Felicia Brown
In the first part of this series, I discussed creating goals that are SMART (Specific, Measureable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time-sensitive) as well as taking action every day towards whatever goal(s) you set. Now let’s take goal setting a step further to be even more effective.
Decide what YOU passionately want–NOT what others want for you. Often when talking with coaching clients, someone will say, “Well my spouse really wants me to _______.” Then they’ll go on to describe how they just can’t seem to make it happen. Why? My guess is that it is because the goal they are aiming for is not really their own. As a result, they have no passion or excitement about that goal and can’t muster the energy to do anything about it.
In fact, without passion and “ownership” of your goal, it may be hard to gather the momentum, excitement and persistence needed to achieve much of anything, especially if the goals you’ve set are larger ones. True, if you work for someone else, you may have been given a set of goals by your boss. But even if you have an employer’s expectations to meet, you can create your own individual goals within them or in order to help meet the bosses’ requirements.
Example: The spa where you work has an overall team goal of increasing service and retail sales by twenty-five percent over last year. Perhaps the idea of growing the amount of sales for the spa isn’t exciting to you, but improving results and level satisfaction of your clients is. So you could create a personal goal you ARE passionate about that says, “In 2012, I will share our retail specials with every client I see and offer at least one upgrade or add-on service per appointment.” Doing so is likely to help your clients look and feel better while improving your levels of service and care, not to mention your sales.
Put it in writing and share it! Writing your goals down allow takes them out the realm of lofty ideas floating in your head to concrete, tangible thoughts and projects. Once you write them down where you can see them, you can continue to craft and perfect them as your vision of them and the results that will follow evolve.
Once you’ve made your goals clear, tangible and had the chance to think some of the tasks and actions through, begin to share the goals with others. This may be your employer, co-worker or partner, perhaps your spouse or a friend, and even your customers or professional contacts. Whoever they are, the people you share your goal with should be supportive of you in general. And most likely, especially as you profess your plans with passion, some of those you share them with will take steps to help you achieve them.
Need help setting goals or growing your business? Visit www.spalutions.com for more information on my Group Marketing Coaching Programs, one-on-one coaching sessions and NEW Marketing Coaching Home Study Kit and Audio Courses (coming out January 31st).