Goals: Dreams With A Deadline

I have a confession. I have been guilty of one of my biggest pet peeves: setting expectations of my future without making plans. To clarify this, I have been looking ahead and saying things like, “By this time next year, hopefully I’ll be making enough money to (fill in the blank)”, but upon closer look, I have very little set in place to make my goals come to fruition.

Does that ever happen to you? It’s easy to dream – easy to know where you want to be – but much more difficult to map out a path to get there.

Today, I sat down to set some clear goals in place. In the coming months, I’ll be making some changes to my business. Namely, I’ve recognized that there are aspects of my business that I love; things that I’m passionate about. Then, there are services I offer that make sense but things for which I have little passion. I want to ensure that I’m always doing the best work for my employees, and being excited about my work ensures that I do a great job. Anyway, I’m excited – I’m always excited for change. But the necessary changes also mean taking a good, long look at where I am, where I want to be, and how I’m going to get there.

Back to my first point – I haven’t been mapping it out. And that changed today. So, I thought I’d walk you through how I set my goals in hopes that it may inspire you to take a look at your own journey.

Reflect

Start with the present. Make a list of what is working and what isn’t as well as what brings you joy and what doesn’t. You can’t move ahead without understanding where you are. This may be a good time to survey people with whom you have done business. What was their impression of your business? Was their experience positive or negative? Does their perception match the message you’re trying to convey?

Work Backwards

I like to start with the big picture. What does the future look like for you? I’m not talking about this time next year – I’m talking long term. Five years ahead, ten years ahead…what does that look like? What do you want your business to be known for? What does your income look like? What does your life look like?

In setting my goals, I know where I want to be in 10 years, 5 years and 1 year. It makes planning my next steps make so much more sense.

What’s next?

When you know what the long term looks like, take a look at your short term goals. What do you need to put in place today to make tomorrow possible? For example, one of my goals for 2017 is to sit on the Board of Directors for an organization I care about. However, this goal is in direct opposition to one of my weaknesses: networking events. I am great at networking events…when I attend them, which is rare. As a single mom and a homebody, both my time and energy for activities outside of the house are limited. But, I’ll never have the opportunity to join a Board of Directors without strengthening my connections. So one goal breeds another: beginning now, I’ll be attending at least one networking event each month.

Think Big, With Wiggle Room

Nothing is more deflating than falling short of your goal. Make big plans, but make sure you’re being reasonable when you decide how quickly to get there. And give yourself help when and where you need it. With my goal of attending networking events, I made sure to clue in one of my more social and well-connected friends. In fact, I told her my goal was to start attending events in 2017, but she immediately had an event I could attend with her in less than a week. As much as I cringed at the idea of a night out, that is exactly the reason I wanted her to know about my goals – I knew she’d make me follow through!

Reassess

If there’s one certainty, it’s that your plans will change. Whether you want to lose 20 pounds in 2017 or increase your income by a specific amount, be flexible and ready to change. There are plenty of reasons to change your goals: unexpected changes in the market, the actions your competitors take, your own life events, and more. There are so many factors outside of your control!  You may discover that something you thought would work just doesn’t and find that a new plan is necessary. Readjustment is normal and you shouldn’t see it as a setback.