Are You Setting Old Goals for Your New Year?

goal

“The way up and the way down are one and the same,” an ancient philosopher said. What he meant by that is a little less clear. Still, at the beginning of this new year, you can take this odd thought as a word of caution – as well as a word of encouragement.

First, the caution – you should know where you are. Are the same things you did to get “where you are” the things you need to do to stay where you are – or much preferred, move higher than you are?

In other words, don’t recycle old goals because you’re eco-friendly. Old goals could be a slippery slope if they don’t address current opportunities and drawbacks. So take a fresh look and make sure your goals are in line with your current set of market realities and possibilities.  

Second, the encouragement – goal setting is still the best practice among all best practices for focusing your company’s energy and effort in a direction that will pay off. Setting goals and putting steps into place to reach those goals provides direction and motivation as well as a way to measure how far you’ve gotten. Basically, it’s your GPS for the new year – and you don’t want to say goodbye to last year without goals in place.

The popular acronym SMART is a highly useful tool. Effective goals are Specific – what you want to accomplish is clearly defined; Measurable – you can view results/data/snapshots of how much you’ve accomplished; Attainable – with the right plan, you can get it done; Relevant – it fits your business model; and Time-based – you can accomplish these goals within a certain time frame.

To get from where you are to where you want to be, start your journey by setting good goals.

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