We all know the extreme value of setting goals for our business, yet we probably don’t realize the benefits of making sure “the how” of them is what can set your business apart. I’ve been passionate about pursuing personal and professional goals for many years. The great thing is that you can always learn more and more ways that successful people and businesses use goal setting to get the measurable results they desire. That is why I’m going to share with you in upcoming blogs different concepts to help with the how of goal-setting.
Part 1 – The Basics of Goal-Setting
As always, it’s good to review the 4 basics of goal-setting to make sure that we are doing these first.
1. Take enough time
It’s not good enough to take time at the beginning of the year to write out a couple of goals and feel like you’ve done your strategic planning. Most of the time home-based business owners don’t take enough time on the planning because there is so much doing to be done. The more time you can give to goal planning on a yearly, monthly, weekly and daily process the better you’ll increase your chances of achieving the goals and making it an important habit. When your focus changes it’s important to re-look at your goals too. It’s a time investment very worth it.
2. Link your goals to your vision
Your vision is your main goal(s)or dream for your business. It is what you strive to achieve and realize that pushes you forward. It should be not only vivid, but magnetic and exciting. In my vision-planning system, I suggest that you create a vision for all the areas or roles of your business. For example, your buckets could include product sales, product development, marketing, administration, training & development and many others. For each of these areas, you would have a vision for that role. For example, one of my roles is training and consulting. My vision for that is: Customize training and consulting expertise, creating raving fans. All of my sub-goals under this main goal link and support the vision I have for this area.
3. Put your goals in writing
Research shows over and over to put your goals in writing. If you do, your chance of reaching your goals increases significantly. This is very important for home-based businesses because there are so many tasks needed to manage your business. Writing down your goals under each role in your businesses helps you define, clarify and prioritize the goals that matter most. At first don’t worry about how many and how to best write them, just write them. Later you can work on formatting and editing them.
4. Make your goals CC:SMART
Once you’ve written down the draft of your goals for each of your business areas, then you can make them what I call CC: SMART. It’s common practice that goals should be SMART. SMART goals are : S = specific, M = measurable, A = action-oriented, R = realistic, T = time-phased. This allows you to take a generic goal to lose weight to a SMART goal to lose weight, such as “Lose 10 pounds in the next 3 months by exercising for 30 minutes 3 days a week.” I do a SMART check after I write my goals to make sure it contains all the elements outlined. The next part is to include the CC part. This is to make sure that your goals are C = crystal & C = clear. This ensures that your goals are much more achievable because you’ve become more crystal clear to what we want. Once you write your business goals to be SMART, check to ensure that they are crystal clear to anyone who reads them. Ask others if they understand what you are trying to communicate. If they do not understand exactly what you are trying to communicate, then revise and repeat the process again. Doing this over and over again will help you better formulate and internalize the goals.
In my next post look for some more tips around goal-setting that go beyond the basics.
Janae Bower of Finding IT – Inspirational speaker, award-winning author, training consultant
p.s. If you haven’t already, don’t forget to take advantage of my free gift to you around developing your personal mission, vision and values at www.findingIT.com.
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