Entrepreneurs, focus on your goals but beware

Key take away

§?Goal setting is important for achieving targets of performance

§?Objectives help in keeping focus and drive towards your vision

§?A supportive environment is essential for goal attainment

§?SMART goals assist in successful goal accomplishment

§?Hiring external help can increase target achievement

§?Beware that some goals should be shelved for various reasons

Entrepreneurs have aspirations, and frequently they possess very high ambitions. Look around, and you will see what they can accomplish. You might be thinking about what strategies I can deploy to achieve my goals. Goal setting can be tedious, like an administrative act or completing your financials. However, there is real value in setting your objectives and supporting them with a plan of action.

Importance of goal setting Without goals, your life will be a cotton ball in the wind. As we have seen over the past three years of the pandemic, life can have crosswinds that can take you and your business off course. Objectives provide focus and direction and give you meaning in life—personal and business. You may want to set a goal to spend more time with your family, which you have neglected due to your venture’s time demands. Frequently, entrepreneurs neglect their families only to discover that their children have grown.

Entrepreneurs often have career goals encompassing their business—launching a new product or learning a new skill to improve their emotional intelligence. Finally, philanthropic entrepreneurs will aim for community involvement to enhance their corporate social responsibility standing.

Success driven environment It would help if you surrounded your life with specific things to succeed at hitting your goals. Entrepreneurs typically have very demanding and stressful lives, which could be a distraction. Eating your five servings of fruits and vegetables and lowering your salt and sugar intake will boost your energy levels and reduce your chances of getting sick. High-fibre food also has a psychological impact. In recent research, gut microorganisms were found to boost your happiness chemicals—serotonin and dopamine.

Exercise is natural medicine. Pick a routine or sport you like and create a social network to give you more enjoyment. You might think that working out is time lost in earning money. Exercise can boost your creativity, which is required for problem-solving. Imagination is the front end of innovation, your strategy to win in the marketplace. However, there is more; recently, a study showed that exercising in green spaces (parks or among trees) can give an extra boost.

Social networks are great for opportunity seekers but can offer fun and entertainment. We are social creatures, and loneliness can be a friend of mental illnesses. It is easy to become depressed and suffer anxiety when things go wrong.

Even resilient people can often be vulnerable to psychological pain. Using your networks to play a sport or a game of cards with a pot of fish broth will boost your mood.

SMART goals The acronym SMART gives substance to your goal setting, which means your goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

Specific means that your objectives are quantifiable, and when you hit them, you can be sure. If your target is to achieve sales of $500,000 by the end of 2023, you will know if you did by the end of December. Measurable means it is precise. Improving employee morale is difficult to gauge, so avoid fuzzy ones. You may need to measure specific areas of staff performance, as this might be more useful.

Achievable or attainable means your target of performance is attainable. For example, if you wanted to double your profits with only a marginal increase in revenue, this might be a pipe dream. Realistic or relebmeans your goal makes sense, and setting one that does not bring value is not a realistic ambition. Finally, time-bound means you want to put an end date for achieving the aim. For example, your sales goal must be completed by the end of the year.

Commitment to growth Since ambitious goals require significant changes to your personal and business life, you need support to get there. Apart from creating a success-driven environment, you may seek outside help. Coaches are available to question your ambitions, and they can examine the strategies you are using to attain them.

While coaches offer assistance, mentors go beyond discovery and focus on transferring skills and knowledge to the mentee.

If you wanted to achieve a higher level of customer service, you could seek one with industry experience.

A trainer might offer a more profound intervention than a coach or mentor. Seeking actionable knowledge resources can assist in improving your customer service problem. Entrepreneurs could also hire an advisor if it is a significant issue. Consultants can develop a strategic or succession plan in the case of a family business.

Letting go Sometimes we view abandoning our goals as a failure, and Western culture considers this a disappointment as it favours persistence and achievement. However, new research points to a different take on this “goal disengagement”. Psychologist Cathleen Kappes of the University of Hildesheim in Germany has done much work in the area. Science tells us that abandoning a goal when it becomes too costly and unfeasible makes sense, and it should not be seen as a failure but quite a sensible strategy. Is the question of quitting as crucial as persisting? Kappes says, “Is rather the optimal interplay between both processes (abandonment and tenacity).” She says what matters is our well-being.

Goal setting has much value for a better life; we must not forget that at the time of planning, we may have bitten off more than we can chew. As Steve Jobs once said about looking forward versus looking backwards, sometimes we know the value of an experience only when we reflect. It might be the same for some goals, as we may need to adjust them when they become too lofty—breaking them down into smaller goals or extending the time required to achieve them.?

This is a condensed version of my article that appeared in my column in the T&T Business Guardian Money Magazine.

Sajjad Hamid is author of Build Your Legacy Business: Solopreneur To Family Business Hero