they so important? Goals act as a roadmap for you to follow. They let you know where you are going, and if you are getting there on time. You wouldn’t get in your car and start driving without having a destination planned out. So why would you approach your business that way?
I know I always get out my phone and pull up Google Maps and put in my destination before I even drive out of my driveway. Do the same for your business, you need a real destination before you get lost.
Targeting your Goals
All goals should have a few things in common. A goal should define what you are trying to accomplish and when you want to accomplish it. Goals should be realistic and there should be a way to measure them. All goals should be written down and available for viewing on a regular basis.
Simply writing the goal down will significantly increase your odds of achieving it and having it displayed as a visual reminder will also help motivate you.
Even if you have never taken the time to set goals for your business, you are actually very familiar with the process. At some point in your life, you have more than likely taken out a pen and paper and mapped out a plan for accomplishing some type of task.
Writing out goals for your business is no different than writing out your grocery list.
Mapping out the Process
By clearly defining your goal, you are telling yourself where you are going. Instead of having a goal of “I plan to spend more time promoting my Virtual Assistant business”, clearly define the goal as “during the next three weeks, my goal is to spend 10 hours per week promoting my Virtual Assistant business”.
The second goal tells you what you are going to do and for how long you are going to do it. This is mapping out the process. Creating a roadmap for you to follow.
Once you know where you are going and when you want to be there, you can figure out how you are going to get there. Using the example above, you know that for the next three weeks, you need to be spending 10 hours per week promoting your business.
Now you can start defining mini-goals. Do things such as writing articles and submitting them to reprint directories. Try emailing past clients and letting them know you are accepting new projects. Send press releases to the media, and so forth. You get the idea now right?
Your Intent of Creating Goals
Goals can also serve as a great way to challenge yourself. Are there some things you have been meaning to do, but keep putting off? Start setting weekly challenge goals. Do things such as blogging one post each day for a week straight.
Or adding a new message each day to your autoresponder or even writing an article each day and submitting it to a reprint directory.
Rewards for your Goals
Have fun with your goals and reward yourself with a gold star when you accomplish one of them. Once you have collected 10 gold stars, treat yourself to a spa day or some other indulgence.
By setting and achieving goals you will find your business taking off and will feel a great sense of enthusiasm and accomplishment.
One of my goals is to help other women in business reach their goals.
I offer one on one mentoring services, so if you’re looking for help with your goals reach out to me. Use this link to check out what I offer and let’s set up a meeting to discuss. Meet with me here.
One of the biggest mistakes people make when seeking to achieve a goal is to wait for inspiration and motivation. Today’s topic of discussion on our series on goals is all about How to Find Motivation to Achieve Your Goals. Imagine if everyone on this planet was waiting for motivation to get work done.
Productivity would drop to nothing, and our economy would collapse. Since productivity has improved over the years, it’s not likely that it has anything to do with real motivation. People are still doing the things they have to do in order to achieve a goal. Aren’t you?
Goals or Motivation?
Sometimes their goals might be set by them or their employer. It doesn’t matter who set it – it’s set, and someone is going to get it done. Am I right? How sad that in some cases people fail at so many things simply by ignoring the fact that motivation isn’t really necessary; only doing is.
They sit around waiting for inspiration to come wondering why everyone else is doing better than them. They’re waiting for some spark of motivation that will never arrive.
You can avoid this issue by realizing the truth.
Motivation Doesn’t Exist But What’s the Intention?
You probably have heard of the myth of the starving artist who can’t paint or the writer with writer’s block. It’s interesting that these creative professions have the same myth. Like weight loss, that some secret motivation has to come to achieve success. Some mysterious spark of inspiration that will get you off your bottom doing what you need to get done. If How to Find Motivation to Achieve Your Goals isn’t possible, then why should you even try?
However, nothing could be further from the truth.
Doing, Not Thinking, Gets You Real Results
Time and again, the people who are truly successful in their own lifetimes, are not people who wait for a spark. They are people who get up out of bed every single day, rain or shine and do things that lead to an end result of success. The successful painter paints every single day and if they hate marketing they hire someone to do that for them.
The successful writer writes; the successful doctor – doctors. If you want to be successful at something, do it. Live it. You will succeed. How to Find Motivation to Achieve Your Goals is basically up to you!
Many people get blocked by thinking that someone is better than, smarter than, or any “than” than them. The truth is, successful people aren’t smarter. Take a look at the most famous actresses that you know. Without exception, they are simply people who do their craft every single day. More times than not, they are simply being themselves in front of the camera. They are doing it, not thinking about doing it, and not dreaming of doing it. They go to auditions, get rejected, and then get up the next day and do it again.
Learn about the acronym S.M.A.R.T which stands for “specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and timely”. Every goal you set should meet that standard. After all, if you cannot be specific enough about what you want so that it can be measured, what is it really? You need to act on it in a realistic manner in a specific time frame. If you can’t it’s not really a goal. It’s a dream – perhaps a pipe dream!
Targets For Your Success
Envision Success
Some people think vision boards are a bunch of hocus pocus. But the truth is, being able to truly visualize yourself experiencing success will go far in helping you actually create success in your life. There are people who are good at seeing it in their mind and believing it, but others need more. Try making a vision board to see your dream down on paper so that you can then decide how to make your S.M.A.R.T. goals.
Follow a Schedule
It can’t be stated enough. Doers do. Successful people do. A “to-do” list isn’t going to cut it; you’re going to need to make a schedule and stick to it. If you want to write a 10,000 word eBook to sell to your target audience, you need to start at the endpoint. Then work your way back to today making a schedule that is realistic. You do this so you can follow it to get the work done when you said you wanted it done. Then let nothing stop you.
Experience Success
Set some smaller goals so that you can feel what success is like. If you’ve never once stuck to anything, you can’t know what success feels like and you have nothing to push you forward. People who experience success like to experience it again. The more success you experience, the more you’re going to realize that you can. It’s self-fulfilling.
Repeat Everything, That’s The Objective
Finally, keep doing it over and over again. With anything, you want to achieve, set the goal, track your success, and do something every single day toward achieving that goal. Again and again. It’s really that simple.
Motivation is a figment of the imagination, and not something that most people have. Most people get up in the morning by hitting the snooze button a few times, and most people do not feel especially happy about doing certain things. What they feel happy about is the end result, the deliverable.
Place your focus there and you will not need any motivation because you will be successful.
If you are looking for help with YOUR motivation, I offer 1×1 mentoring sessions that would help you kick your butt into action. Use this link to schedule a call, I would love to help you figure it out.
Today’s topic is Setting S.M.A.R.T. Business Goals. You have probably come across many articles, books, and audios that stress the importance of setting goals. Hopefully, you have taken the time to sit down and write out goals for yourself. But are you writing S.M.A.R.T. goals? S.M.A.R.T. goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Related. I’m starting a new series of Setting Goals so the first one is Setting S.M.A.R.T. Business Goals. So get your pencils sharpened and your notebook ready because you are going to want to take notes for this series. Make sure you download the free e-book about goal setting also. You can locate it here ->>> Setting S.M.A.R.T. Business Goals
Specific Goals
Specific Goals are written out clearly and have a set time frame. When you write out your goals, state what you want, and give it a deadline. A simple goal of “earning money by working from home” becomes much more motivational if you phrase it as “earning $500 per month on a regular basis within sixty days”. Once you know what your plan is, it will be easier to achieve it.
Measurable Goals
It is important to have Measurable Goals, as they will help you track your progress. If a goal is not measurable, it will be very hard to define when you have actually achieved it. In the example above, by defining how much income you want to earn and giving it a time frame, you will know instantly when those sixty days are over if you have achieved the goal.
Attainable Goals
An Attainable Goal is a goal you know you can achieve. Don’t be fooled by the word “attainable”. It can still be a challenging goal and require effort to achieve, but it does need to be something you can do. For instance, if your goal is to learn to build websites and you have absolutely no experience, your goal shouldn’t be to build a huge, portal website in a week. An attainable goal would be giving yourself a month to learn the software and build a small, but functioning website. Otherwise, you will be putting pressure on yourself. If you are constantly setting unattainable goals, you may end up doubting yourself and become so afraid of failure that you start procrastinating on easy tasks. Make sure you’re on target to reach these goals.
Realistic Goals
While it is great to shoot for the stars when you are setting your goals, they also need to be Realistic Goals. Using the first example, the goal wasn’t to earn $500 within a week. Instead, the goal was to earn $500 per month within sixty days. If you are new to working from home, it may take some time for your business to be profitable. Instead of setting one huge goal, break the goal down into manageable “mini-goals”.
Time-Related Goals
You may have noticed that the example goals were Time-Related. There is an old saying that “a goal without a deadline is just a wish”. Having a defined timeline will keep you motivated. If you have an open-ended goal, it will be easier to procrastinate, and therefore, harder to accomplish. However, knowing you need to accomplish something in a set period of time will spur you into action.
What are YOUR S.M.A.R.T. Goals? Use this handy sheet to create yours. Worksheet
gabrielle_cc / Pixabay
Your Intentions
Setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals is really important to your business. It’s just like a roadmap to help you follow where you want your business to go. Don’t just make things up on the fly, let me tell you now, it doesn’t work. Sit down today and work on the worksheet to plan your goals. You’ll be glad you did!
If you’d like help setting up your goals, you can contact me to set up an appointment to discuss. Go here —> Discovery Call to schedule an appointment.
There are plenty of business owners who have made their businesses successful through the effective use of goals. The better they become at implementing those goals, the more successful the businesses seem to become. And it is something that people get better at with practice. Why not use these successful experiences to help with your business? Resources to help with your business goals are the topic of discussion for today.
Learn More About Business Goals
The first resource is yourself. Resources found online can be a tremendous help when trying to learn about setting goals. Check YouTube.com for videos on the subject. Be aware that not every video will contain good information. And not every video creator has the expertise to offer. Take each video with a grain of salt.
Udemy and Amazon are also good resources for training on business goals. It takes more effort to get on these platforms, so it is likely to contain trainers/authors with a higher level of expertise. Both platforms allow users to rate the trainers which you can use as a basis for your decision.
Read Profiles of Successful Business Leaders
Many successful business leaders share how they became successful. You will find a common theme among these leaders in the area of setting goals. They may go about different ways to do this. That’s what makes these profiles valuable to use when trying to create your own. If you can find profiles of people within the same industry as you, that is a bonus. But, it is not completely necessary if you can’t.
Industry or Trade Groups
While you’ll see a lot of your competitors on these groups, most are willing to share stories of techniques they have used in their businesses. The information they give is usually relevant to your business as you typically join groups within your industry. LinkedIn.com is becoming a trade group of sorts with the groups that are contained within. Be sure to check this out. You can check mine out here. LinkedIn
Forums and Blogs
People look to forums and blogs for answers to their questions. There are bound to be forums that are within your industry or niche. You can ask for tips about the goals or your business on these forums. You will get much better results when you are active on the forum.
Outside Groups
Resources such as Meetup.com could be used to help with formulating your business goals. Find meetups with business owners in your area who are willing to share information on the topic.
I hope this information is useful for you and your business.
