The New Year is the season for change, ambition, and resolutions. But no matter your intention, a lot of goals aren’t achieved. Why?Vague ideas result in an uncompleted goal. Example: "I want more clients this year." It feels more like a wish...
The New Year is the season for change, ambition, and resolutions.
But no matter your intention, a lot of goals aren’t achieved.
Why?
Vague ideas result in an uncompleted goal. Example: "I want more clients this year." It feels more like a wish than a goal. You can solve this by adding specificity to your goal.
Specificity looks like this: a singular, detailed, and attainable goal.
You can transform any large, vague goal into a specific one by breaking it down into small, attainable parts. Let’s look at our example: I want to get more clients this year.
The end goal is more clients, but to get there are many different parts. For starters, in order to get more clients, more people need to be exposed to your business. People learn about you through your marketing strategy. Part one of your goal should be aimed at marketing and reach.
But we can get even more specific: reach 10 new people each week.
How that reach is accomplished could range from using social media, email marketing, networking, or even cold-calling. Once you reach a number of new audience members you’re happy with, move on to the next part of your goal.
Tired of every year passing without making progress? Stop stalling and start making strides. Stock your toolkit with the skills to make 2021 your most profitable year ever!
Don’t skip ahead.
Your goal will be made up of many micro-goals. Resist the urge to multi-task! You will get so much more accomplished if you complete a full goal before moving on. Multitasking will make room for errors and the need to re-do things. It is most important to finish. In our example sequence, after you get your 10 new people, your next goal could be to make contact with 3 potential clients in a week and so on.
Think of those smaller goals as steps towards your bigger goal of building your client base.
How to stay on track:
Inspiration Source
Who or what makes you feel inspired? Make a list and narrow down who, what, or when you feel most inspired. Harness those sources into something tangible that you can return to when you feel discouraged.
Popular inspiration sources include: a mentor, a vision board, or a gratitude journal.
A mentor
This can be a person in your life or a public figure. If it is someone in your life, make a point to touch base with them and ask them important questions about their own process. Ask them things like: what do you do or return to when you’re feeling discouraged or low? What is the best thing you did for yourself today? Who do you look up to and why? These are specific questions that will give you an idea of what you can do to better your own process. Nurturing these relationships will strengthen your personal and professional development.
If that individual is a public figure, read their book or take their classes to gain insight to their process and strengthen your own tool kit.
A vision board
Manifest your success with a visual representation of your business's “after" image. Personal trainers will tell their clients to picture their ideal “after” body to power through their last difficult rep; you can do the same thing! When you’re feeling discouraged look at the vision board you’ve put together. What does your ideal business look like after one year? Be specific.
Think of target numbers and images that reflect the pay-off of what you do for your business every day. Collect inspiration from other major companies. Is there a color palette trending this season in your industry? Even a font that speaks to you can give you a boost/focus your vision.
Visualize what your ideal business looks like 1 year from now.
Gratitude Journal
It’s easy to get lost in the chaos and distractions of a hard year. Instead, give yourself the tools to break that cycle. A gratitude journal can be a great motivational booster. Your brain responds to positive reinforcement. Get in the habit of listing the good things you have accomplished each day. This can help you stay focused on your goals no matter what is going on. Write a bit everyday (it can be for as little as 5 minutes!)
Back-up (and Back-up, Back-up Plans)
2020 has taught us that nothing can be taken for granted. Everything can (and will) change at a moment’s notice, so be prepared.
All your goals need to be flexible. For every micro-goal you have, make at least 1 to 2 alternate paths this goal can take. The more options you give yourself, the less changing circumstances will derail your progress.
It’s impossible to plan for everything, but giving yourself even a day’s grace period or an alternate "win" will allow you the flexibility to adapt your goal to meet the ever changing demands of the current world and market.
Putting it all together
Are you tired of putting off your goals? Stop getting stuck in a yearly cycle where you feel like your wheels are spinning, but you’re not making progress.
It is possible to make any goal happen. Break it down. Understand what is achievable in your allotted time frame for goal-work in a day/week/month/quarter.
Be patient with yourself and give yourself a strong motivational foundation should you get off-track.
If you’re ready to take focused action to achieve your goals, get in contact with our team. We have years of experience guiding business leaders through the goal setting, planning, and achieving process.
2021, here we come.
If you are excited about the possibilities and ready to put in the work, contact us. We know 2021 can be your most profitable year ever.
Book a free 1-hour Breakthrough Consultation with us.
