Have you set your goals for the year ahead? (NZ article)

Hamish Turner cropped

An article by Hamish Turner.

Setting goals is an important part of the calendar year. Ideally goals should be established a few months out before the start of the year, be it January to December or the financial year April to March. Creating an annual business plan with clear goals and actions is ideal.

Goals come in many different forms. Be it financial, personal balance or maybe client satisfaction levels. But before establishing your goals for the year ahead why not look at your business or your career and establish “what you have / what you are about”.

Some areas that need close examination before setting goals include:

Your personal / business profile. Your personal / business vision. Your motto! Marketing position and market opportunity, along with your target market. Your points of appeal. Your key performance expectations / benchmarks.

Your business plan or action plan can be as simple or as detailed as you would like it to be. If you have not created a business plan in the past, keep things simple and jot down one to two lines on each topic and as things evolve each year feel free to add and change your template “for success”.

Goals need to be met with action. In establishing individual goals you may only have 1 or 2 actions, but more likely each goal you have will require some 5-7 actions. Establish as many goals as you like, then work through each one of your goals with associated actions to achieve your desired goals. It is a careful balance to not create “too much” work for yourself by making too many goals to achieve for a given period. Likewise, don’t be easy on yourself, and be sure to create enough goals to keep you motivated and striving to achieve.

Best practice would see you reviewing your goals monthly / quarterly to ensure you are staying on track!