5 Steps to Better Goal Setting
Today our advisor Jerry King said to me, “Everybody looks good when they are shadow boxing, but it’s a different story when you put someone in the ring with another fighter.” It’s funny because it’s true.
When you work for yourself, and have no one to report to, it’s easy to avoid setting goals for yourself and that is dangerous. Take the time every three months – even if its only five minutes - and write down your goals. Make sure your goals are:
1. Action-oriented (”I will write, clean, complete, send, XYZ”)
2. Measurable (i.e. “I will go out to lunch with 4 new prospects”)
3. Realistic and attainable (i.e. “I will tie my tie in a windsor knot“)
4. Constrained by time (i.e. “I will get this done by XXX date”)
5. Prioritized (i.e. “this is the most important goal I have”)
You will be amazed how setting goals will focus your thinking, help you prioritize your daily activities, and you will be amazed where those two things will take you. It’s a discipline. You can thank yourself later.
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5:51 pm
You’re bang on Mike, we’re also right on this sort of thinking at the moment as well, making and achieving goals / your business plan. It seems goals can easily get lost in the daly drum, regardless of what you’re doing, and setting them in a way that focuses you on achieveing them is key. You’ve noted some key points. Not to take people away from this blog, but we just wrote a post on this sort of thing to that may be of interest at http://www.simpleandloveable.com/strategic-planning-an-everyday-thing
PS. freshbooks is looking good!
12:06 pm
[...] In probably two or three minutes he has established a set of goals to measure his results against. Goals are important. [...]