Setting goals making them attainable

: As a writer/author/editor/web designer, et al, I find that in order to make a “go” of my business, I must periodically refocus or reshape the direction in which my business is moving in order to remain relevant and profitable. If you, too, run your own business you probably have learned to do the same. If not, you may be missing some important trends that can impact your bottom line. Please continue to read on for some helpful advice on how you can set attainable goals for your enterprise. My business is always in a state of flux. At times, web design is the hot item while at other times article writing surges to the top of my list of tasks. Several other competing responsibilities including advertising, resume design, and special projects also weigh in. My job isn’t boring, but if I don’t keep a firm grasp on my myriad duties, I can find myself going in the wrong direction without warning. This can be both a career killer and a financial disaster. Some goals I make for myself are specific, such as, write more personal finance articles, while others are general, such as, the following goals I recently made to provide even better service to my clients: 1. I will do the best job possible for you and at a competitive price. 2. I will work for you as if it matters to me. That’s because it does. 3. Your success is my success. If you do well, I do well. If your project fails, I have failed too. Of course, more generalized goals give you more room to move [and breathe!] while specific, set-in-stone goals are just that: immovable. You will either reach your goals or you willfail; there is no middle ground! So, why not do both? Have specific goals which you know you must reach and generalized goals which you can meet, but can also be reshaped on the fly. Divide up your goals into those that must be kept a specific way for one category, while placing the remaining goals in the second, more fluid category. You will likely attain your goals if you give yourself some wiggle room. If you don’t, you will soon grow disinterested, forget your goals, and your business and your customers will suffer the consequences.

Christians 7 steps to realizing your goals

1. Determine precisely what your goals are. What have you always hoped you could do, but have never had the time or money? What would you do if money and time were plentiful? What do you want to accomplish in the next five years? What do you wish you had done in the last five years? What do you feel God wants for your life that perhaps you aren’t doing? 2. Ask yourself why you really want the things you determined in step 1). Is it to enhance your relationship with your family or with your Creator? To grow closer to those most important to you? Perhaps if it is financial, is it to better provide for those around you and leave more time for charity and ministry? Without understanding why we want the things we do, it is often difficult to really become motivated to get the things we want. 3. Write out a list of things that would need to change in your life in order for your goals to come true. Sometimes the only reason we don’t accomplish our goals is that we don’t have a written plan of what needs to be done. Without having the ability to review the goals regularly, we tend to lose our focus. Before we know it, a month or two has gone by, there is no progress, and we are frustrated that we are no closer to the realization of our goals. 4. Break each goal down into a series of minigoals—smaller accomplishments that, when all are completed, would result in the achievement of your primary goal. When you break your goals into smaller segments, the goals do not appear to be as formidable---just take things one minigoal at a time, and after awhile your primary goal will be accomplished. 5. Create a time frame for achieving each of your goals. Often we don’t achieve simply because we don’t create a time constraint. Give yourself a deadline and you will get more done. Remember when you were in college and you finished the semester-long paper the night before it was due—if not the very morning it was due? As much as we don’t like to admit it, we often need deadlines to help us achieve our goals. 6. Ask a trusted friend to hold you accountable in each area where you want to improve, grow, or achieve. This should preferably not be your husband or wife, but rather a same-sexed friend from whom you can easily take criticism and who will feel comfortably pushing you a little when you aren’t following through on your goals. When we involve others, we tend to feel a greater sense of urgency. 7. Celebrate each time you achieve one of your goals or minigoals. We humans tend to like celebration, and it can help motivate you to achieve the next goal on your list. Bonus: 8. Once you have completed your goals and celebrated, look back over the process and ask yourself what you could have done to achieve your goal more smoothly or quickly. This is one of the most critical steps in the long-term realization of goals, because it can help us become more efficient at achieving our goals in the future.