New Month = New Goals

It’s August. New month = new goals. As business owners we all have ‘business goals’ but how many of you have those goals written in an emotionally compelling way, and how often do you revisit them and think about those goals? If you’re like the majority of business owners, then the answer is ‘not much’.

A lot of the time, the reason we don’t revisit goals or think about them is because they’re too far off, too big and scary or too vague. We want to earn $150K, however we know that that is still a year or two away, and so our focus is distracted by the gap between then and now.

Tei over at Men With Pens wrote a post recently about setting stupid-small goals on the way to achieving the scarily huge stuff. Like getting just one more subscriber on your list, or being hired by just one person. That’s how far you may need to break down the big goals – not so scary you can’t do them, but not comfortable either.

The other thing about goals is that often they’re written down (you DO write your goals down, don’t you???) as a simple short statement. Now tell me, what’s compelling and interesting about a simple short statement? That short simple statement may well be a real goal, however if there’s no emotional involvement in it then you’re not going to achieve it.

We’ve all been given some great talents to help us achieve our goals. One of the best tools, that we all have and we all use to some degree or another, is our subconscious. (here’s where I go all Life Coach-ey on you, stay with me, it totally relates to your business) Within coaching circles the subconscious is mentioned a LOT within the context of Life Coaching, however it’s curiously absent in the business field. And that’s crazy, because it’s so important.

Most people have heard about SMART goals, which is an acronym for:

Specific
Measureable
Attainable
Realistic
Timed

I personally prefer a slightly more in-depth version, called SMARTIE goals, where the last two letters stand for Inspirational and Emotional. The more inspiration and emotion behind your goal, the stronger the drive will be for your subconscious to work towards achieving that goal.

Inspirational – In life we do things for one of three reasons; to avoid pain, to gain pleasure or because we are inspired and motivated. To be inspired is to be living your dreams, to be aligned with our own inner values and loves. You will be motivated towards that goal. Ask yourself “How attractive is that goal to me?” Your answer should be “very” and you should also be able to explain what it is about it that you find so attractive and inspirational.

Emotional – Emotion creates motion and action. Consider how your goal will make you feel, and write that down into your goal. Imagine feeling that you’ve achieved your goal, feel the sense of achievement, the pride in having done it, as well as how you will feel when you’ve got that goal.

It’s the beginning of August. What goals are you going to set, both bit and stupid-small, to achieve by the end of this month?

For me, I’m looking at taking on 2-3 new clients, writing out a current marketing plan, write and run a workshop here in Canberra (may not be run until Sep), and pre-launch an info product that I’ve been working on.

All these goals tie into my bigger business goals, they’re all written in my diary with a short paragraph for each goal. Each one have been checked against the SMARTIE requirements. Each goal is looked at every workday morning to keep it fresh and motivated in my mind.

What are your goals for this month? Leave a comment and share your August goals with us!

Melinda Jameson

Melinda is the founder of SuperWAHM.com and started this site to share her best work from home ideas to help other Work At Home Mums become more financially independent and able to spend time with their families.

www.superwahm.com