How many times in your corporate or entrepreneurial life have you been told to set goals? Are you tired of hearing about it? Have they ever helped you? If they have, that’s great. That’s the way it’s supposed to work. Goals are much more than a roadmap as to how you’re going to get your business where you’re trying to go. Goals (if used right) create some personal pressure on you to become more successful. And who likes pressure…right? The problem is, without goals you are without pressure. And forgetting about your goals and burying them in your desk or your mind guarantees no pressure. With no goals in front of you, you can’t be reminded of what you’re not doing, or how you’re blowing it! And no goals and no pressure mean that like millions of other people you probably won’t do anything new, innovative, risky to move your business substantially in the right direction.
Why goals are avoided or forgotten
People who don’t like goals are generally the people who don’t like to get out of their comfort zone. They don’t want to stray too far from anything that makes them uncomfortable and when you won’t stray very far from what makes you comfortable you set yourself up for pretty much the same activity, the same habits and the same mistakes as before. Why, because most of those same old things are areas where you’re already comfortable. For example, you don’t get a new POS system that could streamline your business, because you don’t want to go through the hassles and learning curve of learning new software. You don’t deal with the late coming employees or the lack of customer service because it means taking some action that might be unpleasant. Many don’t leave their miserable job because they have become comfortable with certain co-workers and handling the existing boss.
My experience has been that the most successful people I’ve known create quite a bit of pressure for themselves and sometimes even those around them. They create more goals because they have higher expectations and they want to see them materialize.
Do you think Steve Jobs created some pressure and goals for himself?
Do you think he created some pressure for those around him? You bet he did!
We all have reasonably high expectations, but those owners and managers that create goals and do something about getting there are the ones that succeed. Sitting on a couch or at your desk dreaming about lofty expectations does nothing for you except possibly provide some fun and brief entertainment for yourself.
Think about it, if the last few years have been less than stellar, you most likely haven’t set any goals or acted on the one’s you’ve set. Yes, I know you’ve been busy. We’ve all been busy. The difference is that setting goals and truly acting on them gives us a solid way out of the same mundane daily activities that get us nowhere. It’s a lot like those who are always working in their business but never seem to have enough time to work on their business. It’s a special difference that makes all the difference. Working “in” your business is doing the same old things that virtually all employees do in your business. It’s the necessary grunt work of the business, but working “on” your business means big picture thinking, goals setting, strategizing and figuring out where you’re going and how you’re going to get where you want to go. You’ve got to work “on” your business more and a big part of working “on” your business means setting goals for you and your business.
Do you really want to be in the same place next year as this year or last year?
Are you hoping the economy will turn around? Are you waiting or hoping someone else, somewhere else to make things better for your business? You can’t count on anyone else to make things better for your store. Not your local politicians, not the congress or president, not your banker, and not even your customers. The only one you can count on is you, and you can either tread water and repeat the strategies, lower standards and policies that have been getting you nowhere or you can set some goals and aggressively act on them. Hope may make us feel better or give us some feeling of security, but it is NOT a strategy and it won’t do a thing towards making your business better.
There’s a lot of advice out there on setting goals, but none of it is worth two paise if you don’t believe in the power and importance of goals, because you either won’t write them down, won’t act on them or won’t look at them again. Goal setting is absolutely meaningless and useless (even if you right them down), if you keep them to yourself or bury them in your desk somewhere. If you are really serious, write them down and tell everyone around you (especially your employees) what the goals are. Tell your people you want them to help with those goals including the act of reminding you of those goals from time to time. When you do this, it adds some real power to those goals. It’s a lot like adding 2 + 2 together and getting 6.
Check the progress of your goals weekly and monthly and let your people know where you stand regarding those goals. On a daily basis you and your people need to be asking the question, “does this activity move us closer to our goal and closer towards pleasing our customers, or does it take us off-track.” So, my question is:
“What are you planning to do in 2020 to put your business into a top gear?
What will you do to make it better and more profitable?” Last but not the least, if you are in need of help, seek it from a professional or experienced source, who can truly help. Stop hoping, thinking about it, or creating excuses. Stay focused on those goals and ideas and let nothing side track your efforts. Write it down as a short-term goal and act on it.
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/business-goals-guarantee-one-thing-more-mediocre-year-harsh-gupta
