As we’re well underway into the New Year of 2020, there have been some major changes in business, the world and within ourselves. Did you have a New Years’ Resolution that is since long forgotten? Don’t worry, you’re not alone.
Some studies suggest that over 80% of us will not achieve our New Years’ Resolution, while 35% forget about it altogether come March. Why do you think this is?
I think that one of the biggest reasons that New Years’ Resolutions fail is the same reason as to why we fail goals in general. They’re simply statements with no plan, a huge time constraint and often, we don’t seek the right support to make them happen.
When it comes to being an entrepreneur, there will be a lot of times that you will feel you have failed at what you’ve set out to achieve. In fact, even I feel like this sometimes, and I have a successful business and am a recognised entrepreneur. So, how do we minimise this feeling of failure as an entrepreneur and start achieving our goals for once and for all?
My Top Five Tips for Achieving Your Goals as an Entrepreneur
I have five simple pieces of advice that will help you set realistic goals and get working through them in no time.
#1 Set Goals Properly
You will instantly set yourself up for failure if your goal is vague, and you’re not certain on the steps it takes to achieve it. Goals that are too broad can lead to overwhelm, and in the end we abandon them altogether, or get frustrated with ourselves for getting ‘nowhere’ no matter how much work we’ve done. It’s a sure-fire way to lose your entrepreneurial spark.
Rather than saying ‘I want to make $100k in business’ set your goals with the S.M.A.R.T. goal setting method. SMART is an acronym for Specific, Manageable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.
How will you make that money? Why? What will need to be done? Is it really possible?
You can find out more about each of these by visiting this page.
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#2 Acquire What You Need To Achieve
If you need resources to help you accomplish your goal, it’s important that you acquire them before you get started. Otherwise, you won’t be able to really kick off. This leads to worrying as time ticks by and you’ve made little progress, which eventually leads to giving up altogether.
If you need to take a course, hire someone, start a social media profile – anything that is required to accomplish your goal, do that first.
#3 Have a Realistic Time Frame
Do some research on how long some activities take others to complete. Also, keep your own timetable in mind and be realistic with it. If you burn yourself out, you won’t achieve anything for some time to come.
For example, if you want to write a book. How many hours can you spare a week? Try and dedicate one third of that time to working on your book. After all, doing small amounts of work over a long period of time is much more effective than doing nothing at all because you can’t find a day to set aside for it.
#4 Break Your Goals Down Into Steps
Again, one large goal can take up a lot of time – and while we’re working on it consistently, it can sometimes take a while to even make a dent in the end result.
By breaking your goal down into smaller steps that are milestones of achievement along the path to your larger goal, you will re-energise your mind and feel inspired to continue along the right path.
#5 If You Don’t Achieve? Reassess
All of these steps are helpful stepping stones in achieving your biggest goals. However, this fifth and final step is my most important piece of advice when it comes to setting goals and achieving them as an entrepreneur.
Never stop trying. Don’t deem yourself a failure if you don’t achieve a particular goal. Take some time to reflect on why you didn’t achieve your goal this time, and what you could have done differently. What types of resources or support would have made it easier – an assistant, some training? Which skills could you have sharpened in order to achieve your goals – time management?
There are a lot of factors that come into play when trying to achieve your goals and grow your business and presence as an entrepreneur. While sometimes it will get you down, if you never stop trying you will never truly fail.
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