Setting & achieving meaningful goals

Setting Meaningful Goals

Business ownership is not for the feint-hearted.  It requires dedication and hard work.  So, what separates the winners from the losers?  Having the “Grit” factor is essential - the stamina and perseverance, sticking with your future day in and day out, not exhausting your energy, and not backing down when it gets tough.  But a growth mindset is equally important - a belief that your abilities aren’t fixed but can be developed and strengthened over time.  Both require setting and achieving meaningful goals.

Know your objective

Setting and achieving goals is about understanding the incremental steps needed to edge you closer to your objective.  It is amazing how often people set goals without clearly defining what this objective is.  Be sure you have clearly defined your objective before you set goals and milestones for your journey to get you there, or you will end up in the wrong place!

Be specific

Small steps together, that are consistent with achieving your main objective, equal a giant leap. Rather than maintaining the helicopter view of what you want to accomplish, break it down into the smallest, most manageable steps you can. Think of goals in terms of how defined, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-specific they are.

Be accountable

We wouldn’t get much of anything done if it wasn’t for accountability.  Share your goals with a partner or your team.  Have a timeline for delivery of each goal and build a review of the progress into your meetings.  This provides focus and keeps you on track.

Be realistic

Be practical. Distinguish between stretched but achievable vs. impossible self-change goals.  It’s easy to allow our goals to quickly outsize our realistic capabilities. Ambition is important, of course, but the danger comes in setting unrealistic expectations for what you can get done, which can set you up for feeling like a failure.

Be positive

Reframing goals so that they are positive, rather than triggering you to feel intimidated or afraid, is also important to making progress.

Think in terms of focus areas rather than hard and fast goals. A goal defines an outcome you want to achieve; an area of focus establishes activities you want to spend your time doing.  A goal points to a future you intend to reach; an area of focus settles you into the present.