Do you want to know what makes a business successful? It’s not profit, reputation, or impact. It’s not marketing or finance. It’s not whether you’re sitting in a Herman Miller chair or on a park bench. It is when you set business goals and achieve them.
Without business goals, you will never know “What’s Important Now?” You can work on anything you want and never hold your business accountable. If you don’t set business goals, success will remain intangible and impossible to find. After all, how can you reach for what you can’t see?
So how do you set business goals and achieve them?
One or Two Goals, Max
We have enough going on with just “living” our lives. We have to shower, eat, work, clean, and the list goes on and on. You need to set one or two goals, max, because you won’t have time for anything else. You need to put all of your eggs in one basket and devote your time to fortifying that basket. You’re a business person and your time is limited. You simply won’t have time for more than one or two goals.
Command Your Ship
The leadership expert John C. Maxwell said, “A Pessimist complains about the wind. An optimist expects it to change. A leader adjusts the sails.” And that my friends, is how you create a business goal. You need to look at something you control and aim to control it. Don’t focus on the weather, focus on what you can do to change the weather.
Two Versions Of Your Goal
You need to have two versions of your goals. You need to have one goal that you think you can achieve and then one goal that is much higher than the first. You never know what you might accomplish and you don’t want to sell yourself short by setting your goals too low.
Make Your Goals Public
When I started this “Success Factors” series I committed to one article per day. Let me tell you, it’s hard. It’s real hard to find one unique article per day to write about. Yet, here I am, staying up all hours of the night and losing sleep to make sure I get one article up per day. My goal is public and I don’t want to fail.
Do Something Today
I just launched Prevential.com and I kept asking myself, “What can I do right now to grow my audience?” So I started a blog series. Instead of trying to optimize my website for search engines, I focused on what I did best and started writing immediately.
Forget Effort. Manage Activity
It doesn’t matter how hard you work. What matters is how much you do while you work hard. So, if you’re trying to sell shower doors, you should contact 500 people instead of 400 people. Don’t work on improving your conversion ratio because that could take a lifetime of practice. Instead, focus on what you control and that’s how many people you talk to.
Now, how about you join the conversation?
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
@derek- Great post! Goals are so powerful they can propel you to do things you never would have imagined. I had a similar experience when setting up my recently launched blog. I set January 1, 2009 as the launch date about a month in advance and sure enough the blog went live just in time, despite all my other commitments. If the goal truly matters to you deep down inside, you will find a way to achieve it.
@Chad IT’s amazing what happens when you set a specific date in stone. Right?
I love what you said about making your goals public. I have a goal to start offering products and services on my blog and will continue to talk about them until they turn into a reality. Having other people excited for my success is truly inspiring.
As an athlete, I set goals and achieved them. As an entrepreneur, I feel like I’m swimming against the stream. While I continue to achieve my personal goals, I struggle with those that include other people. Any suggestions???
@Runner2 I don’t think you struggling with other people. Most likely, you know exactly what you need to do to become a better runner. If you run a 7 minute mile, you aim for a 6.5 minute mile. If you run a 6 minute mile, you aim for a 5.5 minute mile and so on. Whereas as an entrepreneur, the goals aren’t as clear-cut. So, you need to break down your goals into something manageable. Stop trying to control other people and focus on what you can control.
Derek,
Great post. What I disagree with is the amount of goals you should set. I believe that you may only be able to accomplish one or two at a time, but I think that you need to set milestones. If you make the first goal your short term goal and progress toward achieving the unreachable, eventually you will attain that second long term, big picture goal. The milestones create a pathway in which you can get to the big picture. An idea would be to sit down and create a list numbered 1-10. List the short term goal at 1 and the long term at 10. In between, situate what you believe are the goals you need to attain in order to reach 10. Once you reach 10, Set up 11-20 and repeat. You will go even further if you have a program to stick with.
P.S. I’ll have the neuromarketing piece worked out by tonight.
Hi there just wanted to give you a brief heads up and let you
know a few of the images aren’t loading correctly. I’m not
sure why but I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different internet browsers and both show the same outcome.
I drop a comment each time I like a article on a blog or I have something to add to the discussion.
I do have 2 questions for you if you usually do not mind. Is it only me or do a few of the responses look like they are left by brain dead folks? 
And, if you are writing at additional social sites, I’d like to keep
It’s triggered by the sincerness displayed in the post I read. And on this post How to Set and Achieve Business Goals. I was moved enough to drop a commenta response
up with anything fresh you have to post. Could you make a list all of your communal sites like your twitter feed, Facebook page
or linkedin profile?
I am curious to find out what blog platform you have been using?
I’m having some minor security problems with my latest blog and I would like to find something more risk-free. Do you have any suggestions?
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