I'm Val! Coach for creatives
like you who are ready to be healthier, happier and more empowered women who love the business you run, the people you serve and the life you live!
Why You’re Not Reaching Your Business Goals
How many times have you set a big goal in your business but never reached it? If you’re really honest with yourself, do you know what kept you from making it happen? Did you, by chance, experience shiny object syndrome and spend your time working on other things that didn’t work toward your goal?
Assuming you’re an entrepreneur, and especially if you’re a creative, I’m prettttty sure this has happened to you a time or two or ten. But you’re not alone, friend. Shiny object syndrome aka disco ball syndrome aka project ADD aka lack of focus is one of the primary goal killers in our industry, but I have the antidote: Alignment.
I’m going to go ahead and guess you’re not used to hearing the word Alignment when talking about your creative business. Our good buddy, Webster says alignment is: arrangement in a straight line, or in correct or appropriate relative positions.
Ok, ok, so it’s still a little unclear how this relates to your business goals. But before you click over to one of the ten other tabs you have open, hear me out. If you ever want to reach your big business goals, your daily tasks need to align to that goal. Every week, you should have time dedicated to tasks that bring you one step closer to reaching your big goal.
Alignment helps to prioritize and bring a clear focus to your time. When you’re in alignment with your big goals, you’re better at avoiding distractions. You take the time to identify which tasks will get you to your goal, and set the rest aside. Do you remember in middle school algebra when you learned the fastest way to an end point? Me neither LOL (algebra hated me), but Google tells me it’s a straight line….which is perfect, because the same concept is true in your business. 😉 When your day-to-day tasks are aligned with your goal, you stay on track so you’re actually consistently working toward that big goal and ultimately actually reaching it!
Man, do I love Lara Casey and everything she writes, but especially this timely [and timeless] quote: “You know all those things you’ve always wanted to do? You should go DO THEM.”
You with me? Ready to figure out alignment in your business so you can actually go DO those things you’ve always wanted to do?
Here’s how.
You can’t align your tasks to a big end goal if you haven’t made one! So obviously, step one is to identify a big goal you want to reach. 😉 Some examples could be going full time in your business, writing a course, streamlining your business systems or launching a brand new product.
This is the real nitty, gritty essential-for-success part of aligned goal setting. Sit down and write ALL the tasks (big and small) that you’ll need to accomplish to reach your goal. While doing this, make sure to also consider the time and monetary commitments. For now, don’t worry about putting the tasks in order, that’ll come next. Just focus on writing down every little task that you will need to complete to reach your goal.
SUPER IMPORTANT
This is the step that people typically skip or woefully underestimate. Breaking your goal down into bite-size pieces will literally make the difference in whether you can get it done within your timeframe or not. It’s so important that you take your time breaking each part down as far as you can so you can plan realistically.
To give you an idea, if my goal was to write a course, some tasks I might write down are: pick a topic, write survey questions for market research, market survey, create an outline, decide what platform I’ll create my course on, write rough draft content for module 1, brainstorm marketing plan, etc, etc, etc…
After you’ve outlined all the tasks, there’s a decent chance you’re going to feel overwhelmed. Deep breath, friend. This is normal! Stick with it! Ordering the tasks chronologically will help you break up the tasks into manageable chunks and estimate your timeline strategically. Put the tasks in the order that makes sense to complete. For example, I wouldn’t start writing a rough draft for a course without first deciding on a topic and doing market research. There may be multiple tasks that need to happen around the same time, that’s normal!
Now that you have a clear picture of what it will actually take to reach that goal, you can set a due date and plan in your deadlines. Without deadlines, you won’t have or feel the urgency around your goal. It’s so stinking easy to procrastinate when you don’t have a deadline creeping up on you. Heck, it’s easy to procrastinate when you DO have a deadline! How many times have you set a goal and then six months later realized you hadn’t made any progress? One of the most common things I hear in these situations is “I just didn’t have time.” But I’d bet money that’s not true. In most cases, we just haven’t made the time. Setting a realistic timeline for your goal will help you stay focused.
The best way to start setting your deadlines is to assign a certain number of tasks to each week from now until your ideal due date. This is a fluid process where you may change your due date several times, but that’s okay! Take the time now to set up a realistic plan that you know is attainable for you.
Pro Tip: You can’t forget the time it will take to keep up the weekly maintenance of your business when planning this out! Make sure you know what tasks you have to accomplish every week to keep your business running before deciding how much extra work you can add to your plate! You may just need to ask yourself if your client experience and/or your business truly needs you to complete these tasks to maintain.
On a weekly basis, your time should consist only of the tasks you need to complete to maintain the business and the tasks you’ve identified to reach your big goal (use my list system to make the most of your time). If any other ideas or tasks come to mind, ask yourself:
“Is this task going to help me reach my goal or is it going to take time and energy away from my goal?”
If it doesn’t align, say no!
Now that you have a clear vision of what needs to be done to reach your goal, you have the perspective to identify distractions when they inevitably arise. And this, my friend, will likely be a weekly, even daily battle. If a “great opportunity” presents itself, table it for later or choose to say no in order to stay focused on the goal you’ve already decided is your priority. It will be easier to say no when you have a clear view of your goal, the due date, and the steps you need to take to get there.
Once you get into the habit of aligning your tasks, staying focused and saying no to distractions, you’ll finally be well on your way to actually doing those things you’ve always wanted to do!
If you need some inspiration on big goals, check out my last two blog posts about upleveling in your creative business.
I'm Val! Coach for creatives
like you who are ready to be healthier, happier and more empowered women who love the business you run, the people you serve and the life you live!
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