We all know setting goals is important in life and business. While you may struggle to know exactly how to set the right goals, there’s no denying the need to set some if you want to grow and scale your business. A quick internet search of “how to set business goals” results in 1.1 billion results. So, there is a lot of information to teach you how to set goals, especially SMART goals. But what are you supposed to do after you set a goal?
Many people have the idea of goal setting down. After all, we’re great at coming up with resolutions and goals every new year.
But research shows that 95% of small businesses don’t accomplish their annual goals. So, it’s well past time for companies to learn to move from the “how to set” to the “getting it done” part of goal setting.
What should you do after setting a goal
Once you set a SMART goal for the business, the following steps can help you make progress on the goal and achieve the vision you have for your business. These steps and tips are built into the SPEARity app to make it as easy as possible for busy business owners, managers, and teams to keep moving forward.
Break big goals down into small
Large goals are overwhelming and can feel almost impossible to accomplish. If your goal feels too big, you will likely procrastinate on trying to achieve it. It’s common to feel unsure of how to start, so you must break your goal down.
One easy way to understand this idea is to think of weight loss. Imagine setting a goal to lose 50 pounds. You start dieting and exercising and start to see a little progress. But it eventually starts to slow down, and then you lose motivation. Before you know it, you are right back to where you started.
Now, imagine that you set the same goal but break it down into smaller goals of losing four pounds each month. Then, you break it down even further to losing one pound per week. These smaller target goals feel much more achievable, and they help you work toward reaching your overall goal of losing 50 pounds.
Experiencing success keeps us motivated. This is true personally and professionally.
Look for ways to break your business goals down into smaller targets that you can achieve along the path to your bigger goal.
Create your to-do list based on your goals
Your to-do list or task management app is only helpful if it’s helping you complete tasks that are aligned with your goals. Unfortunately, too many business owners and managers spend long hours working without making progress toward their goals.
You need to stop doing busy work and start doing the work that matters.
To do this, you need to base the work you do each day on the goals you set for yourself and your business. You should be able to look at your to-do list for the day and see how each item relates to a goal within your business. If you have tasks that aren’t related to your goals, it’s time to re-evaluate if you need to spend time doing them.
The SPEARity App makes this process easy. First, you input your goals into the app and then create your quarterly and weekly plan based on your goals.
Track your progress
You can’t know if you’re making progress on your goals if you don’t intentionally track your progress. The first two tips help you accomplish this. First, when you create smaller targets and then create tasks based on those smaller goals, you can quickly see how you are coming on reaching the goal.
It’s crucial to track your progress because it helps you know if you need to make any adjustments or pivots to your plan. You can set a goal and create a plan, but if you never evaluate how the plan works, you have no idea if you’re succeeding.
The SPEARity APP makes your goals progress simple to track. As you complete tasks aligned with your goal, the app shows you how far along you are to reaching your goal. This visual makes it easy to see the benefits and results of your work.
Re-align (make adjustments) as needed
Tracking your progress allows you to make changes and pivot as needed. Therefore, we recommend that you track your daily successes and failures. Observing your failures will enable you to make adjustments as needed.
For example, if you fail at a task, you can learn from the experience and see what needs to change. Doing this daily, weekly, and quarterly allows you to stay fluid with your work and business decisions. You can re-align your work to your goals throughout the week, month, quarter, and year. This allows you to catch problems and fix them to continue moving forward.
If you wait until the end of a quarter or year to do this, you are wasting precious time that you could have been growing and scaling.
Ready to take the next step in goal setting?
If you’ve been setting goals and seeing little progress, it’s time for a change. Contact SPEARity today to learn how business coaching and our app can help you transform your company into a scaleable enterprise.
