This blog post has been authored by Stand Out Online Member Reethu George, ClarityBrew

When you have a lot of responsibilities on the personal front, it can be tempting to use whatever little time that you have for yourself to unwind. This is where goal setting comes in. Knowing exactly what you need to work on in the business front and setting goals, will help you find structure and focus. Unless you know where it you are headed, you are not going to know how to get there. Having this clear direction, will motivate to push harder.
Let’s get started.

STEP 1: Consider what you want to achieve in your business.

Think about what you want to achieve in the next say 1 or 2 years of your business. You can choose a timeline that works for you. While you might be tempted to set a whole lot of goals for yourself, initially try to limit them to a few important goals that you want to start with. This will help prevent you from feeling overwhelmed with the task ahead.
Spend some time to brainstorm goals that excite you. Make sure you ask yourself if these are goals that YOU want to achieve and not goals that you are pressured into setting due to societal expectations.

STEP 2: When setting your goals make sure your goals are SMART

What does SMART stands for?
– Specific – You know exactly what your goal is. To make a goal specific consider the five W’s.
1. Who: Who is involved in this goal?
2. What: What do I want to accomplish?
3. Where: Where is this goal to be achieved?
4. When: When do I want to achieve this goal?
5. Why: Why do I want to achieve this goal?
– Measurable – The goal is easy to track. How would you know you have reached your goal?
– Attainable – Your goal is realistic considering the resources available to you. Do you have enough time in the day to achieve the goals you have set? Do have the money to invest into this goal?
– Relevant – Your goal is exciting and meaningful to you.
– Time-bound – You have a clear deadline for your goal.

Once you have your goal, grab a pen and paper and write it down. Writing it down makes it feel real.
Now that you have your goal, we are going to move to how you can create a plan to achieve your goal.

STEP 3: Break the goal into smaller goals

Once you have set your bigger and broader goal (for ease of explaining, we are going to consider that this broader goal is for 1 year), we will work backward. Begin by setting a bi-annual plan of smaller goals that you need to complete if you are to reach your 1-year plan.

Break down your bi- annual plan into smaller goals. Reverse engineer this goal and create a one-month plan of progressively smaller goals that you should complete in order to hit your 6- month plan. Each of these should be based on the previous plan.
Once you have your monthly goal. As you begin a particular month, you can divide them into weekly goals and further down into daily goals. This will help you come up with a day to day To-Do list of things that you should do today to work towards the big picture.

To help put this in context, consider that you have set business goals for 2022. You are going to break this goal down into goals you need to work on in the first half (January to June) and the second half (July to December) of the year. Now work backwards from December and break them down into monthly goals.

STEP 4: Keep yourself accountable

Find someone who can motivate you to push yourself to meet the goals that you have set for yourself, work with you when you hit roadblocks and hold you accountable to your goals.

STEP 5: Track your progress

Check in on yourself. Take stock of what’s been working and what hasn’t been. If something hasn’t been working, think about what needs to change.

STEP 6: Celebrate yourself

Finally, reward yourself for the progress you are making! Celebrate your wins.

Happy goal setting! Remember to take one step at a time and focus on progress and not perfection.

About: Reethu George is a Coach and Founder of ClarityBrew. She helps women who are feeling overwhelmed and confused about their future, gain clarity and direction. She holds safe spaces for women to unpack and organise their overwhelming thoughts and support to help map out a plan for the future and take action.
Website: https://claritybrewcoaching.com/
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