Farewell...
Workspring has chosen not to renew its lease in downtown Chicago. It has been our team’s pleasure to provide thousands of training, brainstorming and strategizing experiences to companies across the globe, and we are grateful to all of our customers. If you need to contact us, email info@workspring.com.
Setting Goals for 2015
Oftentimes, we get caught up in the moment of setting goals, then either get overwhelmed by them, or never follow up. Gym memberships are an excellent example. It seems that February is when we get back into our old routine, then kick ourselves when we hit the beach in June. Totally understandable. It is very easy to set big goals, but it is also very easy to set the wrong goals. Turnstone‘s Andrea Dekker shares about the beast: goals.
Make sure…
…goals are something you are passionate about.
If you’re not passionate about reaching your goals, there’s really no way they’re going to happen. Goals take time, energy, sacrifice, hard work, and determination.
Make sure…
…they’re something you are willing to work really really hard to achieve.
Your goals need to be your top priorities… period. If they’re not some of your top priorities you won’t make the necessary time to work at them. And if you do not work really hard at achieving them, they’re not going to happen. Certainly, your goals don’t need to be your only priorities, but they should be close to the top of your list — so think about that as you look back over the goals you set just a few weeks ago.
Make sure…
…they’re something you can actually achieve.
It’s great if you want to lose 50 pounds, renovate your entire house, or grow your business by 500% this year — but are those goals actually achievable? Yes you might be passionate about those goals, and yes, you might be willing to work really hard to achieve them… but even still, is it realistic to think you’ll actually be able to accomplish that huge of a goal in just one year?
Anyone can set huge goals (and I would encourage you to set goals a little higher than you think you can reach), but those goals won’t do you any good unless they’re achievable.
Make sure…
…they align with your other goals.
If one of your goals is to grow your business but another one of your goals is to spend lots more quality time with your family — you might be stuck between two conflicting goals that’ll make your head spin all year long.
However, if part of your business growth strategy is to hire more employees so you can be at home with your family on nights and weekends, that might solve your problem.
So as you make your various goals, make sure they align with each other — if they don’t, you’ll feel the stressful “pull” almost immediately!
Make sure…
…you can break them down into manageable pieces.
There’s nothing more overwhelming than beginning a New Year with huge (but achievable) goals and simply not knowing where to start.
I like to make sure all my goals can be broken down into manageable bite-size pieces so I don’t feel so overwhelmed.
For example, if one of my goals is to increase sales by 50%, I want to have a specific plan as to how I will go about doing that. Who will I contact? How many cold-calls will I make each week? Will I need to hire additional help or can I manage all on my own?
All those different things need to be considered before I make a goal to increase sales.
—
Although we all want to reach our various New Year’s goals each year, there’s really nothing to be ashamed of if we notice that our goals might not be the right goals at some point during the year.
One of the keys to setting and reaching goals is to evaluate those goals on a regular basis so we have the opportunity to tweak them a bit — or completely scratch them if the direction of our business or our life changes (which could very easily happen over the course of an entire year).
So if you’re already feeling like your goals aren’t a great fit for you, take a moment today (or this week) to reevaluate your goals. Tweak them, change them, or even completely re-write them to better fit your needs.
Once you find the right goals for you, it will be much easier and more fun to work towards achieving them!