Do you believe dreams can come true? Dreams being your goals, desires, passions, and aspirations. Yes!! Dreams do come true. However, your dreams and goals are very delicate. They can be squashed by the people in your life, they can be killed by pressure and stress, and they can be put on the proverbial shelf by you.
This lesson is going to be a little different. It is not just another lesson to be scanned and then discarded. And, it is not just another lesson about goal setting. As important as goal setting is, this article is about laying out a plan to achieve your goals.
Why is it that many people set goals but never achieve them? Good question, and here is my answer. In order to achieve your goals…
You must know what it is you want to accomplish (this is your purpose)
Know why you want it (your passion) and
Know how to achieve it (have a plan of action).
I know. This does not sound like earth shattering information. However, before you really believe that ask yourself this question, “Have I ever began a year hoping to accomplish a long list of goals, but by the end of December, when I look back, I achieved very few?”
If you answered, “Yes” to that question you are not alone. The steps below will help you begin a process to not only set your goals but to achieve them. This lesson is not meant to be a detailed explanation, but a tool that will give you the steps to begin a process of detailing out your goals and achieving those goals.
Step #1: Set a main goal.
Any goal (large or small / main or mini) has to be ALL three of these things – Measurable, Obtainable and Require Action. A main goal is not anything small. It is a goal that when you accomplish it you will be screaming it from the tree tops. It is a huge goal, nothing run of the mill. And will take some time and thought to put down in writing.
Step #2: Determine a “lagging” indicator to tell you that you accomplished the goal
A lagging indicator is a report or something that is obtained after the fact that will let you know if you hit the goal. A good example of this is a profit and loss statement. You normally get this much after the month or year is over and there is nothing you can do to change the numbers on the statement.
Step #3: Create up to seven mini goals
A mini goal is much like the main goal except they are more bite size. The have the three same criteria – measurable, obtainable, and requires action. Main people start with a mini goal as their main goal until they realize that the main goal is much larger and the mini goals are just a part of the main goal. Once all the mini goals are hit the main goal is achieved automatically.
Step #4: Determine the “leading” indicators to tell you that you accomplished the mini goals
Leading indicators are not like lagging indicators. Leading indicators are reports or data showing progress toward the mini goal and they are either in real-time or almost real time. An example of this could be a mini goal of 200 customers coming into the business in a day and the leading indicator could be a simple log counting those people coming in. You will know exactly when you hit the mini goal because of the leading indicator.
Step #5: Create the action steps to be taken to accomplish those mini goals
These are the steps that need to be taken daily or weekly to achieve the mini goal. If the mini goal is to have one referral source sending the business at least twenty new customers each month then the action for that mini goal could be to get out one day a week for at least three hours to market to new referral sources with the goal of getting at least one that will be sending at least twenty new customers monthly.
Last step: Create a scoreboard.
This is not complicated but could take some coaching so feel free to click on the free coaching option below and we will go over it together. In brief, the scoreboard is just like a scoreboard at a ball game, it shows the results of the mini goals.
Also, the worksheet for this lesson is a true worksheet. It is the main goal setting worksheet. It will walk you through all of the steps above.
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