With the end of 2020 fast approaching, it’s time to establish what you want to accomplish in the new year for your business. This year has taught us a lot about flexibility and being able to pivot to Plan B when circumstances are beyond our control. The road ahead may still be bumpy, which is why you need to be “SMARTER” about setting and achieving your goals for 2021.
When I start planning for the new year, I’ve found that keeping to the S.M.A.R.T. Goal framework works best. This means that each goal is:
Specific. Each goal you set needs to be clearly defined in concrete terms. So instead of just saying you want to increase sales next year, change it to something measurable like increasing sales by 10% each month, or increasing overall revenue by $10K per month.
Measurable. You should always try to quantify your goals so that you can measure your progress. If you have an annual goal, you may want to break it down to monthly or weekly goals so that you can track your progress at any point in time. This also means that you will need to determine what those metrics are - it might be a dollar value, an increase in number of clients, sales calls, or something else.
Attainable. One of the keys to successful goal setting is to make sure that you can actually achieve your goals. This can be a bit tricky – you want to be realistic in what you can do, but at the same time you want to make it challenging and try to stretch yourself.
Relevant. While you can create a myriad of goals, if they aren’t relevant to meeting your business objectives, they’ll only distract you from what’s important. Prioritize your goals and focus on what matters most to moving your business forward.
Time-bound. Probably one of the most difficult aspects of goal setting is assigning deadlines for when you want to achieve the goal – and sticking to it. By adding a timeframe and milestones to your goal, you’ll be better able to track your progress.
While the S.M.A.R.T. Goal method works very well, I always like to go a few steps further to be S.M.A.R.T.E.R. and add two more parameters to my goal-setting efforts:
Evaluate. After you’ve set your goals, you need to evaluate your progress along the way. It also means that at the end of the year (or when the project is completed), you should look back and do a post-mortem – checking to see what when right, what went wrong, and what you could change to improve your process in the future.
Readjust. One thing we’ve learned from this year is that the best laid plans can go awry. There can be circumstances beyond your control. You may need to take a step back and adjust your goals to better match what’s going on in the industry or the world around you.
Next year is going to be an amazing year! After all, how can it get worse? Start setting S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goals. Wearable Imaging is here to help. I would love to sit down with you for a complimentary strategy session. Give me a call at 949-888-7837 or email us at sales@wearableimaging.com to set up your session.
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