Reaching Goals

Goal Setting for Success – How to Set Reachable Business Goals

July 18, 2019 by Jama Leave a Comment

Far too many people, whether in business or their personal lives, set unreachable goals, only to wonder why they never achieve them. As an entrepreneur with a growing business, you are a team leader as well and it falls to you to set reachable goals for your business and your team members. Goal setting for success requires that all targets must be realistic, specific, and reachable or they are a waste of time and energy for you and your team.

Goals that are ill-defined or patently ridiculous do no one any good, least of all you; as poor goal setting will reflect badly on you as a leader. You will be perceived as either unrealistic or ill-equipped for the job. Both of these impressions undercut your authority and make you a poor leader.

Here are a few things to consider about the goals you’ve set for your team – or for yourself:

The goals you set must be specific
The goals you set must be attainable
The goals you set must be tailored to your team
The goals you set must benefit your business – and your team

A broad-based concept such as “To sign more clients,” is not a proper goal for a professional business environment. It is far too nebulous, and requires little commitment from your team members. A more specific goal, such as “I will close 50% of all of my clients this year,” is far more productive. It is clear and concise – and it is also measurable. A goal which cannot be measured can rarely, if ever, be met.

Well-defined goals get met, vague goals do not

Better yet is a set of incremental goals for your team to aim at; such as, “I will close 50% of all of my clients this quarter, and 55% next quarter, and 60% the next quarter …,” and so on. This will keep every member of your team focused on constant improvement and, once again, it is measurable.

It goes without saying that the numbers must be realistic – or it should – but specific goals such as these are much more valuable than some vague notion of “getting better.” If you truly want your team and your business to “Get Better,” help them set goals they can actually achieve – with goal setting for success as your goal for the next year, and beyond.

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Business Goals and Breaking Them Down

October 27, 2016 by Jama 2 Comments

Business goals are important. I used to think they weren’t, but then I heard something: If you don’t know where you’re going how do you know when you get there…and how do you know what path to take?

Think about that for a minute. If you don’t know where you’re going, how do you know when you get there? Yes, I’m sure one of your business goals is to make more money, but how much? And by when?

A couple of years ago I set a personal goal to lose 40 pounds. This is what would be called the BHAG (big hairy audacious goal). Forty pounds in its totality seems impossible. But I broke it up into smaller chunks. My first goal was to lose 15 pounds. I’m happy to say that by the end of this month, I will have reached my first goal! I can celebrate and then look towards my next stepping stone goal, which will be to lose another 10 pounds.

You eat an elephant one bite at a time, and that’s what you have to do with your goals, too.

Just as important as setting your BHAG and your milestones to get there is taking action. Yep, if you set a goal, then you must do the actions necessary to get there!

If my first milestone goal was to lose 15 pounds, it would be crazy to think I was going to reach that goal by sitting on my butt and eating whatever I wanted. I needed to exercise and eat healthier. Now, could I have reached my goal quicker than I have? Yes, I could have done more each day to get there faster.

I was recently talking with a client who told me about a program she was putting together. She was very passionate about how it could help her clients and the impact it would have on their lives. But then she went on to say, “I just don’t know if I can do what I need to do to sell it.” Well, we have a disconnect there. If your goal is to impact 20 people, 500 people, thousands of people, you need to take action to spread your message. That action may include networking, having sales calls, doing webinars, and so on, and if you’re not willing to take the action, then you need to reassess your goals.

If I wasn’t willing to exercise and eat healthier, the weight loss wasn’t just going to magically happen!

When you’re looking at goals in your personal life or in business, the process is the same:

Set your BHAG (big hair audacious goal). Be specific about the number and also your timeframe for accomplishing this BHAG. Remember, this is big so it may not be something you accomplish by the end of 2017 or it could be something you want to accomplish in 5 or 10 years.
Set your milestones. What are smaller goals along the way? Again, be specific and set your timeframe for these goals. Celebrate when you get there!
Decide daily what you’re going to do to move one step closer towards your milestone that will ultimately lead you to your BHAG. Put it on your calendar. Take action daily!

What are your BHAG business goals and those milestones along the way? Share with me below!

Want to Expand Time?

February 18, 2014 by Jama Leave a Comment

Is there a little voice in your head that seems to repeat “I don’t have enough time to get everything done” or “I wish I had more time to do other things”? We always want and need additional time, yet if time is the one thing that is equal to all, why do other people seem to accomplish more? Why can’t we get done what we want to in the time we have available?

Now first, I want to tell you that I struggled with time for years. I was constantly late for everything (just ask my supervisors when I worked in corporate or my family). I didn’t mean to be late; it just happened I never had enough time to get ready, to arrive on time, to be prepared. Time was my enemy and we battled frequently.

I believe, as a whole, we think it takes too much time to get in shape, to live a healthy lifestyle, to work enough to support our families, or to sit down and plan for our future. Shoot, it just takes too long to get through the grocery store once a week! Right?

Well… no. I have learned we actually have all the time that we need. [Read more…] about Want to Expand Time?

Wonder Why You Can’t Reach Your Goals?

August 27, 2013 by Jama Leave a Comment

There was a long period in my life where it seemed to me I wasn’t reaching my goals. What I didn’t realize at the time was that I was out of alignment with my values, so reaching my goals was next to impossible. And why I didn’t realize this was because I didn’t even know what a value was! Oh sure, I knew the ‘value’ of something I was buying: was I getting a good value on the new car or was that a good value for the dinner I wanted. Stuff like that. However, I had no idea that lacking my own personal values was causing me to be so unhappy and never attaining what I wanted (aka my goals).

OK, so what is a value? Well you know me, I like to pull out the thesaurus. When it comes to your personal values, some of the words that come up are: importance, worth, significant, and meaning.

A personal value can easily be defined as your preferences. I have a very high value for freedom and fun and, yes, those are my preferences. Maybe you can relate. I like to have fun and when I have fun, I feel really good… and since I like to feel good, fun, therefore, is important to me. I also like not being told to do things – one of the reasons I decided to quit working for someone else and go out on my own. I get to create the freedom I want (and really, ultimately need).

If you are having a hard time getting results and reaching your goals, check in with your values. Chances are your values are not being met… or, like I used to be, you really don’t even know what you value.

So to give you an idea of what values are, here is a short list:

Compassion
Comfort
Ease
Energy
Faith
Freedom
Fun
Intellect
Love
Mindfulness
Perfection
Professionalism
Respect
Sharing
Thoughtfulness

Personal values are internal and act as a reference for what is good, beneficial, important and useful for us… no one else. They generate behavior. For instance, let’s say your top three values are: fun, ease and love. You have decided you want to get in shape. If you incorporate your top three values of fun, ease and love into your workout plan, you can bet your behavior is going to bring you success. You would find something you really have fun doing like taking a dance class, that fits into your schedule with ease, and you show your love for yourself (yes, you can love yourself just like you love the others in your life) by committing to going regularly.

Another example: you are a new business owner and trying to figure out how to run your business. You value compassion, professionalism and respect. You would set up your business by creating systems that support your top three values. To satisfy your value of compassion, you would speak kindly to your prospective and/or current clients. Your value of professionalism would show up in being timely with invoices, paying bills and returning calls/emails. Your value of respect shows your clients that you have a high opinion of them and you genuinely care and are authentic. As a business owner, these all will lead to prospective clients getting to know, like and trust you. Not only are you able to help more people, but you are able to generate more income all while honoring your values. It’s a win/win situation all around.

Once you know your values, your life becomes simply the best with grace and ease and you find that you are in a flow. You get what you want quickly and your goals get accomplished faster. Everything comes easy. And one other thing happens, you know what goals you want to work on and how you are going to reach them!

You know I love to hear your success stories, and this one is no different. I would love for you to shoot me an email or share on my Facebook page. I always love that because then you get to help others just by sharing your success! Also, feel free to share your thoughts, insights and revelations below!

Disappointment Sucks!

July 28, 2012 by Jama Leave a Comment

Imagine the little kid who’s been waiting and behaving all day so he could get his favorite treat — ice cream. He’s now holding the triple decker Superman flavor ice cream cone in his tiny little hand. There’s a smile going across his face from ear to ear. He leans forward, tongue coming out, he’s about an inch away from taking that first delicious lick…..when whammo. All three scoops of ice cream fall to the ground. He looks up, eyes wide and full of shock and astonishment. Tears start to form, the smile has turned to a frown, and then he lets out an earth shattering “Wah!!!” Life-altering disappointment.

It’s a fact of life…unless you just live in a cocoon and never dream or try to achieve something higher, disappointment will creep its way into your world. Come to think of it, I think disappointment can even happen then (except for maybe the cocoon).

Maybe it’s having your cable go out when your favorite show is about to come on. Or maybe the family vacation you’ve planned for months was dampened by rain. Maybe your best friend you haven’t seen in 5 years cancels your planned dinner at the last minute.

As an entrepreneur, it could be losing a client or not getting the big contract you really, really wanted! It could also be disappointment in yourself. It could be a series of small disappointments that — by themselves — are no big deal, but they happen all at once and each one feels like a heavier and heavier brick placed on your back that you’re trying to carry.

No matter what caused it, disappointment is a natural part of life.

The trick is to not let it envelope you; don’t dwell on it. Stop the negative thoughts. Recognize the frustration and regret you’re feeling, then make a plan to work through it.

Indeed, sometimes disappointment can actually turn out to be a blessing in disguise! Play the devil’s advocate and think of the brighter and better things that can happen since the cable went out and you can’t watch TV. It gives you a chance to read a book or play a board game with your family.

Was the client or the big contract really that great of a loss? Maybe this perceived setback actually opens up room for an even better opportunity!

Look for the silver lining — it’s there — and take control of your life and your thoughts. Don’t wallow in the disappointment too long. Acknowledge it and move on! Now, we know in the case of the little boy, mommy surely bought him another ice cream cone and took precautions…she got it in a cup! That turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The little boy could then enjoy his ice cream and not have to rush eating it before it dripped all over his hands.

Adam Urbanski posted the picture in this article on Facebook yesterday, and I think it’s a great reminder for all of us! We are in control and nobody else can make us happy — well, except in the instance of the little boy!

Fear, What’s It Got To Do With Anything?

April 26, 2012 by Jama Leave a Comment

Fear – I know it well. It has been a part of my life since… well, since I can remember! Sometimes it has served me and other times not. So what’s it got to do with anything?

For the most part, I have come to discover that it really doesn’t have to do with much at all when you ultimately realize what it is. Fear is our mind creating stories, situations, and scenarios that hold us back. Now, don’t get me wrong, there is real fear – like if someone is chasing you down a dark alley, that’s real and is truly frightening. But let’s say that you wanted to leave your job but stayed because you were fearful that you might not get another one or that you wanted to lose weight but were fearful that your loved ones wouldn’t support you. See, fear – as we humans have come accustomed to feeling it — really is just a stumbling block to being what you want, having what you want and doing what you want. Fear is an excuse.

Did I get your attention? I hope so, because I really want you to stand up and say “I will not allow fear to rule my life and keep me in limbo.” I was in limbo for many years. Although I still feel fear when I’m about to do something new – like when I left my secure, well-paying job (that I hated by the way) and embarked on a new career — now I ask myself, “So what’s fear got to do with this anyway?” The answer is always because I made up some story about what may happen and what I might be leaving behind. I focus on how lousy I believe my experience is going to be without knowing for a fact how it will turn out. So no wonder I get fearful!

How many times do you do that? I know I was doing it way too much – even down to trying a new restaurant because I was afraid it would not be good. Then I realized my fear was just a story I made up in my head; so I changed the story and tried the new restaurant… and I love it! It showed me that by having a positive approach and outlook, I give myself the opportunity to have a wonderful and successful experience. So no longer am I stuck doing the same things, feeling the same ways and being miserable. The gift is that I experience so much joy on a daily basis, I have fun all the time, and I have fantastic adventures that I wouldn’t have had if I stayed in my fear zone!

I’m here to tell you that fear has NOTHING to do with it – you do! As Eleanor Roosevelt said: “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.” Again, I can tell you that this statement is so very true! And once you do it, you will be so amazed at the results – sometimes you even get something you never imagined.

How will you go out and get what you want now that you know that fear doesn’t have to control you? What is one fear you will face in the next week to move you forward? Share your fears and how you’ll change those ‘stories’; I’d love to hear them!

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