Say goodbye to all the notions and experiences you’ve had with goal-setting in the past. Today, we’re starting fresh and I’m going to introduce a two-part goal-setting framework that will make your BIG goals seem easier to accomplish than ever.
You’ve already gotten clarity around what went well for you last year and what you need to tweak, and where you kind of want to go.
Now we’re going to take it the next step further and put boundaries and some life into your goal for the next year.
To begin, download the Goal Crushing worksheet and follow along.
- SMART GOAL: (one measurable, specific goal, like increase revenue to $50,000 in 2019)
- START DATE: (today’s date)
- PLAYERS: (who is involved on your team or helping you get there)
- SUCCESS DATE: (end date you want to accomplish the goal by)
- WHAT HAS TO HAPPEN FOR THIS TO BE A REALITY?: (If this list doesn’t happen, there’s no way this goal can be reached)
- WHAT COULD STOP YOU: (What fears, doubts, obstacles could potentially stop you next year?)
- THINK DIFFERENT + SOLVE IT: (One by one, go down your list of obstacles and write out the best solution so that isn’t an obstacle next year. For example, if a roadblock was I’m doing too much busywork and not work that brings in revenue, a solution could be: Focus on CEO or revenue-producing tasks only and hire out the rest)
- FIRST STEPS: (What’s the very first thing I have to do to get closer to that solution? Then go down each item from the obstacles and write out your next steps. For example, the next step from above would be: Write out everything I do and categorize it based on CEO tasks, revenue-producing tasks, admin or busy work)
- NEXT STEPS: (Continue writing out the next 3-4 steps you can think of to get closer to this solution)
Let’s break down each step piece by piece:
SMART GOAL >>
This is just a fancy term someone came up with an acronym for that basically means a super specific goal that is measurable.
The goal you create here is what will determine the rest of your year and each quarter of marketing + sales.
I challenge you to set a goal that feels like a stretch, but not so crazy that you’ll never set off to attain it because your brain fears you’ll never get there.
You’ve already done the hard work of looking back at your performance and habits last year. What does that tell you? Where can you push yourself? Does it make you hungry for more this year?
The amazing thing about setting higher-than-normal goals is that you push yourself harder-than-normal to reach them.
What if you don’t reach it?
Then you don’t reach it. And you’ll have something to dig into next year for your Year in Review to see what you can do differently to hit the goal next year. It’s never a failure or loss — only a learning experience and wins. This is where the mindset shift has to take place.
If you can only see big goals as roadblocks that will take an immense struggle to overcome, your journey this year will feel immensely hard.
However, if you focus your mind on what you’ve done, where you’re going and lay the framework for how to get there, next year just got a whole lot more exciting.
PLAYERS >>
Write down every single person who will help you crush this goal over the next 12 months. This can include your team, freelancers, a coach, a spouse, a supportive loved one or friend, future hires you know you’ll need to hit the goal, etc. Make the list and start to see who all is in your corner. It makes the journey seem way less lonely and daunting.
WHAT HAS TO HAPPEN FOR THIS TO BE A REALITY >> RIght now I’m asking you to pull a magic mirror out of your purse, much like Belle had in the Beast’s castle. (Don’t judge, we watch a LOT of Disney in this house).
This mirror is going to show your future in one year’s time. Everything that you’ve accomplished. Everyone around you. Every single landmark you had to reach and had to have lined up, in order to be experiencing everything you imagining when you’re setting your smart goal.
So the question is, what do you see 12 months from now?
What absolutely hands-down HAD to have happened in order for you to have reached that big smart goal you set for yourself?
This question and the next one, are ones I want you to mull over and think about. Let the goal bounce around in your mind for a bit. What would it do for your business to achieve this? What will it take to get you there?
Let’s use the above goal of Increase revenue to $50,000 by the end of 2019
In order to hit that revenue goal, what will have to be true?
– Increase visibility + kept it consistent
– Raised prices
– Created a successful funnel to sell the main offering
– Retained coaching clients all year
– Worked on mindset + mean girl mentality
– Hired out work that “I” didn’t have to do
– Easily sold offers
– Nailed ideal clients so had a stream of people to sell too
Above is a short list of possible things that would have to happen for someone to hit $50,000 (let’s assume they’re doubling revenue in a year).
NOW, we have to some focus on what we need to master in order to actually hit the goal.
So let’s tackle the big elephant in the room:
WHAT COULD STOP ME >>
This step is the one I see missed most often among goal-setting business owners.
We are really good at projecting hopes, dreams and wishes, but not so good at safeguarding our route from potential danger and obvious pitfalls.
Looking at your answers for what DOES have to happen, think about why that list of things might get derailed.
If you MUST increase visibility to hit the goal, what are all the possible things that could happen to stop you?
– You’re afraid of being on social media
– You have a personal matter that has you hiding and avoiding work
– You’re unsure of where to be to even be visible
– You can’t get into a habit of doing it regularly
– You don’t know what to talk about or/promote to be visible
Wow.
It’s like we just dove straight into someone’s fear and pulled out all the terrifying thoughts that paralyze us.
Go on to the next one on the list.
If you MUST raise your prices to hit the goal, what are all the possible things that could happen to stop you?
– No one buys at those prices
– You aren’t sure what to raise them to
Boom. Now you’re getting to the heart of our brain and what TRULY stops us from achieving goals.
Go through each line item you listed for what MUST happen to hit your goal and brainstorm ALL the possible things that could stop you from doing them.
You should have a pretty sizable list of fears, doubts and honest answers that we’ll tackle next.
THINK DIFFERENT + SOLVE IT >>
Here’s where you get to come to save the day, and your goal.
We’re no longer projecting doomsday for ourselves. Instead, we’re going to come up with a solution and steps for every single roadblock, so there are ZERO excuses for hitting the goals.
Starting with our example: You’re afraid of being on social media
What is a different way to think about this problem and how can you solve it?
The first solution I think of when I read this:
Find a platform and way to engage on social media that feels natural
If that is my solution, what’s the very next step I need to take to accomplish this?
I should probably brainstorm all the things I like doing on social media to see where my natural ability/comfort level lies.
Then what?
Once I know what I do like, let’s go back into what I DID do last year on social media to be visible and write down what I liked or didn’t like about each one.
Then what?
I should look for the patterns of why I didn’t like them and make a new plan for how I could still be visible without being uncomfortable.
Congratulate yourself. We’ve now taken one roadblock completely off the table. Now begin tackling the next one, until you’ve come up with a solution + action plan for each one.
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