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Goals
Ending the First Month in the New Year
Whew! Month one in and done.
Are you off to a good start? Did you start and stop and start again? Did you hit your target for the January yet?
This is a good beginning, whatever the outcome. You are a starting a new process and you are completing your first milestone. Take a look at your actions and results and find something to celebrate – even it’s just sticking to the program!
You are likely in this for the long run and not just a quick accomplishment, so slow and steady wins th…
New Year’s Celebrations, anyone?
Starting something new takes time to incorporate into our lives. We see it when we put last year’s year on checks (who writes checks anymore?) or on documents. New things take getting used to.
And it’s likely that we don’t build enough celebration into new activities…would you agree?
Setting short-term milestones or hitting daily targets are celebration worthy accomplishments that will keep enthusiasm up and focus strong. We know it’s easy to get distracted or to make setbacks seem lar…
Take Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
Starting new practices and habits isn’t a smooth process. After the initial excitement and inspiration wears off and old habits start to call to us, we feel pulled in a couple of directions: moving toward the future that we envision and desire and being tethered to a familiar way of doing things. We start to tell ourselves that the current reality is not so bad….and maybe we just need to live with it.
Fear. Resignation. Hopelessness.
When we know that breakdowns will occur or we may f…
New Actions in Action
Actions are the only things that produce results. New actions feel awkward at first and sometimes that awkwardness stops us from continuing them.
If you know this might happen, then it’s not a surprise when it does. That’s why you want to keep actions to a very few and repeatable if possible. Feeling awkward lessens with practice. And how we know we are doing something new IS the awkwardness of it…so that is good news!
Have a reasonable expectation of what new actions will produce. Give…
Get It in Writing
Have you finished writing your goals for the new year yet?
If this is your first-time setting goals and putting them on paper, then give yourself a break. Did you get started and distracted? Did you lose your way? Did you need help with articulation but didn’t ask for it? No worries, just sit down and finish it. Even if you only have a couple of things written down, it’s a start.
If you have written goals before and had good results and still haven’t finished, well…are your goals inspiring…
Actions for achieving your goals
Completing ACTIONS is the only way to produce results. Period.
Your actions need to align with your strategy and your goal. Similar to your goals and strategies, you want your actions to be specific, clear, measurable. When writing actions, begin with a verb. For example:” ASK the BADAS Questions with 90% of your opportunities.”
Consider quantity (how many) and quality (when and how well) as you write these actions. You want to calendar them to DO at the time of day that will allow you to …
HOW do I reach my goals?
Now that your goals are written, we move to creating a strategy for achievement.
This is kind of fun because you can focus on HOW you will achieve this. During your evaluation and assessment of the year, you might have noticed that you like doing some strategies more than others, or you were better at some than others, or some strategies were more effective than others. You may have found that the market or buying habits of your customers/clients has changed and you need to adjust your appro…
What exactly are goals?
Consider WHAT you WANT to create and achieve next year. What matters to you so much that you are going to “make it happen,” as my father used to say by setting a strategy. Those are your goals.
Goals should always be written as RESULTS. Articulation is important. I like the S-M-A-R-T process because it’s clear and simple.
Specific Clear, not ambiguous or vague.
Measurable It can be counted. Numbers or percentages…
Goals Again
Yes. Goals again!
In most showrooms, December is rather quiet, with customers, clients and designers preparing for and celebrating the holidays. Prior to setting goals for the new year, December is a good month for evaluation and analysis if you didn’t do so in November. If not, see my November blogs for assistance.
Are you noticing any resistance to writing goals for next year? Do you have any sense that you don’t really need to do write goals? Perhaps you feel that you have figured out a p…
Differently
Differently? What?
We have looked at what to do more of, less of…and now differently.
Doing things differently is just that. If you have been ‘white-knuckle attached’ to using a paper
calendar and absolutely resisting using technology…it might finally be time to do things
differently.
Or you don’t want to make appointments with prospects you haven’t closed, preferring to follow
up in 2 days, because you think appointments are too pushy. Look at what it cost you in time and effectiveness.
C…
C…
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