Set New Business Goals. It’s New Years Resolution Time
It’s that time of year where everyone sets unfeasible weight loss goals, or vows to finally drop their tobacco habit. But for your business, New Years is a great time to set some goals for your business and make some personal resolutions that may help you along the way. So first, let’s start with a few tips when making Goals:
- Separate your goals- Keep your business goals separate from your personal goals. It just makes it easier from an organizational standpoint
- Write them down – write your goals/resolutions down. Review them very often.
- Make them specific – “Make more Money” is not a good new years resolution. Vague wording, no matter how good your intent is, will not help you achieve your goal. For example: the ominous “War on Terror.” It’s an impossible war to win because it’s obviously to vague. How do you win a war on an adjective? Terror isn’t even a noun.
- Timeline - similar to the last one, break down your larger goal into many smaller goals that can be achieved every month or quarter. This will keep you on task.
- Rewards - If you accomplish your mini goals after 3 or 6 months, be sure to reward yourself. Keep your goals relative to your accomplishments, but be sure to celebrate in some fashion.
For my own goals, I just started thinking about what I want to accomplish for 2008. I have several ideas floating in my head, but have yet to follow my own advice above by writing them down. After finalizing my goals over the next couple days, I will post them here because someone in a similar situation somewhere may be able to benefit. I also encourage everyone to post their own New Years Resolutions or business goals and post them in the comments.
I can vouch for writing your goals down. It’s not always the goal that you’re writing down at the time that counts, it’s the other goals and ideas that writing generates that really count.