The New Year will soon be upon us.  Have you set goals for 2018 yet?   If not, now is the time to get started.  Don’t wait another day to start thinking about what you want to accomplish in the next 12 months.

In our previous post, Reflect on Your Year and Plan for 2018, we talked about reviewing the past 12 months and finding out what worked and what didn’t.   Now it is time to make those goals for the next year and so you can hit the ground running in January.

Are you good at setting goals?

Some people find it easy to created realistic goals and others struggle.

Take my friend Sam for example:

Sam wanted to start his own business.  He dreamed of being his own boss, working when he desired, traveling, having lots of time to spend with his family.  When asked about the goals for his business he said, “I want to make a lot of money so I will never need to worry about paying the bills.”

Like many people who start a business, he wanted to be successful.  He thought setting a goal to make a lot of money would keep him going in the right direction.  He was wrong!

A lot of money means different things to different people.  It isn’t really measurable since to an 8-year-old,  $100 might seem like a lot of money.  To a college student, $1000 might seem like a nice amount.  To a single mom struggling to make ends meet $30,000 would seem like she had won the lottery.  But to others, anything less than $100,000 would mean failure.

You Need Specific Outcomes

A goal without a specific desired outcome is like saying you are going to drive a car without a steering wheel.  It is possible the car will move forward, but doubtful you will arrive at your destination in record time.  A goal to make a lot of money is way too vague to be successful.  Most people would simply say it is “wishful thinking.”   Making a goal without an outcome is almost impossible to turn into reality.

Examples:

Still confused about the difference between vague goals and outcome focused goals.  The difference is how you will know if you have accomplished the goal?  How will it be measured? Here are a few examples:

Vague Goals

• Sell something/anything online so I can make money while I sleep.
• Write a book so the royalties will make you wealthy.
• Purchase a rental property to generate cash flow.
• Invest in a multilevel marketing business to make big bucks.
• Begin to work less so I can earn more.

I could start a multilevel marketing business and get one other person involved.  Will that make me a success?   Will that generate big bucks?   What about working ½ hour less per day.  Will that qualify as a success?   How will I know if I earn more money working less?

Now let’s turn the vague goals into outcome focused and tie them to action.

Outcome Focused Goals

• I will create one new product per month and spend 50% of my work time promoting my products so I sell 20 products per day at $20 for a total of $400 per day in sales.  Some of those sales will take place while I am resting.
• I will write a book that sells for $18 and sell 25 copies per day.  This will create a $450 per day income stream.
• Purchase a rental property where the cash flow from tenants is at least $750 more per month than the costs and expenses associated with the property.
• I will start an XYZ multilevel marketing business and sell 500 of product per month and obtain 2 new recruits for my team per month. So that at the end of 12 months I have 24 people under me helping to add to my income stream.
• I will cut down on my work time per day by 15 minutes per day till I am down to 5 hours per day at a rate of $150 per hour so I am making a steady income of $750 per day but working less hours.

The Difference

Do you see the difference with outcome-focused goals?  Each of them is measurable, which mean you will know if you are on target.   Take the rental property, when looking at properties and you find one that only brings in $250 profit, you can quickly say “no thanks” and move to the next one.  When projects come along that pay much less than you need to make per hour, you can quickly pass.   Having outcome-based goals will help you say “yes” to projects in line with your goals and “no” to those that will just be a distraction.

In The End

Taking the time to develop the right goals with outcomes will go a long way in helping you to be successful and reach all your goals in 2018.  A little work identifying what is important and what outcomes you desire can make all the difference.

Now a challenge:  Set at least one goal with a measurable outcome for the New Year!