Now that we’re into the fourth quarter of the year, it’s time to ramp up your business! Most businesses see a bulk of their yearly results in the last few months of the year, especially if you’re a product-based business. Knowing this, you want to make sure you set yourself up for success!
Today, I want to share with you an easy way to set business goals for yourself that you can use to propel you and your business to new and amazing heights going into 2023!
Make Your Goals Specific
When you’re setting your goals, the first and probably most important thing you want to do is to make sure that the goals you set are very specific. None of these other points will matter if you don’t have goals that make sense.
Here’s an example: instead of setting a goal saying you want to make more money this year during Q4 than you did during last year’s Q4, instead say: “I made $50,000 last year during this time, and this year I want to make $75,000.”
Now you have a specific goal that you will know for a fact you either achieved or did not achieve. If you make a goal that isn’t specific, you’ll struggle the entire quarter wondering if you’re hitting your goal, or even at all, because what we put out in the universe we get back. This means that you need to have something to put out into the world that makes sense.
Make Your Goals Measurable
After you’ve made sure your goal is specific enough, you next want to make sure that you’re able to measure your goal, and know whether or not you’re on the right track, or eventually if you even hit your goal.
You’re not just going to create a goal for yourself, then forget about it, but rather you’re going to be checking your progress weekly or even daily to make sure that you’re still on track, or if changes need to be made.
Well if your goal isn’t measurable then you’ll have no way of knowing if you’re on the right track, and even worse, you won’t know when and what changes to make to ensure that you get yourself and your business back on track towards that goal.
Make Your Goals Attainable
Let’s use the example from the first point about your goals being specific. We used the example that we made $50,000 last year during this time, and this year, we want to make $75,000. Most people would say that is a completely attainable goal, and I would agree.
However, if you were to have made $50,000 last year and you set a goal for yourself of $1M, while that COULD happen, most likely you’re setting yourself up to fail because to create that much more income in a short amount of time to most would seem unattainable.
There’s nothing worse than setting yourself up for failure by setting an unrealistic goal, so before you set your goal for the rest of the year, ask yourself, “Is this ACTUALLY attainable?” You obviously want to stretch yourself so that you push yourself, but not at the expense of making an unrealistic goal, only to set yourself up to fail.
Make Your Goals Relevant
If a goal means nothing to you, then you’re not going to put in the work and effort it will take to make that dream a reality. Making money as a goal isn’t enough, because money isn’t the actual motivator . . . rather, it’s the reason BEHIND making the money.
So if you want to make $75,000 in the last part of the year, take it one step further and write down why. “I want to make $75,000 this year to pay off the rest of my debt and be debt free!” Now that’s a goal that has meaning behind it!
The reason you want to do this is that throughout the rest of the year, you’re going to experience setbacks, failures, and hard times that will make you want to throw in the towel when it comes to the goal you set. However, if you know you’re doing it for a reason (to be debt free), you’ll find yourself pushing on because you know what the goal can do to change your life.
Make Your Goals Time-Bound
I learned a long time ago from a book called “The 12 Week Year” that not only do you need to set a specific deadline for your goals but that you should plan your year in quarters, not for the entire year. What do I mean?
Well, if you make a goal on January 1st for the entire year, you subconsciously know that you have an entire year to achieve that goal . . . so what do you do? You slack off the first couple of months, then wake up and realize you need to put the effort in, then slack off again, only to try and achieve a year’s worth of goals in December.
Setting goals like this is a sure-fire way to set yourself up for failure . . . that’s why so many people struggle when making their New Year’s resolutions. A much better way is to set your goals every 12 weeks instead, that way, it forces you to stop procrastinating and put in the work every single day.
When you make a yearly goal and skip a day, it doesn’t seem like a big deal. Heck, even if you skip a week, it doesn’t seem like it will affect you much. However, if you skip a day or a week when it comes to a 12-week goal, you’ve skipped a significant amount of time.
This tells your subconscious that every day is important, and this forces you to take action, however big or small, every single day. So when you’re planning your goals in the future, try to plan them for the shortest amount of time possible. No matter how much time you give yourself, make sure you’re giving yourself a deadline, or else you’ll continue to put off the goal you’ve set for yourself.
Conclusion
Goals are something that gives you a place to aim and a purpose to strive, for as well as help you navigate the success of your business. If you need help setting business goals for yourself, then reach out HERE and set up a free call with me, and I’d be happy to help you set your goals for the rest of the year!