Shelley Lowery: Setting Business Goals
Your Road Map to Success
Copyright © 2008
Setting goals is an important part of your success. If you were to ask any successful person you know how they became so successful, they will tell you that they set goals, developed a plan to reach those goals, and then put that plan into action.
If you haven't written down any goals for yourself or your business, you need to do so right away. If you are working without any specific goals, you are actually preventing your success. There is an old proverb that says that if you don't know where you are going, you cannot possibly get there. When you set goals, you then know where you are going, and can take the necessary steps to arrive at your destination.
Let's look at each step of the goal setting process:
1. What do you want to accomplish?
When writing down what you want to accomplish, you must be very specific. For example, don't just say that you want to make a lot of money, say how much money you want to make within a certain amount time. Or, don't just say that you want to make a lot of sales, say how many sales you want to make within a certain amount of time. What do you want for your future? Where do you want to be in one year? Where do you want to be in five years? Start writing it all down, and be as specific as possible.
2. When do you want to accomplish your goal?
As stated earlier, you have to state how much money you want to earn within a certain amount of time. Goals need objective dates, also known as deadlines. Without setting some sort of deadline for yourself, you will most likely never take the necessary steps needed to achieve your goals. Set deadlines, or objective dates.
3. Devise a plan
Now that you know where you want to go, and when you want to arrive, you have to figure out how you are going to get from where you are, to where you want to be. Goals should always have steps. Most successful people do some extensive goal setting. This means that for every goal, everything is broken down into the smallest of steps, and it is all written down. Not only do the goals have deadlines, but each step that must be taken to reach that goal also has a deadline. Steps should be taken daily toward your goals - no matter how small each step is. After you've developed a plan for reaching your goals, you are ready to move on to the final phase of goal setting.
4. Take Action
You know where you want to go. You know when you want to be there. You have a plan for getting there. It's all written down. However, none of that will do you a bit of good unless you are going to take action. In your day planner, start incorporating your steps into your daily schedule. Write it in, and do it in ink. Also, make it a habit to plan each day fully in advance. This means that at a certain hour of the day, you need to be doing a certain thing, and that certain thing needs your full attention. If you don't schedule your days, you will find that your entire day has gone to waste in most cases.
Stick to your schedule, and don't allow anyone to get in the way. There are always people and situations that will waste your valuable time. All that this accomplishes is keeping you from reaching your goals.
Sometimes, we fail to see what or who is wasting our time. A good way to figure this out is to keep a day journal for every single day, for a solid month. Write down everything you do, everyone you talk to, the times that things took place, how long those conversations or tasks lasted, and what they pertained to. It doesn't take much time to jot these things down, and at the end of the month, you will know exactly what wastes your time, and you can take steps to correct the problems.
Stay positive, and stay focused. Make it a point to review your goals at least once a week. This will help you to stay on track. Also note that sometimes the plan needs to be amended in order for it to continue working. Don't be afraid to change the steps, if it helps you to reach your main goal faster, easier, or cheaper.
Finally, when you've reached your goals, make sure that you set new goals. Life is best enjoyed when you have something that you are working toward, while enjoying that which you have already obtained.
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About the Author: Join me in the most exciting business opportunity in Internet history. Make up to $5000 or more weekly with a proven automated residual income system that is making many members wealthy in a very short period of time. www.BoardYourShip.com
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Copyright © 2008 Shelley Lowery. All rights reserved.
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