The most important part of each business year is to achieve every goal that has been set at the beginning. Sometimes the goals and achievements weren’t the same as planned. I would like to briefly present some recommendations about how to achieve everything that you want each year.
1. Start with the previous year’s goals and what you have achieved
Close the previous year by analyzing what you’ve achieved and everything you don’t have achieved but wanted and planned. What you’ve done well and what you’ve not done well. And always ask the question, “why.”
Why have I achieved those goals, and why I didn’t achieve those goals? In this way, you will make a cause-effect analysis that will give you possible improvements in the achievement process for this year.
If you use this recommendation, you will enter into the continuous improvement cycle year after year.
2. Look into the Future
Start forecasting what will happen in the future. What are the trends? Are there potential changes in your market, customers, competition, and political environment? What would be your objectives and goals this year? What changes would you like to see within your business this year?
Answering these questions will give you a better picture of what will happen this year. Having this in mind, you will be prepared for future challenges to come close to your vision.
3. Set the goals for this year
When you set goals, don’t think only of your business goals, but also think about your personal goals that will need to be incorporated into your business goals. Those goals you would like to achieve in the new year.
Be careful not to overestimate what you’ll be able to achieve in one year. Too many goals are the most probable cause of goal-setting failure. Analyze the goals in terms of their importance and urgency and develop the plan according to this. Start with the most important and urgent goals.
4. Establish a system for achieving goals
This is simply a transformation of the annual goals into the daily tasks you must do to achieve each goal.
From the annual goal, make monthly milestones and set weekly objectives for each milestone. For each weekly objective set daily tasks that must be done daily.
These daily tasks should have priority before everything else in your daily calendar or to-do list of activities.
5. Time Management
Time management is an important part of your goal-achievement process. Time management will introduce a management system of the daily time you will spend on achieving the goals for this year.
Use the calendar covering all your daily activities with appropriate importance and priority. Finish those tasks that are more important and prioritized for you and your small business. Divide the day based on routine tasks and real projects to make your business money. Routine tasks shall be the last one on your list.
6. Project Management
The simple recommendation when it comes to project management is to focus on the completion of one project before you start another. If you start several projects at once or start another project without completing the previous one, you will delay the completion of all projects already started. This won’t be useful for you as an entrepreneur and your business.
7. Self-Discipline
You must have self-discipline if you want to implement all daily activities as listed in the calendar with your daily activities. Set a time when an activity should be completed and when to begin another. Include your feelings and all the mental trigger that will continuously encourage you to complete the tasks you need to complete.
Why do you do what you do? Are you doing what you do to make a better life for your children and your family? What are those elements that push you forward in the process? These are important questions that will push you forward and beat possible procrastination.
As a first thing, you need to set a deadline. Then start working to accomplish that deadline for the project. Make your deadline public so potential clients will know what to expect. This is something that will help you to complete the projects fully.
8. Less input for more outputs
Consider how to achieve maximum results with the minimum effort invested by you. Use the 80/20 rule for this purpose. 20% of your activities will give you 80% of all your achievements and results. Everything else is a routine that isn’t productive and fruitful. This may seem unachievable, but with a real focus on the first things, I think they are achievable.
Follow these recommendations, and make a calendar for daily activities that will lead to achieving your goals in the next year. If you achieve less than you have planned one day, you must immediately ask WHY. In such a way, you’ll include a self-improvement element of the whole process.
I hope that in such a more organized way, you’ll be able to achieve everything that you set as a goal for this year.
