The dreaming phase of starting a business is very exciting and uplifting. The world of new possibilities is always that way. Actually taking your dream of owning your own successful business and making it a reality takes a lot of effort and is where too many fall short.
Planning your business and breaking down your plan into goals and milestones is essential to your success. It follows, then, that in order to succeed you must actually achieve your goals and milestones. Fortunately, by putting some simply structures in place, you can achieve these goals and milestones virtually every time.
“A GOAL IS A DREAM WITH A DEADLINE.” Napolean Hill
SET A CLEAR GOAL
It’s much easier to achieve goals when they are specific and you actually quantify them. For example, all businesses need customers. The more the better! So, instead of setting a goal of “I want more customers”, set a goal of “I will generate 5 new customers a week.”
DETERMINE SPECIFIC ACTIONS
Once you have a specific goal, determine exactly what you will do to achieve your goal. For example, “To generate 5 new customers a week, EACH WEEK I will make 20 phone calls, place 30 fliers in local shops and post 1 advertisement in facebook.”
SCHEDULE EACH OF THE ACTIONS
Ensure that you will actually take each action by scheduling it in your calendar. Give it a day and a time. So, following our example, you may choose to schedule 4 phone calls each day of the week from 9-10am, drop off 30 fliers in the shops on a specific street each Wednesday at 12pm, and post 1 facebook advertisement at 10am each Monday.
JUST DO IT
Once you have your actions scheduled, it becomes a simple matter to do everything on your schedule on the date and time you scheduled. Make a strong commitment to accomplish the actions when you said you would. Of course, things will come up and you will need to reschedule. No problem, simply move the action item. Be a machine. Just do it!
Have a powerful week, everyone!
Mike
