12+ players on a football field and yet they all share one thing in common; they are all playing to get the ball across the field and through the posts. Thousands of spectators are watching with trill and anxiety, yet they are all looking forward to one thing, the ball going through the post. The players are aware of what they want and they spend weeks training and building a strategy that would help them score.
I gave this short analogy to help you understand that if you are not clear, I mean crystal clear about what you want to achieve, you would simply be chasing smoke. Intentionality concerning what to do to get your ball across the field and into the post should be your prime focus to grow in business. Your business goals are what you want to achieve for your business as an entrepreneur, what milestones you want to reach, the changes you want to implement and the heights you want to attain within in a particular timeframe. Without set down clear goals, you as a business owner will simply be waking up each day without purpose. Highlighted goals give a business direction.
To get on with pursuing your goals and milestones for optimal visibility and long-term profits in your business, check out these few ideas to get the gears in motion.
Brainstorm Ideas
You need to find a quite place away from distractions, then enter into deep thoughts, visualizing in details what you want to achieve in your business and how you are going to achieve it. Visualization is key, because if you can see it in your mind, you can bring it to life. Write down your ideas clearly so that you don’t miss anything and you can go back to it later for reference. Your brainstorming session can include your partners in business or an outside eye to suggest more forward ideas incase you experience a freeze or you don’t know how to go about it. You can also seek the services of professional business planners.
Set Timeframes and Deadlines
Just like our analogy at the beginning of this article, a football match lasts for 90 minutes at least, and each team has to employ tactics to score before the end of the match. In your business brainstorm session, include timeframes to work with and deadlines you have to work against to achieve your goals. For instance, it could be milestones you want to get to in 3 months, 6 months or a year. Goals that would take 3 years, 5 years or a decade to realize and turn to reality. By setting timelines and deadlines, you give yourself motivation because the time doesn’t stop ticking . Also, you eliminate procrastination, so each morning you are aware that you have one less day to get to where you need to get to.
Break Chunky Goals into Sugar Grains
After you have highlighted your goals, the timeline you intend to pursue them and the deadlines as to when they must have been completed, the next step is to get started. To go about with tracking these goals, you have to break them down into sizable tasks and activities. These tasks make them easy to take on and not so big and scary because as little progress as you will be making with these sugar grain tasks is better than not making any progress at all. To break down your goals, think in the line of the smallest things you can do daily that would in the long run amass to make up the final result of your goal without being so stressful and wearing you out. For example, in my fashion designing and sewing business, I spent 18 months harnessing my skills before fully launching my business. Having my clothing brand had always been my goal, but I spent each day for one and half years getting better at my craft. Break down your goals into smaller activities and you will find out that its not so difficult after all. You can have 2-5 sugar grains each day depending on your deadline, then work at it gradually through the day.
Apply Consistency and Discipline
Even if you break these goals into liquid form 😂 and you don’t persist with them, they would dissolve and vanish. Just like everything you really want, you have to be consistent and disciplined with chasing your goals. Even on bad days and tired days, keep aside all biases and keep going. Your envisioned success should be plastered in your mind and you should take on each grain and work fiercely at it to achieve your goals. It’s very okay to rest when you are feeling out of the weather or when other things overwhelm you, but when you pause, don’t stop. Pause, rejuvenate, re-strategize and keep going. You’ve got this. If you can dream it, you can achieve it. All you need is hard work, consistency and discipline.
Don’t fall in love with the Results
This is a rather unclear subheading, but give me a minute to wipe it clear. Don’t get me wrong, yes of course you should fall in love with your goals, fall in love with your daily tasks, fall in love with your envisioned success, fall in love with the work and consistency its going to take you to get there, but don’t fall in love with the results when you get there. Don’t be complacent. There is always more to do, more heights to reach, more awards to receive and more people that haven’t heard about your business. When you smash your set down goals, take a break, breathe in and celebrate your win(s), but avoid complacency, set new goals. Always be on the lookout at to the next project to jump on to garner visibility to get your business across the globe. Leave mediocrity in the gutters, go big or go home!
Planet Zaiy 