5 Mistakes That Undermine Your Business Goals
It’s the start of a new year, and business leaders across the world are setting goals for the coming year.
Some of them will succeed. And some of them won’t.
What if there were a few common mistakes you could avoid that would increase your chance of crushing your goals?
Good news–there are! Let’s take a look.
Here are 5 mistakes that most business owners make when setting goals (and how to fix them):
Mistake 1: Setting the wrong goals
Let’s start at the very beginning. The first mistake you could make is setting a bad goal in the first place.
What makes a goal bad?
A bad goal doesn’t necessarily mean that your intentions are wrong. It might just mean that your goal is vague, unrealistic, or arbitrary instead of meaningful.
The fix:
Make your goals clear
Make sure you’re crystal clear on what you want when you set your goal. Instead of making your goal “sell more websites”, make it “raise the average conversion rate in initial sales meetings from 50% to 65% by May 1st”. This gives you something clear enough to actually measure and make progress on.
Make your goals realistic
You can set ambitious goals, but you still need to be realistic. When you’re setting a big goal, take the time to think through the sacrifices you will need to make in order to hit that goal. Spending the time and energy to reach a goal will require you spend less time and energy on something else. Figure out what that is and count the cost ahead of time.
Make your goals meaningful
When possible, link your goal to a meaningful outcome that you want to experience. Instead of setting an arbitrary number as a sales goal, figure out why you want to make more sales. For example, if you want to make mores sales so that you can give your team a 5% raise, calculate the number of sales you would need to make that possible, and make that number your goal.
Mistake 2: Forgetting your goals
It happens to the best of us. Yes, even you.
You think about what you want to accomplish. You dream about the results and how you could get there. But somehow all those thoughts never materialize into consistent action. And in sometimes, you forget about your goals altogether!
The fix:
Write your goals down
Here’s the good news—according to a study at Dominican University in California, putting your goals in writing increases your likelihood of success by 42%. Take the time to write down the goals you want to achieve. It’s worth it!
Make your goals impossible to ignore
Post your written goals where you’ll automatically see them every day. You could put your new morning routine on your bathroom mirror, and your business goals on the wall next to your desk, written on the cover of your notebook, or on the desktop wallpaper of your computer.
For more about making your work goals visible, check out my post on creating a quarterly goal board for your team.
Mistake 3: Underplanning
It’s easy to put your goals in writing, but as you may have heard, a goal without a plan is just a wish.
If you don’t have a solid plan to accomplish your goal, you’ll have a lot less clarity (and a lot more friction) when it comes time to working on your goal.
The fix:
Block out time on your calendar
If your goal requires a one-time effort, block out a large chunk of time on your calendar to accomplish it. Maybe you could even block out a stretch of several days for your goal and knock it all out in one big push. If it requires ongoing effort, create a recurring calendar event. Make sure to block out more time than you think you’ll need in case things don’t go according to plan.
Choose your location and tools
For certain goals, knowing where you will do the work and what tools you will need is very useful. For example, if you are creating an email campaign, decide whether you want to do the work from home, at your desk, or from a coffee shop. Do you want to map it out on a whiteboard, type it up on your computer, or write out a plan in your notebook first? Picking the place and the tools beforehand makes it easier to get started.
Make a back-up plan
Identify possible things that could throw you off along the way, and come up with back-up plans ahead of time. For example, think about what to do if:
You discover that your original goal is unrealistic
It’s going to take longer than you thought
You miss a day. Do you make it up? Or start tomorrow?
Mistake 4: Doing it alone
When you’re the only one that knows about your goals, you’re missing out on the hugely impactful benefits of accountability and positive peer pressure. If you hit a road block or get discouraged, it’s much easier to give up.
The fix:
Get your friends or team involved
When you share you goals with other people, it helps them support you and helps you mentally solidify your goal on a deeper level. Just like writing it down, speaking it out loud helps you commit and increases you chances of success. Have a regular check-in time (it could be daily or weekly) where you and your accountability parter text each other to see how you are progressing. According to The American Society of Training and Development, scheduling a regular accountability check-in time can increase your chances of success by 95%.
Join a productivity community
One really great solution is to join an online community like Motivated Mornings. The founders are friends of mine, and I’m a huge fan of what they’re doing.
Essentially it’s a community of productivity-minded creators that meet at the same time every morning via video chat for 10 minutes. Directly following that, they have 2 hours of virtual co-working time so everyone can focus on accomplishing their most important goals. Their service combines the principles of accountability and time blocking to help you actually get the important work done. If you’re curious, check them out.
Mistake 5: Quitting vs. adapting
I can guarantee that at some point something will go wrong with your plans. Probably even your back-up plans. But it’s impossible to predict every possible thing that could go wrong.
How do we plan for the bumps in the road that we can’t predict?
The fix:
Schedule time to re-evaluate plans and goals
When you set your goal and block off time on your calendar, also schedule a time in the future (maybe once a month) to check in on each goal and see what’s working and isn’t working. That way as you learn more, you can adjust and adapt your plans instead of giving up.
You’ve got this!
If you can do these 5 things:
Choose the right goals
Write your goals in a visible place
Create a solid plan
Be accountable to others
Adjust instead of quit
I believe you’ll have your highest achieving year yet!
I’d love to know what helps you achieve your goals. Drop your ideas and tips in the comments below!