Level-Up Your Goals

Setting goals and then reaching them can be a daunting task, especially when you set your sights high. Goals can appear almost unreachable and we often get discouraged when we don’t see the progress we want right away. The best way to achieve your goals is to create a plan; a dream without a plan is still a dream, a wish that is unlikely to happen. How do you create a proper marketing plan to launch a new service, a new business or a new product? You know all the things you want to do and you want to accomplish, so how do you get there? Well, let’s make a plan around it because then you can create the steps leading up to that plan and that is going to be really helpful to accomplish goals. We at Two Four One Branding use a few helpful steps to create and work towards our goals that we can share with you. 

The first step is to take stock of your past year and list all of your accomplishments. You might be surprised at how much you achieved! We take it in stride but when we actually see the list, it’s very rewarding because it’s easy to overlook how much we have actually accomplished in the past twelve months. 

Next, list the challenges you faced and how you overcame them. Are there any you think you could have handled better? Note that down as well. 

Second, list your values. Have they changed over the last year? Has the way you worked changed? Are your values changing as a business and as a person? With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing a lot of businesses to shift to working from home, has it changed the way you operate? Do you spend more time with your family? Have you realised how best you work whether it is at home or in an office setting? 

Another important thing to note is your “zone of genius” and focus on how you can stay in that zone. Acknowledge what needs to be done in your business, the fun and ‘not so fun’ things and decide how best to get it done. If it is not in your “zone” is it time to outsource? Or will you learn how to do it yourself if you don't want to outsource just yet? What would be the value of you learning to do it versus someone else doing it? 

Now let’s get down to setting our goals. Decide on your really big goals first, and then your smaller ones. Once you get started you can hone in and get specific because this is what people tend to not do, they just set big all encompassing goals and ignore the smaller things you’ll need to achieve before you can reach your big goals. 

Let’s say you want to publish a book, for example, so break it down into bite sized chunks. How are you going to write a book? Who do you need to help you with it, you need a book editor, figure out how you’ll publish it, will it be an ebook, will you sell on Amazon? These are steps that you’ll want to research so add each task to your list. Now plug your tasks into a timeline. Once you have your goals broken down into manageable tasks you can prioritise them, work out how long you need to complete each one and when you want each completed. Find ways to hold yourself accountable, either with a coach, your followers on social media, friends and family or ask Alexa to set reminders for you on your phone. 

A key component of achieving your goals is having the right mindset. And we don’t mean right vs. wrong, we mean what’s  right for you, aligned with where you are in your life and what you want to achieve. Be aspirational but realistic, set yourself up in an environment where you’re mixing with people who have a similar mindset, similar values and are focused on achieving their goals. 

We urge you to not fall into the trap of having huge goals that scare you off!  It’s too easy for a goal to become something so big in the future that you don’t believe is possible. If that’s your mindset, it will remain impossible. To achieve our goals we need to believe in them enough to act on them. Hoping that it's going to happen one day, is not enough.

The key takeaways here is to start making a plan for yourself and your goals. List your tasks into manageable action items and hold yourself accountable. None of us wants to look back and feel we haven’t accomplished anything at all because we set big goals without any plan to possibly achieve them. We wish you great success in achieving your goals.

If you'd like to hear more about goal setting, download our podcast, Level-Up Your Marketing with Vicki & Laura here or on your favourite platform.