It’s a new year and you might be thinking about setting some new entrepreneurial goals for 2018?
But here at Entrepreneurs of India we think that before taking pen and paper to writing down your new goals you should ask this question:
Did you achieve the personal goals you set for last year?
Remember:
Setting a goal is easy. But achieving your goals is difficult. You have to manage your time and plan things to accomplish a goal.
If you want to set goals AND accomplish them in 2018, you cannot miss this blog.
We tell you how to set your goals for 2018 in such a way that you are guaranteed to accomplish them!
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Set ACHIEVABLE goals
This is the most basic thing you should consider while setting goals. Many of us set big goals and end up accomplishing nothing.
Do you know why?
Because we often set too big, unachievable business or personal goals.
Think how you can achieve the goals. Set real goals that suit your interest.
Here’s a tip:
Sit with a pen and paper and note down the goals you would like to accomplish next year. Then tick off the ones that motivate you the most!
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Manage your time
Time is important. Every goal should be time-bound. Dedicate a time frame to achieve each goal.
Why?
Because you cannot spend your whole time to achieve a goal. Divide your time into slots and plan how you are going to use them.
For instance, if your goal is to learn cooking, set a aside a few minutes to cook something daily. Thus you can manage your time and accomplish goals.
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Don’t set goals of your friends
Yes. This is true. We tend to set the same goals our friends have. But simply following your friends’ interest is not a good strategy to set goals.
Why?
Because your friends and you might have different interests.
For instance, if your friend is a bibliophile, reading 50 books a year would be an achievable goal for him. But it may end up as a Herculean task for you if you hardly read any books.
So ask yourself what you need to accomplish and set your goals. Don’t just follow others.
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Have a plan
A good plan is a prerequisite to achieving your goals. Pick a goal and plan how you’re going to accomplish it.
How does planning help?
You can break down your bigger goal into a number of small short-term goals. Each short term goal could be considered a stepping stone towards accomplishing the bigger goal.
Moreover, if you have a plan, it would be easier to evaluate your progress.
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Set SMART goals
What are SMART goals?
Well, SMART goals are:
SPECIFIC
Don’t be vague when it comes to goal setting.
Here’s an example:
- I want to run daily – vague goal setting
- I want to run 200m daily – specific goal setting
MEASURABLE
You should be able measure the output of your goal. That’s how you can assess your progress.
For instance: I want to increase sales by 25%.
ACHIEVABLE
You must be certain that your goals are achievable with all the resources that you have now.
REALISTIC
You must be realistic. That is, set goals that are possible for you. Never set a goal that sounds crazy. For example, ‘I want to be billionaire in two days!’. Be sensible and focus on what you can accomplish.
TIME-BOUND
Set a date. Because working within a time frame motivates you.
For instance:
I want to increase online sales by 20% in 6 months.
Smart goals could tell you what exactly you want and what you have so far done to accomplish them.
For instance, growing the revenue of your business is not a smart goal. But making a turnout of ₹5 million is. Because you have an exact number here.
However, you must have a clear intention when you set a smart goal. That is, you must know why you’re setting a particular goal.
Get motivated on the result. For instance, your actual intention behind working out at gym for an hour every day might be to keep your health intact, not to become a bodybuilder. So it’s important to direct your goal towards your actual intention.
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Evaluate your progress
You can keep a track of your progress. Record the things you have so far achieved and work towards maintaining the required pace.
Use statistics to measure your progress and assess them on a weekly or monthly basis.
For example, if your goal is to make 30 successful business deals a year, evaluate your monthly progress to understand the what could be done to achieve the goal.
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Don’t get disappointed if you fail
We often get disappointed when we could not achieve the goals that we had set. But there’s always another chance.
Each accomplished goal will teach you how to approach it properly. So look at what went went wrong and figure it out.
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Add some novelty while setting goals
Set an exciting goal. For instance, learn a foreign language or learn how to eat with chopsticks! It gives you more confidence and boosts your enthusiasm to achieve the bigger goals!
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Speak out your goals
This is a great strategy to keep you motivated. Speak your goals out loud verbally. Whenever you’re down, speak your goals to yourself. It keeps you enthusiastic and pushes you forward.
Also tell your friends and family about your goals. So they too will encourage you to achieve them.
Another tip to achieve your goals:
Write your goals on a paper. Mention the goal and write why and how you set each goal. Thus you can divide the paper into three sections – goals, why & how.
For example you can write about a goal like this:
| Goal | Why | How |
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To increase online sales by 50% in 2018 |
To hire an extra member of staff and delegate some of your workload to them. | Increase the business/ bag new clients/ adopt latest strategies/ bring ace investors on board/ expand the business |
To get an instant dose of motivation, put this paper up on the wall of your room and read all your goals once in a week!
Remind yourself why you set a goal and reflect on the ways to achieve it.
Key takeaways
Setting goals is very important to make progress in life. Because it directs your focus into an idea and helps you organize your time. Moreover, it makes you target-oriented, active and keeps you inspired throughout the year.
Share your goals for 2018 in the comments below
