If I got out my crystal ball, I could envision that many of you started this year by setting some big goals for your business. They might have been sales goals or revenue goals. It might have been a goal to attract a certain number of new people to your audience, or get a certain number of press mentions.
But knowing that, I can also predict that many business owners haven’t revisited those goals since they were set.
That’s one of the problems with setting year-long goals. Things can change a lot in 12 months, and what seemed important in January may not be important in December. And those big picture goals can seem daunting, even impossible if you don’t break them down into smaller chunks.
That’s why spring and the second quarter is a wonderful time to revisit your big goals and check on your progress. Think of it like spring cleaning for your business goals!
And to get you started, I’ve got a 90 Day Goal Planning Worksheet you can use in conjunction with this blog post to help you sweep the cobwebs off your business goals and make real progress toward your big picture goals.
Your big picture
Wait, you do have a big picture goal for your business, right? The first step is to envision and define what your life and business will be like at the end of this year and why. Think about business goals and personal goals and then imagine three levels of success. What would constitute moderate success on those goals? Big success? Outstanding success? Imagine the possibilities!
Once you know the big picture, you also have to break it down into smaller chunks: success milestones that will help you know whether or not you’re on track to reach your goals. I find it helpful to work backwards from the big goal in order to determine what has to happen to reach it.
The next 90 days
Once you determine your yearly objectives, you can break them down into 90-day goals and identify what needs to be done in a given 90 day period. This is the key piece of work. You must decide if your goals are reasonable and attainable given your circumstances right now.
It’s important to be realistic; dream big, by all means, but set yourself up for success by breaking your big vision down into manageable chunks.
Your daily to-do list
There are 12 weeks in each quarter (which is 90 days). You can break down your 90-day goal into 12 steps, one of which you will tackle each week. Handy!
By organizing your workload into weekly segments, or intentions, you can put structure to your to-do list that makes it more attainable and manageable. Once you have a clear path towards your big vision goals, you can prioritize more effectively on a daily basis.
You’ll see big progress and feel most productive when you focus in on limited daily to-do list.
Avoid goal fatigue
I see it every year among entrepreneurs (especially solopreneurs). January comes along and the excitement and possibility of reaching big goals is almost palatable.
They work hard and push even harder for several months. Then sometime around April and into May, they hit a wall. Suddenly they start doubting the work they’ve done, the progress they’ve made, and they start doubting whether they’ll ever reach their goals at all.
I call this “goal fatigue,” and it happens to the best of us.
But “goal fatigue” doesn’t have to bring you down, which brings me back to spring cleaning your goals with our 90-Day Goal Setting Worksheet. It’s just part of a full-suite of goal achievement exercises I have compiled for my Business Class members to help them reach their biggest business goals, and you can too.
