Intelligent Goal Setting
Hey, it’s the new year. Of course we’re all thinking about resolutions and goals.
Do you have goals in your business? Of course you do, or you’re not going to stay in business very long. You need goals. But more than needing goals, you need to set intelligent goals. An intelligent goal has three qualities:
- An intelligent goal is concrete.
- An intelligent goal is time-based.
- An intelligent goal has clear steps to lead to completion.
While it’s not quite comme il faut to tell stories about one’s children in a business setting, I can think of no better example than a recent incident with my teenaged son. His bedroom was appalling. Legos, model construction projects, his computer, books, stuffed animals, boxes of bulding toys, electronics kits, model trains, school books and school papers all fought for space. They’d spilled over onto the floor. At least, I thought his room had a floor, but I was beginning to think it was some sort of rumor.
So, what would any parent do? A parent says in a Very Serious Tone, “You have a week to get your room clean.”
Now there’s a goal, right?
It’s a goal, sure enough, but it’s not yet an intelligent goal. It’s time-based, which is a good first step. He has a week to complete it. But, that’s not enough. “Clean” simply isn’t a concrete concept to a thirteen year old boy. This goal is also missing clear steps that will lead to completion. In the case of excessive clutter, this can lead very quickly to overwhelmed paralysis.
Because I did not want to sit in that room and supervise every darned step, I sat down with my son and took a blank sheet of paper. We divided his room into six zones. I told him he needed to complete a zone a day. I also defined what “done” would mean1. I explained that he would need to take toys that he had not used within a certain timeframe, or was bored with, into basement storage or put into the donations bag to take to a local charity. He’s now working quite steadily because he understands what needs to be done. He isn’t really complaining about it because he’s not overwhelmed by a project that seems endless. Each step has an end to it. There’s always the satisfaction of the small completion points that lead to the overall large goal of a newly organized room.
These principles can apply to any goal or project. Sure, we’re not teenagers, but we’re still human. “Done” feels good to us. Good goals have many opportunities for that completion satisfaction. Those small steps will lead to the desired end result.
For 2009, when you’re thinking about where your business is going, take a cue from my kid and make sure that not only do you have the goals, but that they’re intelligent.
1This mostly involved being able to move around the room easily, with belongings stored neatly.
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