Goal-Setting: Set your intention on success

Last month I shared a cup of coffee with a local, high-powered business woman who offered some brilliant insight.

“A ‘bad’ economy is just the excuse many people need to stop showing up,” she said. “They stop marketing; they quit attending business events; and they stop planning for the future. But for savvy business people, now is exactly the right time to put more energy into setting big goals for your business.”

My high-powered mentor was dead-on with her assessment. Successful companies are using the economy not as an excuse but as a motivator, a reason to step up their game.

Courageous companies are defying all the doom and gloom we hear on the news while revisiting their visions, assessing their markets, writing down their goals, acknowledging the risks, and moving forward with the intention of succeeding.

If you’ve never been keen on goal-setting, you are not alone. For 95 percent of people, goal-setting is a difficult task. Few people write down their goals because they fear that they will fail to achieve them. But without goals, we have no direction and no way to measure our accomplishments.

I found that a systematic, ongoing plan helped me tap into the power of goal-setting. As you develop your own plan, it helps to remember that goals are easily changeable and in fact should be re-evaluated often.

Here are some tips for creating a plan:

• Long-term goals help determine your short term goals: When you first consider your goals, it’s often helpful to look three to five years into the future and then work backwards through time. Break your big goals down into smaller steps - annual goals, quarterly goals, weekly goals. If your goal is to pay yourself $100,000 next year (so you can finally buy that Audi A6), then what will it entail in the coming months to make that money?

• Be specific, measurable, and set deadlines: Change your goal of “Increase sales,” to “Close four deals at $25K (or more) by the end of October.”

• Take (achievable) risks: Aim for high yet attainable goals. Realize that you must take some risks to achieve success. If you usually land one new client per month, set a new goal of two or three.

• Be persistent and adaptable: If you are new to goal-setting, it may take time to get the hang of it. Don’t give up. Reassess your goals monthly and make adjustments as necessary. Write your goals in red marker on a dry erase board where you can refer to them often. You’ll find that goal-setting gets easier because as you achieve your initial goals, you’ll be motivated to set and achieve even bigger goals.

Carrie Hensel is co-founder and CEO of Inner Circle Media and co-founder of the Women’s Exchange of Washtenaw . She writes this monthly column with WXW co-founder Deb Power.