Christmas is right around the corner and as the New Year approaches we like to take stock of where we are, where we want to go and how we’re going to get there.

‘Tis the season… to be specific

It’s a chance for many of us to catch our breath and gear up for a new and exciting calendar year when we’ll continue to chase down our goals and realise our ambitions and Linford Grey is no exception.

However, if we aren’t careful we can very quickly become consumed working ‘in’ the business rather than ‘on’ the business and before we know it we’re looking down the barrel of another December wondering where the time went and re-committing ourselves to the same New Year goals as last year.

So how do we make sure we execute the goals we set ourselves?

Here are Linford Grey’s tips on setting your New Year goals for business and how to stick to them:

1. Be specific

What precisely do you want? What does success over the next twelve months look like? Don’t be too general, it isn’t good enough to say that you want to grow, make more money, spend more time with family or invest more.

Put a number on it, a percentage increase an absolute amount. Without that specificity you’ll have no metrics to keep you accountable for your progress and without accountability those goals will invariably slip or become compromised.

2. Put a date on it

Once you have a specific goal, the next step is to put a date on it. At what point do you want to achieve that goal? Subsequently, break those goals and timelines into smaller and more regular checkpoints to help you keep track of your progress.

You might find that both failure and success in meeting these smaller more frequent checkpoints keeps you hungry and motivated to make yet more progress.

3. Make maximum effort

After reading Grant Cardone’s New York Times Best-selling book, ‘The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure’, I am truly convinced of the merit of setting high goals and then making maximum effort to achieve them.

Aiming to turnover £1 million and falling short is a lot better than aiming for £100k and still falling short.

In summary

Whilst the above three tips are a great starting point for creating actionable goals and working toward the achievement of them the most important thing we can all do this Christmas is to spend some time reflecting on our mindset. As Adam Smith once said:

“The true tragedy of the poor is the poverty of their aspirations.”

Do not succumb to the vagaries of the everyday business owner. Dream big. Get Specific. Hold yourself to a deadline and finally, make maximum effort.

This is not a zero-sum game, you can have as much as you want, decide how much you want and go get it in 2020.

If we can be of any help please get in touch.

Linford Grey. Your intelligent friend. Your trusted advisor.