It's that time of year..... goal setting.
You hear about you. You likely believe in it. Yet....it's so hard to follow through!
Are you regularly reaching your yearly business and personal goals?
What if there was a way....a path...a process?
In this episode of Halftime Mike I dive into a clear outline of a path forward that is clear, doable, and straightforward. It will help you have a plan you can follow to accomplish your business and personal goals for next year.
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First, you gotta remember...it's a fight. There will be trials. There will be trouble. It's not easy! If it were, everyone would accomplish their goals. You must persevere. You must press forward.
I love this song by Rachel Platten for this reason. It's a motivator, and inspirational song about her quest to press on and to find that "fight" within herself and to act on it.
You gotta keep after it! You will fall down, get back up and keep going! Map out and accomplish those goals with my help here!
Core values guide your decision making.
Key Core Personal Values of Operation I Abide by:
* Be Distinct (The alternative is extinct)
* A Bias for Action
* Execute with Excellence
* You win when others win (Add value)
* Engage & Empower Others!
* Get up, shake it off, and keep at it!
* Impact Your World!
* Leadership is Service
* Autonomy with fierce commitment to Values
I recommend you revisit/write your core values as step one. This undergirds you and is your compass for how you make decisions. Goals should be set within the framework of your core values.
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
Do a SWOT analysis of your prior year by thinking through and writing down answers to these questions:
What happened last year?
What were our company/my personal strengths? In Sales? Marketing? Project Management? Processes? Hiring?
What weaknesses were exposed in our company/myself? Same areas to evaluate as above!
What opportunities did we see emerge? Will there continue to grow this next year? What opportunities are we seeing for the next year?
Finally, what threats did we encounter in the past year? What internal or external factors (competitors? industry changes?) were threats to success and profitability?
Answering these questions give you a picture of your context and a reality check on
Now it's time to set your goals! Use the core values as your guide in making decisions and the SWOT Analysis as a sharpener to know where and how to focus. Your goals need to be SMART, meaning they need to be:
First, dive down into a few specific goals. Start with the first one. What exactly is it? Write it down in draft form.
Next make sure it’s measurable (grow sales by 30% from last year is measurable) and that you’re able to attain the goal (200% growth might be out of reach!). Is it achievable?
Next, is your goal realistic or relevant to your business? How does it advance the business and your values?
And last, in what timeframe would you like to see this goal made? Will it take the entire year? If so, what checkpoints do you need to put in along the way? 20 goals is likely to many to focus on. Can you narrow it down to 6-10 keys? Start with drafts, refine, and then finalize. Now, it's time to set a plan to achieve them!
This is how you monitor progress and stay on track! Outline a few key metrics that help you evaluate your progress toward your goals. If you hope to bring in $1million in business, how much is that per week? That's your measurement. Have a spreadsheet of key metrics and then meet weekly with your team to touch base on progress. This isn't a long meeting but it is a touchpoint. It's called a "Scorecard Review" and you review the key measurements. For example, going with the sales goal...
What were our sales last week?
What is our total to-date this year?
How much are we ahead or behind the pace to reach $1 million?
Also within the weekly meeting is a review of issues. This comes back to your SWOT Analysis. What are current issues that leadership needs to address? This can be internal and external. Create actions, assign them, and have those responsible report back progress prior to your next weekly meeting
Have this meeting at a set time each week so it becomes part of your routine! This can be done with a leadership team, or if these are personal goals, it can be done individually.
Lastly, break your goals down into key "quarterly rocks". These are "chunks" that help you accomplish your full goals. This is work that breaks you out of the daily grind and is work "on your business" and not merely "in your business". This is work and agenda that you need to chip away at in order to reach the full goal.
So each quarter of the year you want to set "Rocks" that are keys within your overall goals. They should be SMART goals for the quarter! Each week you review progress on these goals in your weekly meeting. This helps you evaluate your progress overall by breaking things down to quarterly pieces and measuring those weekly.
For example, for the $1 million sales goal. It might mean hiring another sales rep, implementing a marketing strategy, or sharpening a sales process.
That's a wrap on a goal setting process with a implementation process that makes your yearly goals attainable and doable. So often we set goals but fail to set them "SMARTly" and we then fail to have process to check in on progress.
Together this process helps you do all of the above! Got questions? Ask away!
What’s your key takeaway that you need to do in the next 24 hours based on listening to this?
What's your biggest takeaway from my process? Share below!
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I’m an Indiana Hoosier native where basketball is the top sport. Every team heads to the locker room at halftime to evaluate the first half and create a updated plan for the second half. That plan includes adjustments based on reviewing what worked and what didn't. The “halftime” is a key review point where the game stops, the team pulls away to huddle in the locker room away from the fans, and they come out prepared and ready to succeed in the second half.
That’s what this podcast is all about, taking the time to pull away for a bit to evaluate, learn, and set some strategies for your business to succeed in the second half. Join me by subscribing and let me be your “business halftime” to help you find great success going forward!
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