As a business, goal setting is hard.

But the challenge isn’t just about how to create goals. The challenge is how to better understand our own self in a way that allows your goals to truly affect – and empower – your business’s bottom line. The first step in creating better goals is to have a plan for creating. One technique that we encourage you to utilize is the SMART goals approach. If you’re unfamiliar with SMART goals, this is how they work.

Create better goals using these simple reminders:

• S: Specific – Be very specific with what you’re wanting to accomplish / obtain.
• M: Measurable – Determine ways in which you can measure if / how you’re succeeding.
• A: Achievable – Find goals that you believe are attainable.
• R: Relevant – Be sure your goals are relevant to your career’s mission and values.
• T: Time-bound – Have a deadline. Without a due date, you don’t have accountability.

Once you have a framework for planning you must realize these 4 specific concepts around creating effective – and bottom line improving – goals:

1. Goal Setting: Be concrete, yet realistic.

   Creating goals isn’t effective without grit; no actual desire to accomplish the goal. It’s about creating a plan based on your intentions now, on the foundation of your current desires. Be sure to understand the reality however, that your goals may change as you chase them.    
   

2. Goal Setting: Keep yourself accountable.

   As you execute your goals, be sure to keep yourself accountable. Although life may require some fluid maneuvers (things that will cause your goals to change – maybe out of necessity), it’s important that you protect yourself from your own actions; things like, “this goal is too hard, I’ll start another one.” One way to keep yourself accountable is to tell someone about your goal, and encourage them to ask about it (weekly, monthly, quarterly). When you tell someone, you become accountable to them; this will encourage and challenge you to push towards your goal.
   

3. Goal Setting: Encourage yourself along the way.

   It’s no surprise, but the journey to accomplishing a goal is tough; especially goals that affect your bottom line. So, encourage yourself along the way; set up little wins. Think about it this way: If you want to save $1,000 dollars, you don’t just do it over night. You save $50, then $100, then $500 and so on. Be sure to celebrate and encourage yourself as you accomplish these small feats. In doing this, you break what may seem like an overwhelming process into smaller, more tangible and achievable, outcomes.  
   

4. Goal Setting: Don’t chase “should” goals.

    Be sure that you’re not “shoulding” on yourself. This means, not creating goals based on what you think you should be doing, versus creating goals in areas that you’ve been gifted in. Your business, approach, and offering is unique, make sure your goals are as well.

Although this blog post isn’t 4 steps to increasing your bottom line, it might be even more valuable than that. Individuals, and organizations that create powerful goals, ultimately accomplish them. Will you create goals that will affect your bottom line?

-WCC Team