Let’s face it; it’s a goal to set a goal.
The new year is almost here, and I don’t know about you, but this happens every last quarter and last month of the year for me and for us here at Aurora Consulting.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way. It can be daunting to set a goal, track a goal, and stick to a plan to achieve the goal. Why? Because it’s work.
We also know, and this is that weird icky feeling that we sometimes ignore, having a goal and not meeting the goal could generate feelings of failure and/or rejection.
This could set us back and cause resistance to maintain momentum.
If you think about it…what’s the resistance around setting a goal? Goals present opportunities, and creating opportunities could mean income to your business.
That is….IF building your business is a GOAL!? We did this podcast, Ask 6 Questions as a Business Owner | The Difference Between Business Owner & Entrepreneur.
Goals are INSPIRING.
Many different activities make up your role in your business. There are things that you love to do and there are things that are for the greater good of the business that may not be your favorite part of your day/week/month/year.
Create a contest for yourself and/or team members and reward yourself when you’ve finished a task. Something, anything that will motivate you to want to work on those tasks/activities that will help accomplish the goal.
When we’re inspired, we’re more focused on accomplishing the task at hand. And this will help us work smarter to achieve a goal.
Let’s embrace what we do and not be afraid of it.
Goals build CONFIDENCE.
Now that you’re motivated and working on tasks that inspire you, this will build confidence. Confidence propels us to be the best that we can be…and maybe even have a little fun while doing it.
When we’re confident, we seek more challenges. This helps us to be more curious, continue learning, and grow.
Goals are CHALLENGING.
This is when it gets fun. We’re now inspired and that builds confidence.
How about building in something that makes us uncomfortable? We call this getting out of our comfort zone. Competition builds character.
Think of a triathlete. They track their activity and their time to know how they can train to be stronger and faster. When their body becomes adjusted to a certain weight or speed, they begin trying things that challenge their current abilities.
This helps us to grow. See a theme here?
Goals keep us ACCOUNTABLE.
The movie A FEW GOOD MEN includes one of the most memorable movie lines in movie history. When pressed for the truth, Jack Nicholson’s character Colonel Jessup bellows: “You can’t handle the truth!”
I say, you can handle the truth. Tracking your activity will cause reason to celebrate when you achieve a goal or progress toward achieving the goal.
And if there’s evidence that this goal may not see the light of day, tracking will help you to recognize the signs so you can pivot and/or redirect our focus so you’re working on your strengths vs. giving up altogether.
Have you considered an accountability partner? Some people, and I am one of them, need an external force or energy to stay on track. Whether it’s a weekly call or you’re checking in on a private Facebook page, knowing that you have to divulge your activity, or divulge the lack of activity, it may motivate you to have something awesome to report.
Now, go and set some goals; you can handle it!
Download our Beacon Oversights and Preparedness Guide. It includes 3 pages of checklists about the many things that must be managed when you own a business. It will help you to create goals for yourself.
