At this time of year, goal setting takes on many forms. Managers and executives are finalizing their 2019 strategic plans. Employees are being evaluated against last year’s goals and will soon be setting your 2019 goals. A few of us will be setting New Year Resolutions.

Whether it is personal or professional goals, there is no getting away from setting goals this time of year. Honestly this is the best part of the December madness, because I get excited about what I can accomplish in the new year. I am so excited, I thought I’d share some ideas to get YOU as excited about the new year!

3 Tips for Setting Your 2019 Goals

Typically, at this time of year, my boss would be scheduling a meeting with me to go over my performance evaluation for the year. In this meeting, we would review the goals I set at the beginning of the year, and he (or she) would proceed to tell me how well I did against those goals. Sound familiar?  Then early the following year, my boss would ask me to set goals for that year.

With the evaluation fresh on my mind, I would set goals vague enough, and low enough (while still being SMART) that I knew I could be successful at the end of the year. I mean why put myself out there and risk failing or a bad review? My career and pay were on the line!

I would make another mistake when setting a personal goal, typically around weight loss. I’d set a resolution for losing twenty pounds, or to exercise three times a week. And by sheer will power and stubbornness I manage to stick to a plan for about six weeks. Then I’d find an excuse to go back to my old habits.

These approaches rarely create dramatic improvements, and keep people in the same grind year after year. Here are some things to consider to make 2019 Your Best Year Ever!

Inspirational

Create an inspirational goal! Setting a goal that you know you can accomplish will not inspire you. Consider this, even if you achieve that goal, did you really drive your career forward? Probably not. Losing twenty pounds just for the sake of losing twenty pounds isn’t inspirational either. If your goals do not cause you to get excited with anticipation of accomplishing the goal, you might want to reconsider your goal.

Consider creating professional goals that will really drive your career forward. Set a goal to solve a vexing problem, or a common complaint with co-workers or customers. Solving a problem that makes the workplace better will inspire you, and help you grow your career. Instead of setting a goal to lose twenty pounds, you might consider a goal to be able to play ball with your kids, or to win the company golf league. In either of these cases, coming up a little short of full success will still make improvements in your career or health.

Drive Change

I recommend setting goals that really drive change. We’ve all heard the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. If you want different results you have to change. Your goals should cause you to change. Over the past few years, I have met many people that started their own business. And, almost every one of them commented on how important networking had been to growing their business. That was usually followed by, “and I never liked networking before.” The goal for these entrepreneurs was to grow their business, and because of that focus they had to change some habits. Driving change will allow you to become a better version of who you are!

Well-Defined

President Kennedy declared that NASA will put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Before that declaration NASA’s mission was simply to explore space. Because “exploring space” is not well defined, the Soviet Union was the first to launch a satellite into orbit. It was the well-defined challenge of putting a man on the moon that helped the United States win the Space Race. To this day, we are the only country to land a human on the moon and safely return them to earth. Your goal should be as well defined as walking on the moon. There is no ambiguity in that statement. We knew what had to happen and when. Make sure your goals are that clear and concise.

This Week’s Challenge

Start thinking of the personal and professional goals you have for you and our business. Are they inspirational, or just more of the same? Will they drive you to change, and become a better version of yourself? Are your goals so well defined that when you tell me what they are I will have the same picture?

If you would like to discuss more ways to help your business grow or if you feel you have a specific problem that needs to be addressed, please reach out to me.