Too Many Goals
By VICKY BROWN
Goals are a great vehicle to help get you, your team and your business from here to there. But if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably set way too many of them.
For instance, this is me sitting down to create annual goals. 1 – increase the business revenue to 5 million. 2 – grow profit margin by 10%. 3 – add 5 online courses. 4 – increase students by 20%. And on and on and on.
Now, in reality – if I tried to tackle all of those goals, the chances I would actually hit all of them would be close to 0. And the chance I would find myself tearing my hair out because of pressure and stress, would be close to 100%.
That’s because you can’t put concentrated attention on multiple huge goals at once. It’s like the myth of multitasking – you may think you’re doing everything, everywhere, all at once. But in reality – you aren’t. You’re doing some things, sometime, and then switching to another thing, and then another. And none of them are getting your best effort – or you’re losing massive amounts of time in between, because it takes time and effort to reengage where you left off.
So the big question is – how do you tackle this goal thing in a way that actually accomplishes something, and doesn’t put you into the ground doing it. Well, here are three really quick tips that have helped me.
Slay fewer dragons. Gaining ground on hitting goals can be like going into battle against a monster. So – since you have the power, why not have fewer monsters?
I’ve found that the sweet spot for me is no more than 3 big goals to focus on in a year. And in fact, I like to break them down and really focus one at a time.
So, if I were to use increase revenue, grow profit and add courses – well, I’d start with increasing revenue because that’s a bedrock goal that I would think would take much of the year. So, what strategies could I use to get the business to 5 million. Make more sales on the consulting side of the business – OK, that would lead to sub tasks around how to increase sales. And from that we get to grow revenue in the education side of the business – that would lead to getting more students, growing the product or maybe even developing an additional education product.
“… trying to do it all won’t work, and won’t be good for you. So timeline everything – then review it to be sure you haven’t piled too much in any one week, month or quarter“
Create milestones and a roadmap. So you see, there are a lot of sub tasks that can fit under the increase revenue banner. I would decide on which strategies make the most sense, figure out what sub tasks we need and then put them to a timeline.
Listen, you’ve got to do the ‘eat the elephant one bite at a time’ thing here. Because again, trying to do it all won’t work, and won’t be good for you. So timeline everything – then review it to be sure you haven’t piled too much in any one week, month or quarter. And remember, you still have the other 2 goals to go. Now can you see why more than 3 ends up being too many?
Oh, and by the way – run everything by someone else too. It could be a coach, a mentor or even someone you choose in your business. Just get a separate set of eyes on things. Many times we are way too close to the situation to have perspective. And when you’re goal setting – perspective is everything.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur jumping into a leadership role, a seasoned business pro with new HR responsibilities, or just starting your HR career – we’ve got the right path to guide you through your HR hurdles.
Check out the Leaders Journey Experience. This online education platform holds the LJE Masterclass, HR SimpleStart Academy and HR FuturePro Academy.
Not sure where to start – take the quiz!
And speaking of other people – remember you aren’t doing this all by yourself. You know, the HUGE mistake I made for YEARS was thinking I had to, all by myself, fully execute on every goal. And you may be thinking that way too. Well, you don’t. In fact, you shouldn’t.
Use your team, they’re there, they’re smart, and achieving those business goals is part of the job. And in fact, they’ll probably bring a level of creativity to the whole process that you never even thought of – because you were busy thinking “how am I going to get this all done”. Trust me, you’ll go much farther, faster when you include your team.
And finally – don’t forget to celebrate the wins. There’s a reason runners that are training for marathons are coached to celebrate the small victories. It helps keep them motivated – and giving yourself a ‘high five’ will keep you motivated too.
Sure, it’s a good idea to keep your eye on the bigger vision of where you’re going, but you also have to take pride in the smaller accomplishments you’re making. Give yourself and your team, some credit. You got the smaller thing done on the way to knocking off the larger thing. Congratulations!