As I write this post; I don't have any 12 month goals in place, but there is a reason; I've already achieved my major goals, 6 months early!
On the surface, that might sound like a great position to be in, but let me tell you, for someone that thrives on setting and achieving goals, not having any has become very frustrating.
I've had to go back and re evaluate my whole strategy. Some of the goals that I achieved that I'd calculated would assist other goals fell short and rather than patting myself on the back for one achievement, I beat myself up over failing others and consequently became 'goal blind' (I just made that up, but feel free to use it).
To put that into perspective; let's say you wanted to have 25 stable clients on your roster doing a certain amount of PT sessions per week and you calculate that would translate into you earning 100k (for arguments sake). Now let's say that you achieved the 25 clients and sessions but only earned 60k, something obviously worked, you achieved those goals but something else went askew.
That's why I thought I'd write this post. I've been doing some research on this and figured I'd share what I'd found with you guys, because I'm sure I'm not the first, nor will I be the last to experience this.
What Did I Do?
The first thing I did is look at what I did right over the past 6 months to achieve the goals I did and one of the major influencing factors was connecting with some great people. Looking over this period, there have been quite a few but several that come to mind and deserve a mention are:
- Sonja Falvo: Sonja Falvo.com
- Rick Watson: PT Business In A Box
- Kaiser Serajuddin: Super Trainer
- Jody Arnot: Healthy Balance Fitness
- Cheryne Blom: Cheryne Blom.com
Every day is a learning curve in business and sometimes the most unassuming activity can reap the most amazing rewards, so I always kept tabs on what was working and what wasn't.
Using My Business Is Fitness as an example, some articles that I spent hours and hours on hardly saw/see any traffic and some that took only 1 hour to write, like my 50 Ways To Tell If You're A Personal Trainer still gets about a dozen hits every day.
If I could come up with 50 more ways to tell if you're a personal trainer to post every day I still wouldn't post it because you guys would probably disown me!
So those are a few of the things I did right, so obviously I'll keep doing them, besides, I've made some great friendships and have set up a reasonably efficient accountability system.
Let's get this thing back on track...
So what am I going to do now in order to re align the universe and get my goal setting ass back in action?
I'm going to write NEW goals!
How earth shatteringly crazy is that!? I've begun by writing down 3 weekly goals each Sunday night. These are things that need to be addressed at the moment because of the slack created by achieving the other major goals (who would have thought that achieving major goals could be so destructive?!).
This week for example, I need to publish a certain number of articles, I need to work on the My Business Is Fitness Facebook page and there are some branding issues with my other social media accounts that I need to address.
Getting into the habit of setting and achieving these smaller goals should start to get me into the mindset of looking at the big picture again and give me some clarity, instead of worrying about less important activities.
What do you think? Have I lost my mind? Have you ever found yourself in a goal setting rut? What are your 3 goals for this week?
Spread your wisdom in the comments section below and as always if you enjoyed this article, share it on Facebook and Twitter by clicking on the blue buttons at the top si vou plait!
Have a great day!
Ben
Ben, great post as always. Thanks so much for the mention :)
ReplyDeleteI really agree with you that looking over your highlights or 'what you did right' is so important. This points us towards what we want more of in our lives and what we need to do to get there.
I adore your idea of 3 weekly goals on a Sunday. This provides some short term focus to get us towards those longer term goals.
If anyone is interested in further reading on refining goals I'd love them to visit our blog : http://blog.healthybalancefitness.com.au/2011/01/setting-goals-what-if-you-dont-know-where-to-start/
Hi Ben,
ReplyDeleteDo you have spy gear in my house? All these posts recently are really resonating...
This can apply both professionally and personally on so many levels and I have to agree that very short term goals, whether declared to the world or not, have huge potential to shape our path, accountability and faster success are almost assured too.
Defining those areas that you wish to "put first" is probably the most difficult part but once you're on your way, watch out world.
@Jody As always, thank you for your comment...and the 3 goals on a Sunday night idea, I wish I could take credit for, but that was my business coaches idea! Haha
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately Jodies link didn't work, but if you'd like to check out a first class personal training site/blog you can click on her name at the top of her comment or within the post where I mention Jody's business Health Balance Fitness.
@Katie Yes I do...and your new furniture is fantastic (geez I hope you don't have new furniture...)! Haha
You're spot on about goal setting...it's basically a to do list with a pot of gold at the end.
I still wonder why people do things that lead nowhere...life is way too short, opportunities far too rare, like you said get all that sorted out and watch out world!