Setting goals is intrinsic to the success of any endeavor – but many of us experience challenges in setting and accomplishing our goals.
It can be easy to blame yourself for failing to meet a goal. However, it’s possible that the way you’re going about setting your goals in the first place are holding you back. Here are a few ways to set business goals that set you up for future success.
1. Be Specific
The more specific your goal is, the easier it will be to break things down into achievable steps and measure your success.
When setting goals, decide what success would look like to you. Say your goal involves succeeding in social media – so how many followers would you need to have to achieve success? Or is success more about increased interactions, increased quality of interactions, or more connections within a certain demographic?
Add in a realistic timeframe. For example, I want to increase my Instagram followers to 4,000 by March. Then break down the steps it will take to get there. You’ll know precisely whether you’re succeeding or if it’s necessary to change tactics as you draw closer to the deadline.
2. Break Your Goals into the Smallest Possible Steps
Big, ambitious goals can be a great thing – and most of us start by establishing a big, ambitious goal that excites and inspires us. This can be a great way to stay motivated and focused on the bigger picture.
However, big and ambitious goals can also become exhausting and demoralizing when things get more challenging. You can start to feel like you’ll never reach that goal – and then it can be easy to just give up.
It’s good to set large, motivating goals. But to succeed, it’s important to break those goals down into their component parts – smaller sub-goals that feel quite doable, even on days when you don’t have the energy to scale proverbial mountains.
It’s good to keep your eyes on the ultimate prize. But at times, you may need to know you can do just one or two very doable things (things that may take no longer than a few minutes) to move forward toward that goal.
In this way, you can continue forward progress and reduce the chances that you’ll get discouraged early on.
3. Measure Your Success
How do you figure out whether you’re succeeding at a goal?
The answer to this question will be different for every person and every goal. It could be a straightforward matter of measuring certain metrics, or it could have more to do with how you feel, how your team interacts, or other, less easily-definable outcomes.
Even so, it’s important to define what success would look like to you – so you’ll know when you’ve accomplished a certain goal and are ready to prepare for the next thing.
The way you set your goals in the beginning can make a big difference in whether you achieve them. Consider making your goals as specific as possible, breaking all the required steps down into their composite, simplest parts, and developing clear metrics with which to measure your success. Take these steps, and you should see increased success in achieving your goals.
For additional information, contact Brad Nevins at brad@directconnectionusa.com or 707.759.5391
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