goals! do you have them? are you achieving them?
As we near summer, now is a good time to reflect on where we’re at, goal-wise. It’s late enough to get a feel for what’s working and what isn’t but still early enough in the year to get back on track if we’ve fallen off the metaphorical wagon.
Consider where you are right now compared to where you wanted to be. What experiences have you had? What have you accomplished? What does your work/life balance look like and are you satisfied with it?
I work with people every day to support them in the pursuit of their goals and more specifically, acting on attaining those goals. Years of experience has taught me the importance of setting goals, period. Very few people actually set them… about 83% of society, in fact, do not. 14% of people do set goals, but only commit them to memory. Shockingly, only 3% of people set goals AND write them down.
We have an expectation of how the year will play out, but life always has a way of hurling obstacles at us that pull us off our gravitational course. And without a clear game plan, a new year can look an awful lot like an event horizon – the boundary between you and the blackhole you somehow have to span to reach success in your practice.
The first step to achieving a goal is to commit it to paper (or device). Recording our goals – making them tangible – helps us to feel accountable. The second step (and third and fourth step and so on) is to revisit our goals regularly and confirm we are on track to meet them and adjust when we’re not.
The very act of setting goals promotes the planning necessary to determine how those goals will be achieved. Employees, for example, often set goals in order to satisfy a need; thus, goals can be motivational and increase performance. Evaluation and control allow an organization to compare its actual performance to its goals and then make any necessary adjustments.
Here are a few thoughts I’ve had that have helped guide my course correction as I head into the second season of the year, and I hope you find them useful as well:
Compare the goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year with what you have accomplished. Understand some goals may no longer be relevant, should something in your business have changed significantly.
Create a revised action plan based on your observations. With a world that seems to be whirling around you, being intentional about your next move will support your objectives much better than just randomly jumping into the fray.
Commit your action plan to a road map over the next 60 days and assess again in early June – what’s working, what’s not and what needs to change?
For goals that are still relevant but further out of reach than you had hoped to be by now, don’t despair! There are eight full months left in the year to correct your course and reach those 2022 goals.
Cultivate a practice of taking time to stand still and be quiet, physically and mentally. It’s important to run your business, not let it run you. Stepping away and making time for your physical and mental health not only increases overall happiness but also productivity and drive. You’ll have a harder time achieving your goals if you’re running yourself ragged.
As the winds of spring move in, see them as a reminder to check your course, realign if necessary and make a point of enjoying where you’re at.