If you want to be successful in business or life, you are almost certainly going to have to set goals. For many people, setting goals is the last thing on their minds. I mean, don’t we all have goals inherently set seeing that we are all working so hard?
Well, not really.
Yes, working hard is creating goals because you have to define what you’re doing in order to do it. But often times, we fly by the seat of our pants. When we get home, so long as we feel we “worked hard,” there is not much to consider in the way of setting goals.
That seems reasonable. It seems logical. But it can also be a recipe for failure.
YOU NEED TO SET GOALS. WE NEED GOALS.
Goals allow us a template to increase our success, not just allow our hard work to guide us. Hard work is needed in order to achieve goals, but without goals, we are directionless outside of our normal and traditional duties.
Setting goals can help us expand our success.
Here are some tips to making sure you are setting goals in the best possible way.
Goals Should Inspire You
Don’t just set any goals. If you need to take the trash out on Tuesday, you leave yourself a note or a reminder. You don’t set a goal, per se. Because, well, such a low bar goal would negate the benefits fo setting goals in the first place.
A goal is something that inspires you to work harder. In life-terms, a goal might be to get into shape. In business terms, a goal might be to increase company profits over the course of the next two quarters.
Goals are big picture, big-ticket items. Goals are items that you want to accomplish because you care about yourself or your business.
You care that the trash gets taken out, but not in the same way.
This is a meaningful tip because often times, people set crappy goals.
And that’s a crappy goal.
Why?
Because in the end, if you don’t care enough to be on time for your responsibilities, then you have bigger issues. Before you can have awe inspiring big goals, you need to have the basics down, like a strong work ethic and an ability to get up out of bed and start working. Otherwise, your “goal energy” is tied up with basic stuff you should already be doing.
Goals Should Have Sub-Goals
OK, now you know you should set inspirational, super motivating goals.
That’s good.
But that’s also vague.
“I want to increase profits over the next two quarters.”
That’s an awesome and inspiring goal, but in its current state, this goal is pretty ambiguous and general. And that can lead to missing the goal.
Create Goals Within Goals
Did I just ruin the goal setting vibe?
Nah, this is no big deal. This is just a way to flesh out a few more details as to how you plan to accomplish that big awesome goal you’ve set.
Maybe your plan is to sell more services to newer clients, or focus on increasing recurring memberships? Those are good sub-goals to have. Beneath those, you need to iron out a little more. “We plan to offer our current subscribers improved value as a way to increase recurring membership averages.”
BOOM.
That’s good stuff. Its doable, also. And it contributes to the bigger goal.
Make Sure You Can Hold Sub-Goals Accountable
Yep, you need to make sure those sub-goals have a measurable means to them so you can track their progress. For example, when you institute more value-oriented aspects to your memberships, you should start looking at renewals and seeing if some of your average cancellation metrics decrease. Clearly, you need a longer timeline than just a few days, but you can also start tracking immediately and give more weight to the metrics as time goes on.
Create A Plan Of Attack
You know the big goal.
You know the sub-goals.
You have listed the metrics that should tell you if the sub-goals are going to support the big monster goal.
But what’s the plan of action?
Yeah, you listed out sub-goals and metrics that support success/failure of those sub-goals, you kind of have a plan of attack. But make sure you write it down in a formal manner.
Creating formal documentation will now include timelines. At what point do sub-goal metrics carry greater weight? What membership enhancements are you offering? Do you have further membership enhancements you might be willing to offer if you don’t stimulate enough of a move in the stats?
You also might want to consider a strategy that test landing pages and newsletter text. Maybe your membership enhancements are the bee’s knees, but you aren’t selling it well?
You can set up A/B testing across your platforms to learn as much as possible about your promotions.
Don’t Give Up
Don’t get down and out just because things don’t go your way immediately. Success takes time, along with adaptation and motivation and strategy. If you give up too easily, you never cared that much about your goal.
Its OK to change the strategy in achieving your goal, but don’t just dump the goal because things aren’t perfect out of the gates.
You’re better than that!
Conclusion
Goals matter. They give us purpose and meaning. They help us scale our business and improve our personal lives. But make sure your goals are meaningful and not trifles.
Dream big, but work harder.
