How to set goals for 2018

Why do people procrastinate?

I used to believe I procrastinated because I was lazy, because I was imperfect, because I was missing something.

I knew that there was a strategy out there to be better at getting things done but I did not know what It was.

After reading countless books about productivity and testing out strategies on myself and on my employees, I found the answer.

I now understand that I used to procrastinate because I lacked clarity.

When I created clarity, I had the motivation to take action.

If you had a magical machine that earns money for you. Where you set the amount you want to earn on the dial and you push the start button and watch the cash roll in. Would you hesitate pushing that button?

If it was as simple as setting a dial and pushing a button, you would not procrastinate. I know that I would be pushing that button all day and night :)

The problem we face is that making a living or managing our projects each day is not as easy as pushing a button. It takes lots of steps that are often not 100% clear.

We have to make decisions and use our willpower to stay focused and figure out the right path to take.

That is mentally challenging for most people and we tend to push it off till we are at a deadline that we must meet or disaster will happen. With all that pressure building up to the last minute we come through in a rush and we get it all done but we do not feel good about it.

When you have things planned out in advance and get everyone on the same page, you can create momentum and feel power and control.

When you have power, you feel the freedom to be more creative and make a bigger impact.

Over the years I have looked at many systems to plan the upcoming year and I decided to just keep it simple with this four step framework.

Why, What, How and Now.

You goals should be able to be written down in one page and be shared with your friends and family. You can do one of these for each area of your life. Business, Health, Relationships and Community.

“People overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in a decade.”

Step one: Why:

The first step is setting a 3 to 10 year goal. An INC5000 CEO recently told me he sets a 40 year goal. I like to keep it simple and set a 5 year goal which is more of a WHY. A vision of what you want to create for yourself in the far future. If you are setting business goals, you might want to provide for your family or make a massive impact in your industry. You need to have a strong why to be compelled into the future. You vision can be a bit abstract but it should be inspiring and pull you into the future.

I remember that I sat down with my EO forum 4 years ago and wrote down my 5 year goals, I am very close to hitting them! It's crazy how much clarity it gives you when you get your purpose down and the contribution you want to make.

Think about your ideal day, your structure, your lifestyle, the people in your life, how you feel and the motivation you have to keep doing what you are doing each day. Dare to write down specific numbers about how much you weigh or how much you earn.

Having a clear vision will allow you to not get stuck in the weeds of the urgent fires we spend too much time on and allow you to set up projects and tasks that are important and will support your long term goals.

Bill Gates and Tony Robbins always repeat this famous saying that “People overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in a decade.”

Let yourself dream up a big hairy audacious goal! (BHAG)

Step two What:

The next step is to define what one year from now looks like. This is much more realistic than a few years from now because you have more control over the next 12 months.

When it comes to business you need to be very specific about what products you will be offering and how many clients you will have using those products. What your revenue and profit will be as well as any other KPI’s that you will track each month to see if you are hitting your goal.

What result do you want to have in a year from now. The more specific you are, the more likely you will be to hit it because you will be able to set up process goals to get there.

The key is to setup smart goals. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time bound.

For example: Instead of saying that you want to be healthy and feel amazing. You want to say that you will lose 30 pounds and be able to do 100 pushups. Instead of saying that you will be successful and make a living to feed your family. Pick a specific number that is attainable and realistic in the short term.

When setting annual goals for your company, you want to make sure that you do not set short term goals that are too high so that your team is constantly missing their goals. You want to be able to celebrate so be realistic yet push the limits.

Step three How:

Once you have your vision and your goals in place you need to make sure you understand how you will get there. Setting quarterly Rocks or Priorities will keep you focused on the most important things you need to be focused on to get you to your goals and your vision.  

You want to make sure that you do not list more than three initiatives here because if you have too many priorities do you do not have any priorities.

Projects that are actionable are the key because if you cannot take action, you will have a hard time moving forward. What metrics can you tie to each project and what does “Done” look like?

Sure you can have many other projects that you are involved with but you have to understand the three that are the most important and that you need to spend the most time on to guarantee that you will get to your goal.

Step four Now:

Once you have a clear vision, smart goals that are defined and you have your actionable priorities laid out you need to stay focused on your upcoming week. What do you need to get done this week to move each project forward.

Each week will change based on what you accomplished so you do not need to plan out all your future weeks, you just need to make sure that your upcoming week is aligned with your quarterly rocks.

Each Friday I review my past week and my upcoming week to make sure that I got done what I said I would do and that I have my most important projects in focus during the upcoming week.

Right now I am focused on the Ajax Union podcast as one of my three most important project for Q4. I have successfully completed over 60 interviews and I have a handful more to complete in the coming week. After that, I will get them all edited and posted on our website and iTunes.

Another project that I am focused on is my LinkedIn project where I am on a mission to analyze  1 million LinkedIn connections. I am running webinars, seminars and talking a lot about LinkedIn with my network. I have analyzed over 60 peoples connections and close to 150,000 connections. Which has helped me significantly with my annual goal.

My third goal is to build a relationship with 100 marketing directors at B2B companies over the next 90 days and identify way to add significant value to them and support them in their mission.

Make sure that you understand your most important tasks each week and how they are aligned with your top three initiatives. Otherwise you will fill up your time with busy work, that does not support your long term goals.

Feel free to comment with your own insights into the best way to set goals for the upcoming year. If you want a link to a Google Doc that you can fill out, message me and i'll send you a copy.

Joe Apfelbaum

Ajax Union

PS: When you have your goals ready, please share them with me so I can support you on your most important goals!