Goal Setting 5 Part Series - How to Create Goals That Actually Work
TUNE IN ANYWHERE YOU LISTEN TO PODCASTS
Goal Setting 5 Part Series - How to Create Goals That Actually Work
In this 5-part mini series, we're talking all about goal setting! Start your new year off right by setting goals that you can actually achieve and by learning how to follow through on them. You'll get 5 tips and techniques for how to create attainable goals for yourself and then what you need to do to make them happen.
Part 1: Be specific in the goals that you set
Most of us have heard of setting S.M.A.R.T. goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound), but I think setting specific goals is the most important part of this equation. If you say that your goal is to grow your revenue or book more clients, you can’t put a plan of action into place because you don’t even actually know what you’re trying to achieve. That’s why being specific is so important.
If you know you want to grow your revenue, and you booked 20 clients last year, an example of a specific goal would be to say “I want to work with 30 clients this year.” You know that this will accomplish your overall goal of growing your revenue, you know it’s attainable because you worked with only a few less in the previous year, and now you can actually make a plan. You can now break this down to know how many clients you need to get each month, and then start to dig into where these new clients will come from.
Being specific absolutely helps your mindset of believing the goal is achievable, but it’s really the action steps that being specific will give you that make all the difference when you’re setting goals.
Part 2: Make a plan for how you’ll achieve your goals
As a continuation from part 1 of our series, now we have to make the action plan that we talked about. So if you have the specific goal in mind, you need to break it down into smaller steps and give yourself a deadline to achieve each step by.
In our previous example, we talked about booking 30 clients for the year. If that’s you goal, we want to break that down into smaller steps (booking 2-3 clients per month) and we need to start to hone in on where those clients will come from. This is the action part of the plan. If your goal is going to involve ramping up your marketing or creating a better process for converting leads into customers, then we have to analyze what worked and didn’t work for us in the past.
Once we know that, we can start to put together a plan for what needs to be done each month (or even week) to attract and convert those 2-3 clients each month. Whether or not you’ll actually hit your goal is defined by you following through on an action plan.
Part 3: What to do if you’re not making progress on your goal
Hopefully this doesn’t end up being the case, but if you’re in this stage, it’s totally okay! We all set goals that end up taking us a little longer than expected or that we have to pivot slightly and it doesn’t mean that it’s an unattainable goal or that you’re unsuccessful. It just means we need to know what to do to get back on track.
Step 1 is to go back to the drawing board. How can we get more specific or break this goal down even further than we already have. Once you know you’ve got those smaller goals, step 2 is to make a list of every single thing you can think of that could possibly help you achieve this smaller, micro step of your goal. Once you have a list of all these different options, choose the top 3 that make the most sense for you with the time, money, and resources you currently have and that will give you the most ROI. Now go try those 3 things!
Step 3 is to start asking for advice. Ask mentors, do market research with your audience, snoop around a little on your competitors, and take to Google to see what options or resources you haven’t thought of that could potentially help you. Seek advice from several different avenues, and see what it sparks for you. Once you’ve done all of this, you’ll have plenty of new things to try to start getting the ball rolling again on achieving your goal.
Part 4: How to actually get the most out of your goal
In my opinion, I never just want to achieve my goal. I want to go above and beyond what I set for myself, exceed my own expectations, and truly get the most out of a goal that I possibly can. So how do you make sure you do that? First, make sure you share your goal. Talk about what you’re working on with your friends, your audience, and in your content. Having people invested in your progress is going to hold you accountable to your goal and it’s going to grow some incredible connections for you that will end up benefiting your other goals down the road.
Next, document your journey. This kind of goes along with sharing your goal with people, but take it a step deeper. Take photos and videos of you working toward your goal. Journal or blog about the process. Do things that you’ll be able to look back on later to see the before and after. It’s going to make achieving the goal even more worthwhile for you, but it’s also going to give you something to look back on with future goals to hype yourself up and even potentially give you some authority and thought leadership in your industry.
Lastly, set subsequent “after” action steps. Like I said, I love to go above and beyond, so using our previous example, if I want to book 30 clients for the year and I achieve that goal in September, I’m not going to get complacent now. I’m going to use that momentum that I’ve been building up all year to continue to grow and book clients. By the end of the year, I could potentially have 32, 35, or even 40 clients booked instead of my original goal of 30. Whatever your goal is, be prepared to answer “what’s next?” when you do achieve the goal and make sure you’re always looking past the finish line at what else is possible.
Part 5: Tools that you can use for goal setting
For the final part of our series, I want to share a few tools that will help you with your goal setting that I personally love using and think make hitting your goals even easier.
Powesheets: These are made by Cultivate What Matters and it’s an incredible goal planner that’s unlike any other that I’ve ever found. It really walks you through the process of mapping out your action steps, making progress on the goal, and charting it all as you go along.
Start Today Journal: These are 3 month journals that make you get really specific on what your goals are and then force you to decide which goal you’ll work on first. I love that this journal let’s me dream as big as I want, but makes me prioritize and stay focused on one at a time.
Dave Ramsey’s workbooks: These are specifically for financial goals. I personally don’t follow every piece of advice Dave Ramsey dishes out, but I do love his Total Money Makeover workbooks for working on financial goals. It helps you get such a clear picture of your money situation and what you need to do to achieve financial freedom.
Trello: You may wonder what this has to do with goal setting. In addition to keeping me so organized and outlining all my projects, I love using Trello for my vision boards. It’s so easy to create different lists for my goals, and then break the cards down into each smaller goal with a checklist of action steps for each one.
Post-it Note Vision Board: Grab a poster board, cork board, etc. and put it somewhere that you can see it every day. Cover it in post-it notes that have statements of what your life will look like after you achieve this goal. If your goal is to get debt free, you may have notes that say “I’m able to take vacations when I want to” and “I don’t have the stress of making loan payments anymore.” This is the best (and most fun/colorful/customized) way to motivate yourself every day and remember what you’re working toward!
Stay tuned for new episodes of Females on Fire every Wednesday and Friday!
Love this episode? Your feedback would mean the world to us!
Want more from Females on Fire?
Grab your ticket to the Females on Fire Conference to join us live and in person for 2 days of business and personal growth!
Join the Fire Starter Club to get exclusive trainings, resources, live networking and co-working calls, and more!
Join the Females on Fire Facebook Community to get first dibs on freebies and announcements, plus meet some other amazing ladies like yourself!
If you enjoyed today's episode, please
Text 'PODCAST' to (910) 541-9177 to be first to know about episodes and even text in your questions about the episodes!
Post a screenshot from the episode on your Instagram Stories and tag @hayleyluckadoo & @femalesonfire so we can repost you!
Leave a podcast rating/review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Subscribe for new episodes every Wednesday and Friday.
Enjoy these offers from our affiliate partners:
Get 50% off Flodesk for life for beautiful email marketing
Run your online business the easy way with ThriveCart
Use code ‘FEMALESONFIRE’ to get 10% off your supplements order at GutPersonal
TOP CATEGORIES:
