So you’re fired up and ready to make a plan for your life and your business in the new year. Awesome! Before you develop the plan, let’s get back to the basics with five steps for setting goals.
We’re gonna uncomplicate this for you. Here’s the question to answer: what is your goal? It doesn’t need to be fancy, or well-formed, or big and shiny. It can be super simple, like “drive more revenue.”
So what’s that basic, simple goal? Write it down.
Okay, now let’s elaborate. We love to use the SMART framework to develop our goals into ones that are clear, measurable, and actionable. (Psst—our friends at HubSpot have a FREE goal-setting worksheet to get you started on the SMART framework.)
Let’s break it down:
S - SPECIFIC: Being specific in your goal setting is so important. Vague, generalized goals are hard to act on. Take out the ambiguity by answering the Ws: what, why, where, when, who? What do I want to accomplish and why? Who is involved, when and where will it take place?
M - MEASURABLE: Let’s go back to our original example goal of driving more revenue. What is “more” to you? There’s a big difference between “I want to drive more revenue” and “I want to drive $5 million in new revenue this year.” Putting numbers and data around your goal will help it become measurable so you’ll really know when it’s been achieved.
A - ATTAINABLE: Let’s not get crazy here. Pipe dream goals are awesome to have—they’re motivating, they’re exciting, they’re ambitious. But for true success in achieving your goals, you'll need to jump off Cloud 9 for a second. We’re not saying those pipe dream goals should disappear, but try to focus the majority of your efforts on attainable, realistic goals that you and your team have a good chance of achieving.
R - RELEVANT: Let’s make sure your goal directly relates to what’s going on in your business at the time and what will truly help you grow. Only goals that are relevant at the time are worth pursuing and dedicating time to.
T - TIME-BOUND: The final step is making sure there’s a timeline associated with achieving your goal—for example, driving $5 million in new revenue by the start of Q2. Make sense? This deadline will help you set your road map and work towards achieving the goal in a timely manner.
Need some help setting goals and planning what's next for your business? Here at Media Junction, we live for this kind of stuff. Book a free consultation now!
