Attain goals with these 4 steps

This could very well be the biggest stumbling block for new entrepreneurs, and continues to be a struggle for experienced businesspeople.

It is easy to have dreams. Young girls dream about meeting a handsome prince and having a magnificent wedding. A young boy becomes captivated by a sport and dreams about making the final play to win the championship. A new entrepreneur dreams about opening their business and then retiring on the beach in Maui. Why is it that only a small handful of people attain these, or any dreams? The answer is really quite simple; they know how to turn their dreams into goals.

Success is a matter of taking a dream and turning it into a goal. It is more than semantics. A dream is a desire while a goal is an actionable plan.

The transition from dream to goal involves four steps:

Assign measurable actions

Determine what needs to be done in pursuit of your dream. Be specific, listing big actions first, then “chunk” the actions into the smaller components that will make them happen.

Apply an element of time

Take each of the measurable actions and assign a start and end date to it. It is acceptable to have more than one activity at the same time unless the task requires your full attention.

Examine your resources

Even people that have mastered the first two steps falter at this step. Examining your resources requires a hard look at what you have at your disposal. Resource needs could include licensing, knowledge, office or retail space, materials, vendors, office supplies, a method to receive and deposit income, bookkeeping, referral sources, and a variety of other possibilities. Be extensive in your list of resource needs by thinking of different customers from the time you get their attention until post-sale.

Examine the cost

Look at both financial and opportunity costs required to achieve your goal. Financial costs include the cost of opening and sustaining your business until it becomes profitable. Opportunity costs refers to what you will have to put on hold in pursuit of attaining you goal. For example, you may find that boosting your sales will mean you forego a vacation next summer.

If resources are insufficient or the cost is too great, you need to rethink the goal. This does not mean to reject it as it may simply need to be tweaked slightly. If the goal is too soft, go back to step one and two and increase your expectation or shorten the timing. If the second phase validates that the goal is possible, you can continue the road to success!

About the author:

Rick Weaver has half a century’s experience in leadership development in retailing. He founded Max Impact Corporation, a leadership and business development consultancy company in 2002. His major accomplishments include working himself from stock clerk to director at a Fortune 50 retail chain and building a $40MM+ construction company in under 5 years. Today he works as an Executive Search Consultant with Patrice & Associates matching management talent with the job culture for which they are uniquely wired.