The Good, the Bad & the Ugly on Goal Setting
The word ‘Goal’ doesn’t have to be a dreaded ‘4 letter word’. But many make it out that way. You’ve probably heard many business professionals talk about the importance of written goals. You might have heard others warn you of the pitfalls of goal setting too. I’m here to tell you that there is a balance that we can all achieve when it comes to goal setting.
Having goals is important. Having realistic goals is even more important. And creating a plan and actually executing said plan is the KEY to achieving said realistic goals.
You want to set goals that you believe you can achieve. You also want to set them high enough to not sell yourself short.
One of the best methods I’ve found in goal setting is to have an additional STRETCH goal as well.
For instance, let’s say you work in sales and you would like to earn $50,000 this year. You earned $45,000 last year and you think $50,000 is completely achievable. But, watch out. Why? Because it is a fact that people slow down momentum when they near their goal. What if you are close to hitting your $50,000 near the middle of the year? Are you going to take off the rest of year or would you prefer to STRETCH that goal to earn maybe $100,000? I say add a stretch goal of $100,000 to keep pushing yourself.
Now, on the flip side if you earned $45,000 last year and this year your goal is $100,000 that may be a little overly optimistic to achieve. In that case you could become very frustrated and even depressed if you do not hit your goal. In that case your goal could be too high. Try something closer to the range of $60-70,000 vs trying to double your last year’s income.
But keep in mind that you must also set that stretch goal to make sure you don’t lose momentum mid year!
Setting that total income goal is fairly easy, right? But achieving it takes some work.
Make sure you have WRITTEN down your goal and broken it into sales, appointments and contacts. You know, how many people do you need to be in contact with to set X # of appointments to sell X # of products/services. If you are new in the field try to find an average figure to work from in your industry. If you’ve been in business for over a year use your last year’s figures but increase it some. Maybe by 10-20%. Challenge yourself to a better conversion rate.
Next determine where you could find more people. Are you online? Do you network a lot IRL (in real life)? Do you attend meetings, tradeshows, webinars, etc? Do you send direct mail? Email? What worked last year and what are you going to cut back on? If you didn’t track last year try to remember what you actually did. And if you are new or can’t recall make sure to track your progress THIS year so you can determine what works and what your #s are. It can be a pain in the rear to keep track of but until you know you are blindly heading where? Who knows.
Let us assume that you did track your #s last year and you know you have to meet or talk to at least 25 people a week to secure 2 appointments. From those 2 appointments you are able to close 1 transaction. Lets just say that from the end year goal you set you need to close 100 transactions this year. So this means that you need to reach about 50 people each week. See how this works? When you have the #s to work with it gets easier and easier to accomplish and once you have a weekly and daily plan set you will never again be lost and confused about your goals and progress.
Do you get stuck with goal setting? That happens sometimes. Most common reason? You have either set the wrong goals or you do not have the right ‘why’ behind those goals. What is your why? You know WHY you are here, working, setting goals, achieving your goals. Is your why for God? Is you why to spend more time spiritually on your religion or spiritual time? Is it to spend more time with family and friends? Is to help more people? What is your why? I recommend you write YOUR WHY out on a piece of paper and tape it up somewhere you see often. Your why CANNOT be just the financial gain or eventually you will fail. You must connect a real ‘why’ to that income goal.
I also recommend writing your monthly or weekly or daily goals out too and posting them somewhere you see them often.
I have my monthly goal posted in nearly every room in my office to keep everyone reminded of the company’s monthly goal. I have my ‘why’ pretty solidified in my head and with pictures surrounding me.
My why is to reach more people sharing what I know and spreading happiness. My vehicle at the present time is through my company which also helps many people in need. My why is to spend precious valuable time with my family that I love so much. My why is to strengthen my relationship with God/Source. One of my ‘new year’s resolutions’ was to also spend more time with my very important friends. I also want to reach out with more community service and continue charity work both financially and through time. I find my ‘why’ to be very well rounded and it brings me happiness. I hope your why brings you and others great joy as well.
Give back and have a strong why and success will be yours too!
Good luck with your goal setting! If you believe it you can achieve it!
Yours in Success,
JoinHappiness.com 🙂
