Welcome to the New Year. Your year. Lots of people have made resolutions and set goals. Ugh!!!! It can seem like such a chore and often feels depressing or pointless because somewhere around the end of February, you can’t remember what they were and have no idea how you’re doing. Let’s make it simple. First, let’s look at a few examples of what a goal is not:
- make more money
- sell more product
- recruit more people
- work smarter
- really watch what I eat
You may be very resolute (thus the term resolution) about doing those things but don’t fool yourself into thinking they are goals. Being resolute has to do with desire – you want to achieve the goal. But if you can’t measure how you’re doing, you’ll never know if you did it!
Now see if you can identify the common thread in the following examples that are goals:
- put product on 30 faces by noon on the last day of this month
- present the marketing plan to 10 people by midnight on the 25th of this month
- speak to all my customers by close of business on the 15th of next month
- get contact information for 20 new people by 3 p.m. this Friday
- qualify for my car by midnight on June 30th
Unless your goal specifies “how much” and “by when” it is not a goal, it is a wish. To achieve a goal, it must be quantifiable – it can be measured. You either achieve it or you don’t, there’s no gray area. Set all your goals – daily, weekly, monthly, yearly – based on the mantra, “How Much, By When?” and you’ll be able to determine, without any ambiguity, if you met your goal or not.
In the past, you may have chosen not to set measurable goals because it made you feel “locked in” to something and forced you to look at your business with logic and facts instead of wishful thinking. But you’re serious about being successful now, aren’t you? Without goals that you answer the question “how much, by when?” it’s much too easy to let yourself off the hook or to think you’re on track when you’re not. This year, set real goals and watch your dreams become reality.
Source: by Ann Vertel, UnitCoach
