We have come to the end of the first quarter of 2013 so what happened to all those goals you set at the beginning of the year? I’ll bet some of you probably have not even looked at them lately, much less accomplished any of them. Sometimes that is because benchmarks or other means of tracking those goals were never actually set.
Bob Taylor and his partner learned to establish goals this way.” The consultant guided us through a series of questions about our business. What was the purpose of our business? What were our goals, plans, and projects? What were our biggest problems and what would happen if we were to solve them? What changes would make the greatest difference? We tried to move past the flowery, all encompassing theoretical language and name some real goals with real words and real meanings. We ate sandwiches on the card table and hashed out ideas. We paced, squirmed, sat on the floor, and spent hours in deep discussion. We got incredibly real with ourselves and set some hard goals. Those goals became the criteria for anything we did for the next three or so years. If we embarked on a project that didn’t help us achieve these new stated goals, we simply stopped doing it and refocused on working only on the goals we had established together.”
I want you to notice that they had someone to help them: not only set up their goals in the first place, but they were also shown how to track them. They also kept each other accountable by refocusing when they got off track.
We are starting a new service in May that will help you track using metrics to keep you on track. We will meet with you and your partner (if applicable) on an ongoing basis to help you track and refine until that goal is met and others are brought on. Watch the blog and newsletter for updates and the first group class on using metric to track your goals.
Taylor, Bob (2011-02-04). Guitar Lessons: A Life’s Journey Turning Passion into Business (p. 152). John Wiley and Sons. Kindle Edition.