Do you try to start your week off with goals set regarding what you plan to accomplish?  Do you write these down on a schedule or simply have vague ones in your head?
Some people say they take time Sunday afternoon or evening to plan their week.  You’ll know, if you have an outside the home job, when you’re working, unless it’s an “on call” type of position such as the substitute teaching I do.  However, I make my plans, leaving the flexibility for getting called.
What goals do you have for your job or your business?  Are there special events happening?  …read more

Do you keep track of trends when organizing your business goals?  Or are you on a set path and won’t allow deviation even when there are other inflouences, advances or changes?
Sometimes focus and persistence along a planned path are good.  However, you might want to allow enough deviation to take into consideration trends in markets, the economy, and customers’ preferences.
For instance, I’ve discussed deviations to take into account for current trends (Considering the Market Trend for Your Home Business Products) at Home Biz Notes.  You may have a particular business with product or service, but need to keep current with …read more

We’re a week into the new year already. Did you take some time to plan the next year?
Of course, I’m not talking about planning out your daily schedule for the next year, or even your weekly schedule. Think bigger picture. Where do you want to be a year from now? What do you want to accomplish?
I don’t really plan out “resolutions” starting in January. Resolutions are usually sound bites that just set you up to fail. But they don’t have to be, if you use them as a starting point.
Now is a perfect time to dream a little. Or a …read more

The new year is rapidly approaching. Are you ready yet? Don’t panic. You still have time to plan your business goals for 2009. And planning doesn’t stop with the new year, either. Setting goals should continue throughout the year – as should evaluating your progress.
Did you accomplish what you wanted in 2008? Did you meet sales goals, get new customers and increase your income? If yes, congratulations! Plan to build on that progress next year. If no, it’s time to take a look at what didn’t work and find new ways to do things in the coming year.
Take some time …read more

(myorganizedbiz.com) – The last few days we’ve concentrated on setting SMART goals. Sitting down and thinking about what you want to accomplish is an important part of your business.
The acronym SMART stands for:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Timely
Each day we went over ways that you can improve your goals by really thinking about what you want and then setting yourself up for successful completion. Your goals should fall in line with your business vision. They should be dynamic and motivating, not unmeasurable and frustrating.
Have you been taking a harder look at your goals? Are you happy with your professional goals? What can you do to …read more

(myorganizedbiz.com) – Our final piece of goal-setting is making sure your goals are timely. Yes, goals must incorporate an element of time in order to be tangible.
When you set a goal, you must have a starting time. When do you plan to start working on your goal? If you never give it a starting point, it will be easy to keep putting it off until you “have the time.” But if you don’t schedule it and make the time, you’ll never magically find the time.
Your goal must also have an end time. A neverending goal frustrates people. We need a …read more

(myorganizedbiz.com) – We’re getting close to the end of our series about setting goals. And today the topic is making your goals relevant.What comes to mind when you think of a relevant goal? First, it must be relevant to you. It must fit you. And it has to be something that you have control over, that you can complete.
If you set a goal that it’ll be a nice day for the company picnic and that everyone will have fun, it’s a nice goal but it’s not relevant to you. You can’t control the weather. And you certainly can’t control others’ …read more

In this next piece of our SMART goal series, let’s talk about making a goal attainable. What do you think is attainable for your business goals? Try for something that makes you stretch a little, but doesn’t put the goal out of your reach. For instance, learning to speak Italian in two months is not an attainable goal for most people. But learning basic greetings and simple words in two months is perfectly reachable.
If you set your goal too high, you can feel like a failure, like you’re not good enough when you don’t complete the task. If you set …read more

(myorganizedbiz.com) – To continue our series on SMART goals, we’ll talk about designing a measurable goal. What is that, anyway?
A measurable goal should be quantifiable. You, and your employees, need something to work towards. You need milestones. How will you measure progress if you don’t have milestones?
For example, which of these goals is measurable?

In the next five years, we’d like to grow our customer base and increase sales.

In the next five years, we’d like to see a 50% return rate from our new customers and increase sales 10% each year during that time.

Those aren’t perfect examples, but you …read more

(myorganizedbiz.com) – In order to set your goals and achieve them, you have to be SMART in your planning. And it starts by being Specific.
Goals that are vague are goals that just sit around. You can’t work towards something nebulous like “success” until you’ve defined what success means to you. Is success working less than 40 hours while still caring for you and your family? Is it a certain dollar amount in the bank? Is it just doing something you love?
Clear, specific goals give you something to work towards. You are setting your expectations of things. Of yourself. If …read more