If you’ve ever tried to set truly intentional, stretching, yet achievable goals for your business and not managed to reach the finish line exactly as you hoped, you are not alone. The truth is that a lot of people want to hit all the beautiful milestones they set out during all the yearly planning and annual goal setting review sessions, but not a lot of people actually do it.
With all of the goal setting journals, task managers, to do list dashboards, and even with the best dream teams. . . . Why is it STILL so hard to stay on track?
I’ve worked with a handful of seriously amazing (and crazy successful) business owners and pretty much all of them struggled with what I call #allthethings IDEA WHIPLASH. The #allthethings IDEA WHIPLASH is something all creatives tend to experience and it goes a little like this:
Here are my goals for Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4.
Offerings are XYZ, ABC, and 123.
Marketing for XYZ starts in February Q1.
Whoa, that sounds sooo cool.
Let’s do it.
Let’s move this, that, and that other thing so we can make room for this new amazing thing.
You bet we need a new funnel and marketing graphics
And #allthethings.
2 weeks to 1 month later.
Hold up yo.
I think I like XYZ better now.
Yes, for sure. Let’s go with that.
AND repeat.
Seem familiar? This happens a lot, especially for big dreamin’ creatives. What can you do about it? I’ve got 5 things you can do right now if you want to keep on track with your goals and keep your #allthethings IDEA WHIPLASH to a minimum.
#1) Accept that there is absolutely opportunity cost for new ideas.
Yes, you may be missing out on the next hot thing, but if you’ve set serious financial, growth, and personal goals you need to accept that the opportunity cost is 100% real. You may miss out, but you could hit it out of the park with your original (even refined) idea/s.
#2) Invest in some outside help to setting and PLANNING for these goals.
Sometimes I see business owners fall into #allthethings IDEAS WHIPLASH by default, simply because they have just come up with IDEAS and the when they’d like to meet it (like in 20K in Q2 by selling XYZ) but without actual plans to achieve these goals. Once you see a tactical plan (marketing, numbers, and projects), the idea / offer / promotion feels more “real”. You see the actual way to get there.
#3) Create actual milestones and analyze the heck out of it.
If you break down those quarterly goals into milestones (like in a sprint) it should help you see if your team’s work is really getting you closer to the goal. Benchmarks and milestones are so important and keeps the ping pong idea whiplash minimized. Here’s your out: After comparing your work to your goal/benchmark/milestone and you still feel kinda weird about the goal. . . then maybe it’s time to move on. You’ll have more idea remorse if you haven’t worked on it vs. leaving the idea by choice (backed up by facts).
#4) Set a GET OUT OF JAIL FREE card for these goals.
Much like #3, if you are working towards a goal that involves a lot of new work, refining, or potentially many more hours to finalize, set a date by this time if we have completed: a, b, and c then we will proceed. If we have not, then we can shelve this idea and adjust our marketing or financial goals. I love this because it allows you to lead your team towards those big visions and goals, but it also lets you have a pass if it simply looked good on paper but not in reality.
#5) Refine, adapt, and adjust. Remember– you set those goals in a business vacuum.
While yes, you took time to analyze and objectively look at your business- your business is a living breathing extension of your life and family. Things happen. Goals change. Major life moments affect our quarter-to-quarter projections. That means you have control (and the OK) to change or alter the goals.
If you do those 5 things, you WILL keep on track with your goals. It’s a process I’ve taken both large and small businesses through and every single one of my clients end up exceeding their goals and keeping their teams happy by avoiding #allthethings IDEA WHIPLASH. Sure, you can do this alone but if you are really serious about setting intentional goals, you can’t keep doing things the way you’ve done before.
Sign up for Your Progress Gameplan. It’s the best way to see how this crazy method Progress System works and helps keep you on track towards your goals.
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