The Importance of Specific Goals

Do you have an annual goal-setting process? Or is it your idea of goal-setting to create New Year’s Resolutions which are set and forgotten in a matter of weeks? I encourage everyone to have written, specific goals with target dates. The more clear and specific you are, and the more often you look at your written goals, the higher your chance of success.

In my Vistage groups, my members write an annual goal letter to themselves as if it were the end of the upcoming year and they were looking back on the year to congratulate themselves on accomplishing all their goals. This exercise enables the members to visualize their success and to use past-tense wording that helps the brain believe these things were already accomplished. The goal letters are then shared with the other members in the group, so that the group can hold them accountable for their goals. We provide updates to one another regularly through the year to keep those goals top of mind, increasing the likelihood of success.

I’ve been writing an annual goal letter to myself for over 20 years and have found it to be an integral part of my annual planning process. When I am crystal clear about what I want to achieve, and when I create milestones toward my goals that are reviewed regularly, I have found that I am much more likely to accomplish those goals.

It’s important to be very specific about what you want. If you say you want to “increase” revenues, then specify an amount and a target date. If you say you want to spend “more” time with your family in the coming year, define what you mean. Will you no longer take work home? Will you take weekends off? Will you spend 2 hours each week with each child doing something they want to do? Will you and your significant other have a weekly date night?

After many years of working with CEOs and business owners, I have observed that there are 2 different types of reactions at the end of the year when a goal is not very specific. Let’s use a revenue example to illustrate the 2 different reactions.

At the beginning of the year, 2 CEOs write a goal that said they want more revenue than the previous year. When both CEOs wrote the goal, they were thinking that a 10% increase would be great. Unfortunately, they did not specify 10% when writing the goal. At the end of the year, one business increased revenue by 15%. That CEO was disappointed because she thought she could have done better. If she had specified 10% at the beginning of the year, she may have been celebrating a great accomplishment with her team rather than feeling disappointed. The other business increased revenue by only 7% and the CEO was bragging about his achievement, when he did not actually achieve his goal. If instead, he had specified a goal of 10%, he likely would have been pushing his team throughout the year to achieve the 10% instead of settling for 7%.

It’s not too late to write your annual goal letter and share it with others who can hold you accountable. Please let me know of your success!

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