Dec

How To Create Daily Objectives From Your Goals

If you are a small business owner you have probably written out goals at the beginning of the year before. If you are wondering what your goals from January 2010 were, and you can’t remember any of them, you aren’t alone. Often we get pumped up and write a big dream list (goals) and forget that we need clear business objectives in order to reach them.

How to Break Goals Down Into Objectives

I use a few different tactics to break down my goals into single objectives but I’m only going to share my favorite technique here today.

When I can create bite sized objectives it is easier to in realtime see if I am on track to reach my goals or not. The first thing I do with a goal is create a time break down. If your goal is to make $100,000.00 next year then what does that mean? Here is how I would look at it:

income objectives

This approach keeps me excited about the big dream, the goal, and it gives me smaller indicators that I can measure with each hour, day, week, and so on. I try to do this for anything big that I try to accomplish. This is one of reasons why I love spreadsheets because excel is the perfect tool to map out your objectives with.

Daily and Weekly Review

The only way to consistently hit objectives is to do personal daily and weekly reviews of your own performance. It is also very important to have someone to hold you accountable to your goals.

Where should you place your goals and objectives so that you see them daily? On the bathroom mirror? behind your computer screen up on the wall? Wherever it is you need to make sure that you see your goal constantly. Unless you visualize your goals, and see the objectives necessary to complete them, you won’t effectively move forward and reach your ultimate goal.

Today, take the time to write out your goals, then break them down into daily objectives. Give yourself something easy to measure. Use this breakdown as the objectives you need to accomplish on a daily basis.

To your success in 2011!

Dec

Business Goals – What is Your Goal?

Setting and achieving your business goals will be the difference maker in your success as a small business owner. Even though it is easy to dream big dreams, it is much more difficult to take action and reach your goals. This requires clear thoughts and decisive actions. Goals are dreams that require clear objectives to reach them.

Describe Your Business Goals Clearly and Concisely

It’s easy to state vague goals and in doing so we don’t have any real commitment to concrete objectives. Instead of your goals being vague “I want to sell more next year”, “I want to be more efficient with my time next year” outline exactly what your goal is. Write out clear objectives:

I want to sell 10% more than last year. My gross sales should equal $525,140.00 by December 31st, 2011
I want to accomplish all my tasks in 8 hours each day, instead of working 10-12 hours per day

Once you’ve clearly and concisely identified what you want to accomplish it is much easier to take the right actions.

What Will it Take to Reach Your Business Goals

A realistic look at what it will take your business to reach the goals you’ve outlined is important. You must accurately and honestly measure the resources that you can dedicate to your goals. As an example, if you wanted to implement consistent training you’d have to:

Schedule consistent times for training
Obtain or update relevant training material
Communicate the value of training to the rest of your team

Those pieces of your goal would require time, money, and planning. You have to have an accurate and honest view of what this means for your business. Once you’ve stated your goal clearly, take plenty of time to think about what it takes to reach the goals you’ve outlined.

When does this Goal Need to be Accomplished

Once you’ve clearly defined the goals, and determined what your business needs to accomplish them, you need to clearly lay out a time frame to accomplish them. To reach your goal you’ll need to schedule consistent times to work on the objectives that step you closer towards your goal. Be realistic in when the goal can be completed, but don’t set a date so far away that the goal doesn’t seem real. If your goal is so huge that you’ve planned for it to take three years you may want to break it down into smaller goals. Once you’ve determined when the goal needs to be completed use focus techniques that help you reach your goals consistently and effectively.

How do you reach your goals? Share what works for you in the comments.

Dec

Knowing the Difference Between Goals and Objectives

Goals Versus Objectives Every year around this time I start to think about my goals. What do I want to accomplish next year? Where do I want to go, how much do I want to earn and save, and how do I want my business to grow? Those are the kind of goals that I think about and begin to write down.

Last week while discussing some of these things with my friend Scott he pointed something out that I believe will be incredibly valuable to you as you move ahead.

There is a Big Difference Between Goals and Objectives

Goals can often be the distant dreams that we want to achieve, but they often lack concrete steps. Objectives are the steps that we identify and accomplish one after another. I really like what this image I’ve included illustrates. The red puzzle piece in the person’s hand is an objective. It is what will help them reach their goal.

The other thing that really hit home with me was that I believe military forces work off of objectives, not just goals. When was the last time you heard the commander in a movie or a real live press conference use the word “goals”? They usually speak about the objectives that they are outlining and accomplishing. At the end of the battle they have either completed their objectives or failed to complete their objectives. They are responsible to justify their results to their superiors and explain why they have or haven’t succeeded. The completion of the war is the goal, while each single battle, and each capture of a strategic point, are the objectives that help them reach the goal.

How Do I Reach My Goals Using Objectives?

First of all, realize that your goals will be unattainable unless you breakdown each step. Each single piece that helps you reach your goal needs your complete focus. Break things down into steps that are relevant for your daily life. Make sure that you have someone to hold you accountable, and schedule your to do list. If you are careful to line up the right objectives then you’ll successfully reach more of your goals.

What helps you reach your objectives? Is there something I can do to help you? Contact me or post in the comments and I’ll do whatever I can do to help you turn goals into real objectives.

Dec

Are You Thinking for the Future?

Are you just trying to make it through the day? Are you thinking about what to do the rest of the weekend or next week? Are you thinking for the future?

Living in the moment is good advice for some parts of our day but we can’t forget to look ahead to what may be coming in our future. What is ahead on your path? Do you have any control of it? You may have formed an opinion already about how destiny treats you, but I’d like to challenge that today. There are definitely some parts of our future that we affect.

Actions That Change Our Future For The Better:

Planning out the coming week
Writing out your goals
Breaking down your goals into daily steps
Daily choosing a positive attitude
Managing your time
Managing your finances

Actions That Change Our Future For The Worse:

Ignoring the elephant in the room
Choosing not look at your goals daily
Thinking someone else will handle the problem
Spending time or money unwisely
Choosing to ignore the value of consistency
Choosing not educate yourself consistently

Each day you are either making positive decisions that help your future, or making bad decisions that harm your future. Don’t underestimate the power of your conscious or conscious decisions. Think about your future today.

Gabe Arnold

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