Setting Goals for Entrepreneurs: Three Easy Exercises

Exercise #1: Setting goals you can achieve.

If you are new to goal setting or have a difficult time achieving goals, the following exercises will teach you how to set goals that are manageable, achievable, and fun. If you are already a practicing goal setter, these exercises will help you set well-defined, specific and measurable goals — goals that you will achieve!

First, let’s assume the process of reaching your goals can be fun and exciting. You start by thinking about goals differently. Rather than setting the same old goals you have set in the past, we’ll begin by becoming much more creative with the goal itself and we’ll redefine the process by which you achieve goals. Everyone has weight goals, exercise goals, etc. — year in year out — and they’ve become almost a caricature of themselves, ergo, the goals you’ll never succeed at.

This first exercise is to get you thinking about goals differently.

Goals can be fun. What if a goal helped you be better at something you already loved doing? What if achieving a goal made your relationships better? What if someone else benefited, rather than you? Can you imagine how your outlook on setting goals, and achieving them, would change with small successes that were fun?

Let’s start by thinking outside the box with an example of a goal that is outside the norm.

Learn a new language, with a twist.

Have you always wanted to learn a new language but have been overwhelmed by the magnitude of becoming fluent? Would your business benefit greatly from offering bilingual support for your customers or clients? Confused about where to start? Do you enroll in a class? Travel to a foreign country and take a language immersion program? Get a home study course?

We’ll take a different approach. We’ll use the Spanish language for this example. The goal is to learn 8 basic phrases in conversational Spanish and with your newfound language skills, have dinner at a Mexican restaurant, in a predefined time period, greet the proprietor in Spanish and order a complete meal in Spanish. Alternatively, you could learn some business phrases and practice on your Spanish-speaking customers.

You’ll find a vast array of conversational Spanish books at your library or at your favorite bookstore. These books are generally very inexpensive. Two phrase books we like are; Rick Steves’ Spanish Phrase Book & Dictionary and Spanish Phrases For Dummies. You can also use online translation tools such as Yahoo’s Babel Fish.

The purpose of this exercise is to set a goal that is manageable with a well-defined beginning, middle and end. When you complete your goal, you will have achieved success rather than encounter frustration with a goal that has no end in sight, or at least not in the immediate future. You will develop good skills at practicing because you have set a specific deadline — a date that is not too far off in the future.

Set a financial goal.

You can do this exercise with any type of goal. Let’s say you have a financial goal such as increasing your monthly revenue by $2,000 per month over the next year. With this exercise you start by taking a “smaller bite”. For example, you could set a two-month goal in which you will make contact with 10 new business prospects (a little under one per week!).

Come up with some new tactics for meeting potential business clients. Host a wine and cheese party and demo your product or service. Contact your friends and hold a competition to see who can send you the most referrals. Attend receptions, parties, and trade exhibitions. Donate a raffle-drawing prize to a non-profit group, co-sponsor youth athletics or sponsor a local community event. You can also provide free small gifts or discount coupons to your local welcome wagon.

Take 30 minutes to do this exercise.

Engage your family and friends. Take a big goal you’ve wanted to achieve and look at it differently. Take a “smaller bite” out of it — can you be creative with smaller pieces of the goal? Make a list of your ideas so you will be prepared for the next exercise.

The next exercise will focus on measuring your new goals against a smart system that will guarantee success. When you’ve completed all 3 exercises in this series you will have mastered the art of setting goals, and with some practice, you will be able to handle larger goals with ease! Note: You will find these posts under the category “Setting Goals” at the top of our blog.

Or, follow these links for each exercise:

Setting Goals for Entrepreneurs: Three Easy Exercises for the Entrepreneur

Exercise #1: Setting goals you can achieve.

Exercise #2: Setting SMART goals.

Exercise #3: Test your goals before you set them into action.

Theresa Bradley-Banta, co-creator of bigfishtopdogs.com, is a musician, award winning graphic artist, blogger and owner of multiple businesses. You can follow her on twitter @bigfishtopdogs.

Tagged as: Entrepreneur, Setting Goals