As February roles around if you are like most people those goals that you set for yourself at the beginning of the year are now a distant memory. Washed up in the day to day craziness. On to new ideas and new ways of doing things. Impossible you say? Research shows that by February more than half the people who set new years resolutions have broken them by now. The good news is that if you’ve already abandoned your goals there are a couple of simple strategies to get back on track. According to social Psychologist and author Heidi Grant Halvorson, there are two specific strategies that are proven to give you a better shot of achieving your goals for 2011. I’ll share these in two separate blogs. Here is the first strategy that you need to get back on track with your 2011 goals.
1. Get Really Specific
When I talk to people about their goals they are usually vague and fuzzy. The problem with fuzzy goals is that your strategy tends to be fuzzy as well. When goals and strategies are fuzzy its easy to get discouraged and lose sight of where you are headed. Thousands of studies have shown that getting more specific is one of the single most effective steps you can take to reach any goal. Instead of saying you want to “grow your business” think in terms of spelling out exactly how you want your business to look. How many clients do you want? What will you be doing in revenue? What new service or product will you be offering? Also, detail out the steps you will take to get there. What are the 2-3 key strategies that you will employ to get there? What skills do you need to improve upon? Setting specific goals also creates some self -accountability. You know when you’ve reached it and know when you haven’t.
