By Guest Blogger, Summer Diya Selva
Goals, goals, goals! I must be the diva of goal setting because I cannot start a single day or a single project without first setting goals. Research has shown that goalsetting helps you gain better clarity over your life and your business, you manage your priorities better when you set goals. Setting goals gives you several advantages other than focus and clarity. Business goal setting helps in the process of decision making, clears doubts that you never knew you had, helps manage your time better, infuses good habits, practices and routines into your day and life, transfers your dreams into reality.
My clients who had never set a goal in their lives ‘properly’, started realizing that once they set goals in a proper way, it improved their business performance, their motivation to achieve more, their self-confidence, their pride and satisfaction in doing the actual work that was required to grow their business.
A lot of people are clueless about “proper” goal setting. If you just said or wrote down ‘I want to double my income this year’ and started working on it right away, it means that you have not used the powerful method of setting goals. Similar goals are like ‘I want to lose 50 pounds this year’ or ‘I need to buy a house next year’.
It is normal to set large goals or multiple goals when you are very enthusiastic about getting started. Setting goals is only a quarter of the equation. Then comes the actual doing of the work required to meet those goals, putting in all the systems and processes in place so that the going gets smoother and we don’t lose enthusiasm midway. Finally, there is revisiting goals, tweaking them, analyzing every part of the journey.
Goal setting is not something one can master by just reading a blogpost. I conduct an annual goal setting workshop every year and I give you fail proof methods of following through and making your business a success. Sign up here if you’d like in. And here is a chunk down of steps to powerful techniques to goal setting.
Self-discovery:
The foundation of the goalsetting process is in diving deep within, for self-discovery. Find your purpose for the goals, your reason, your big ‘why’. Just because your peers have certain goals and they have been recommended to you, does not make them ‘the goals’ for you. Your goals should resonate with you, relate to your life and business and create a deep meaning for yourself. When achieved, the final outcome should give you real joy.
Two parts of each goal:
Make no more than one goal from each aspect of your life, i.e. one financial goal, one health goal, one personal goal, one business goal, one self-development goal.
Now set two sets of goals per aspect. One set is the ‘destination’ goals and other set is ‘action’ goals. Destination goal is the final big picture that you want to achieve and the action goal is the bits and pieces that you need to do every single day to get there.
Once you have finalized your goals, it’s time to put them into a system of processes that sets your goals into action points and achievable milestones. It goes without saying that you got to make the goals smart. Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic and Time Bound.
Habits and Routines:
For each goal you set, figure out what your obstacles are and figure out ways of getting them out of your way or finding a way around them. Then, create new habits and a routine that takes you closer to each goal. Breakdown your actions into micro tasks, set aside time to perform these tasks. Make your workspace is comfortable and friendly. Make it possible for yourself to work without distractions.
Set milestones:
It could be overwhelming to work towards one big picture and have no way of knowing how close you are to the final goal. Break down the entire project into 4-6 milestones. At a time, work only towards the closest milestone, rather than on the whole project. This way, when you hit a mile stone you know that you are closer to the goal. Celebrate each milestone.
Accountability:
If you have set goals for yourself over and over again but could never get there, seek the help of a coach or get an accountability partner. A coach or an accountability partner can bring in fresh perspectives and can make it easier to get to your goals much more easily.
Tracking and Evaluation
Tracking and evaluation is as important as setting those goals and working on them. Revisit goals periodically. Revise what has been working for you and what hasn’t. If you could not meet your goals, ask yourself these questions. “What was the root cause for the failure? What were the factors that made you not give it your 100%? Are you still passionate about the goal? Is the goal still worth pursuing?”
How will you set your goals for 2021?
One Response
Great tips!