Setting Business Goals that are Achievable

Friday, November 15, 2019


A mandatory mission of running and nurturing a business toward growth is to set the proper goals. The main issue is how those goals are set and how they can impact the capability of achieving something set. For any number of goals, big or small, short or long term, there is always a best practice that may help setting them the right way. Below are certain goal-setting tips to make progress toward success:

Set goals that are specific but challenging - When setting business goals, think about how to make them specific and challenging as opposed to vague and unrealistic.

If expansion is the main aim, don’t set a goal of e.g. "make more money" or "have 10 times as many clients this year." The first is too easy, because making $1 more could count, while the second is difficult, and both goals are too vague. Instead, the approach is thinking of setting goals as a plan of action. Be as specific as possible about what needs to be done, when it will happen and how much effort and energy is required to realize them. Motivation for managing achievements must always be at the center of goal setting.

Research on goal - setting and task performance has found that 90 percent of the time, setting specific, challenging goals leads to a higher rate of success. 

Have a support team - Working toward business goals in isolation, lowers accountability. It can also prevent from taking advantage of others’ experiences and creative suggestions when running into challenges.

If the partners or employees in any business are involved, tell them what goals are and how to work toward for the upcoming milestone (one year or even shorter or larger period to meet them). Communicate the goals through circulating the same goal document so they understand how individual work fits into the big picture. Track the company’s progress and celebrate achievements to stay accountable. For a solo entrepreneur or a freelancer, there is always the possibility of creating a support team of the closed circle of people like friends or loved ones or even joining a community capable to share ideas with other business owners, get feedback or advice or even being encouraged on your endeavors.

Choose goals you want to achieve - When you own a business, it’s tempting to compare yourself to other business owners and think that you should be doing the same thing but if you are pursuing goals just because that’s what you see other business owners do, you will quickly lose motivation and get discouraged. Instead, focus on what you want for your own business. Choose goals that you feel passionate about and genuinely want to achieve, rather than trying to check boxes that you don’t actually care about.

Visualize success. – When taking concrete action toward set goals, it is worthwhile to take time to visualize what it will look like when having achieved them. This can have a surprisingly positive impact.

To make it more specific, in one study on the power of visualization, the findings lead to the fact that people who performed physical exercises improved their muscle strength by 35 percent, but people who carried out "virtual workouts" in their heads improved their muscle strength by 13.5 percent. Being able to envision something can help make it actually happen.

Without implying that solid action is not necessary to achieve business goals, visualizing the goals in great detail, gives a better status to stay motivated, pursue creative solutions and do the work necessary to achieve them.