Creating and Maintaining Realistic Goals

The beginning of a new year is cause for excitement. It’s a fresh start and a new beginning. In an effort to capitalize on this momentum, many of us set annual goals for ourselves, both personally and professionally. But as the weeks begin to pass and we return to our daily routine, what once seemed achievable is now a little more daunting, or worse, has been completely dismissed.

Goal setting is an important part of success. Goals keep us accountable. They serve as a tool to measure progress and realign us if we veer off track. At Kane, we believe in the power of goal setting to help our clients achieve their business objectives. Understanding what success looks like and what the priorities are allows us to create more informed benchmarks and build strategic communications plans that meet their bottom-line needs. 

Below are a few tips to help you create and maintain your own realistic goals.

• Think Big
  The beauty of goal setting is it gives you an opportunity to challenge yourself and your team to think outside the box and intentionally set the direction for the year. Make sure the goals you’re setting are large enough that you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment once they’re met, but not so abstract that they’re unattainable. According to an article from INC. about “What Goal Setting Does to Your Brain,” goal setting has been proven to restructure your brain to make it more effective. Furthermore, ambitious goals are far more motivating than easily achieved goals.

• Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals
  Once you’ve identified what you want to accomplish, set a S.M.A.R.T. goal to achieve it. This means your goal is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound, and it’s the most important step in reaching your ultimate objective. 

  • Specific - Be as clear as possible about what you want to achieve. The more clearly you define your goal now, the easier it will be to identify steps to make it a reality.

  • Measurable - Adding in dates, milestones and data points will keep you accountable and allow you to easily track your progress. 

  • Attainable - While setting challenging goals will push you to work harder and grow along the way, be realistic about what can be accomplished.

  • Relevant - Ask yourself if this goal aligns with the priorities you, your company or your clients have set for the future. 

  • Time-Bound - Set a deadline to achieve your goal, which will further help keep you accountable.

• Determine Milestone Check Points
  Now that your goals have been identified and you’ve made sure they’re S.M.A.R.T., a valuable next step is to establish smaller milestones to lead you to your ultimate goal. Taking the time to determine what your progress points look like will help make achieving your goal more manageable and less intimidating. For example, if your goal is to secure three new clients by the end of the year, a smaller milestone could be to identify and reach out to five prospects each month.

  According to “The 5 Golden Rules of Goal-Setting” via Entrepreneur, you should write down all of the individual steps. This is your road map to executing your plan as flawlessly as possible. Writing out your plan will keep you accountable and provide checkpoints to continually reference. However, this doesn’t need to be set in stone - and it shouldn’t! All good plans need to have flexibility in order to evolve.

• Manage Your Risks
  In order to set yourself up for success, be realistic about any possible setbacks. Do you have the correct team and resources in place to achieve your goal? What does your bandwidth look like over the next few months? By identifying potential hurdles early on, you’ll be able to proactively determine solutions to ensure you navigate around any roadblocks that come up.

  According to TIME Magazine, Zander Fryer, founder of the coaching company High Impact Coaching, also recommends honing your patience. He says you should remind yourself that achieving a goal takes persistence, drive and resilience. It may be harder and take longer than you expect. 

Whether you’re planning for yourself, your company or clients, goal setting is an important step that should be a priority. Done correctly, it will set you and your team up for success. Getting started can be the hardest part. If you find yourself struggling to identify goals, or if you’re having a hard time following through and creating a plan, give us a call.

At Kane, we ask the hard questions to truly understand the challenges our clients face. We do our research, come up with creative solutions and provide strategic counsel to ensure our clients’ goals are met. We’re here for you and ready to help!