You may have heard the phrase “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” And while that may be directionally true, it doesn’t provide any pointers on how to actually create a plan around your goals.
I’m here to help. And if you follow these steps you’ll be able to create actionable, meaningful goals that allow you to live in the vision you have for yourself and your business.
Let’s get started.
How to create your goals
One common reason for people not setting goals? They don’t know where to start. Fortunately, we have OKRs to help.
OKRs stands for “Objectives and Key Results.” It’s a collaborative goal-setting methodology used by teams and individuals to set challenging, ambitious goals with measurable results. These goals must also be met by a defined time period, usually one quarter.
This is the approach that I use for my business and help all my clients develop as well. The image below walks through the process better than I could explain it. So check it out first, then I’ll give you an example for you to wrap your head around.
Image source: Intuit
You typically start with one objective and have around three key results that measure progress towards that objective. From there you can have several initiatives that are required to drive the progress of your key results.
Below you can see the example provided in my video course, The Solopreneur’s Fast Track.
Although “Successfully launch my business” is a great goal, we need the associated key results to further define and measure what success looks like.
From there I’ve included the specific initiatives needed to make these key results happen.
You should also keep in mind that your objective can be even more specific, such as a revenue goal. And, you can have more than one objective per time period.
For example:
Objective 1: Make $10,000
Objective 2: Launch a podcast
Sure, launching a podcast could help you make $10,000, but the overall point of that objective is to get the podcast live so these should be separate.
That said, I don’t recommend having more than three objectives at a time and you’ll want to make sure they all represent meaningful progress.
Want a better shot at achieving your goals? Share them with a friend, partner or colleague and keep them updated on a weekly basis. The American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) did a study on accountability and found that you have a 65% of completing a goal if you commit to someone. And if you have a specific accountability appointment with a person you've committed, you will increase your chance of success by up to 95%.
Identifying your areas of need
Once you develop your OKRs, ask yourself a very important question, “What am I missing?”
Based on what you need to accomplish, what’s missing? Where are you stuck given your current tools, knowledge or time constraints?
For example if your goal was to book three speaking gigs, and you don’t have a speaking topic prepared, that's what you’re missing!
You may also discover you’re missing a script to pitch your topic and a list of organizations to contact as well. Or, maybe you have no clue how to do any of this stuff, which means you’re missing the guidance and structure needed to make it all happen.
Either way, you now have a clear understanding of the resources you’ll need to achieve your objectives and can go about creating or acquiring them.
Leveraging your network
So now you’ve identified your objectives and the critical missing pieces needed to implement them.
The next step? Ask for help. If you know of specific people in your network who can either help you directly or perhaps recommend a resource, start there.
If not, consider sharing your request as a social media post. This will allow you to passively promote your business and potentially get some assistance at the same time.
For example, you could say something along the lines of the following:
“Can you help me out?
As you may know I’ve recently launched my own business.
In short, I help eCommerce companies grow and monetize their email list.
One of my goals for this quarter is to create short form videos for my social media channels but here’s the problem; I have no idea how to edit videos!
Does anyone have recommendations?
I appreciate your help!”
Of course, you can tweak it however you see fit. The main goal here is to save time and reduce uncertainty by asking your network for help.
As an added benefit, you may even attract some leads and referrals from people who were unaware of your services!
Next steps
Let's do a quick recap here before moving forward.
- Plan your OKRs
- Identify what’s missing
- Ask your network for help
So now, block off one hour to complete these steps. And don’t forget to enlist an accountability partner. You’ll then have the clarity and support needed to meet and exceed your goals!
PS. If you need some help with accountability, tag us on Instagram with your OKRs. We’ll share some of your responses to inspire our community and increase your accountability!
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