Despite all that has been written about the importance of goal setting and how to do it properly, many people get it wrong. For a long time, I was one of those people.
When you follow “the rules” and are continually frustrated with your results, its easy to think, “Why bother?” and give up. Which is what I did.
Eventually, I figured out why my goals weren’t working for me and made some changes. Those changes made a world of difference and I offer them to you:
- Set behavior goals, not outcome goals
It’s fun think about all of the goodness that awaits us once we achieve our goals, and it’s okay to do that. It’s okay to dream. But while dreams might point us in the right direction, they don’t help us to get where we want to go.
That’s because we can’t control our results. We can only control our behavior.
You can’t control how many clients will hire you or how much they will pay you, no matter how much effort you put into marketing. You can only control what you do.
So, set goals based on your activity–the actions you will take and how often you will take them.
Instead of goals based on increased income or how many new clients you’ll bring in, for example, set goals on:
- The number of articles, presentations, or episodes you will create
- How often you will email your list
- How many introductory calls or emails to professionals you want to connect with
- How many “touching base” emails you will send to former clients
When you build goals based on your own behavior, you have nearly complete control over those goals.
- Not too hot, not too cold
We like to think big, don’t we? We often set goals that are too big for us to handle.
If you find yourself regularly skipping days or weeks, postponing scheduled activities, or failing to put a check mark in the done column, you’ve probably chosen an activity goal that’s too big (or otherwise not right for you).
Your goals should be doable. A stretch, just out of reach, but not so difficult you almost never reach them.
But don’t go the other direction and set goals that are too small. That’s fine when you’re getting started and want to create the habit, but eventually, you need goals that allow you to make significant progress.
- Short-term is better than long-term
One year goals are too far down the road to be meaningful. Choose goals for the next 90 days or less.
What are your goals for this month or this week? What is your goal for today?
We live and function in the present. Day to day, week to week. That’s when we “do”. Long-term goals are dreams and we tend to romanticize them. Short-term goals are action-oriented. We either do them or we do not and you know this almost immediately and can correct course if you need to.
- Simple is better
The best plans for reaching your goals are short and simple. One page, one index card, one sentence on your daily calendar.
If your plan is complicated, you’ll spend too much time tinkering with it, or making excuses for why you’re not ready. You need to do more research, check out another resource, re-write or re-record one section.
Been there. Done that.
If your plan is simple, you can’t hide behind it and you’ll be more likely to take action.
At least that’s the plan.
