It’s time you start to take accountability, plan & 10x everything you do!
Everybody has some form of goals in their lives (or at least the majority), whether it be business, personal or financial. Goals & accomplishments and what they mean for you, will be totally different to what they mean to me.
You might want to get to a certain position in your career, start a business or have a net worth of ‘X’. Or maybe you want to learn a new skill, be able to support your family stress free, or maybe you want that house on the lake. Whatever it is, big or small – It’s a goal and you need to get there.
How are you going to achieve your goals?
This is where a lot of people’s goals get fuzzy, and they realise they don’t have a plan or know the effort needed to achieve their goals. Not having a plan, and not acting towards the plan means you don’t have a goal, it’s a dream.
So how do you ‘plan’ to achieve your goals?
As mentioned, having a goal without a plan means you don’t have goals. You need actionable & measurable steps that can be taken, to move you closer to where you want to be.
A lot of people when planning for goals think only on a macro level. This is important, but only part of the process. If for example you have a goal to own a house that costs £1m. You may have a macro step in your plan to earn & save £1m, so that you can purchase the house. The problem with macro level steps is the simple fact that they are macro. I.e. a large scale overall steps in the plan. This means taking action against them that is measurable is very hard. Also, looking at steps at this scale, it’s hard to get up and get motivated as you won’t see the mini wins as part of the process.
This is where ‘micro’ level steps come into a plan. There can be many layers of ‘micro’ steps to achieve a ‘macro’ step in your plan. A micro step comes from breaking down your macro step, into actionable steps that can be scheduled, actioned and measured. These smaller steps, allow you to plan daily actions that are achievable, and that will move you closer to your goals.
GOAL >
> Macro Level Activity Needed > Micro Level Activity Needed > Daily Actions & Next steps Needed
How do you know how much effort is needed to achieve a goal?
The first step to making progress is taking action. A lot of people wonder why they struggle to hit goals, but once challenged it often show’s that it’s because they think about taking action, and have great ideas but don’t execute.
Once you are ready to take action and execute, you need to 10x everything. Whether it is a piece of work that requires a level of effort, or a sales exercise that requires volume, crank your goals and effort to 10x. By doing this, you elevate the work needed however the results will speak for themselves. For example, if you have a revenue target of £1m, aim for £10M! Even if you fall short of the £10m, so what you could hit £4m!. That’s a much better result than £1m isn’t it?
What’s the next step to get closer to your goals?
So you have your goals set, and you know the large macro steps you need to take to move you closer to achieving the goals. You also have micro steps that can help you achieve the milestones, but what’s the actual next step? If you write down vague tasks & your goals, you will find it hard to motivate yourself to act and progress. The art of writing down lists, comes into its own when you write down with it the clear actionable next step.
For example, if you want to get your business to £1m turnover, you might have a macro step of ‘take onboard x4 clients each with a revenue of £250k’. This is fine, but if this is the task list your working on, because of the level and size, it will seem daunting and your mind will find it hard to get you moving on what to do. Instead, break these macro tasks into micro ones, and always have the ‘what’s next’ clearly stated. In this example, your first next step could be ‘Carry out market research in the area to find potential companies with a turnover of X’. As you can see, this type of task is easy to process and progress.
Be Productive
Time is the most valuable asset you have. Everyone has the same 24hrs, what are you doing with yours? Often business owners, managers & entrepreneurs waste time and slow down progress as they don’t have the skill of ‘being productive’. People are not born productive, and there is no reason why some people are more productive with their time than others, other than the fact they have spent time developing a productive skill set, plan and have productivity-hacks for tasks within their day. Productivity is one of the most overlooked areas when reviewing performance, but in my opinion it should be at the top. Be productive.
Be Accountable
Often business owners, managers or entrepreneurs don’t take accountability for their goals or next steps. Without accountability, there will be no urgency, and the mind will presume you will ‘just get there’.
Accountability is as, if not more important than being productive – Make yourself accountable, because no one else is going to get you closer to your goals.
How can I keep track of my progress?
Often overlooked, but to document a plan, track progress, and even reflect on where you have come from is very important in the journey to achieving goals.
There is no right or wrong way, or best practice. If you want to use tech, then apps like Evernote or Nozebe are great for documenting tasks, next steps and reminders. These are available on your mobiles App store or online web versions are available.
Although I run a Tech company, I still like to use a planner to write out goals, tasks and projects (Backed up with Apps). My recommended one is from Bestself.co, but a quick Google will return lots of options.
Let’s talk!
If you want to discuss goals, productivity or business get in touch or tweet @mikejdouglass
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