The first week after the turn of the year is already over and some of us haven’t even formulated our New Year’s resolutions and others have already thrown them overboard.
We all know that it is good to be aware of the things that you want to change in different areas of your life. It’s even better to set specific goals if you want to grow your business. But how can this be achieved without being underchallenged or frustrated in the end?
In this blog we want to point to how you can set goals worth striving for, establish new habits and get started with a healthy mindset.
Why should we set goals?
Often long-term goals get lost in the hustle and bustle of daily challenges of running our business. New Year’s resolutions are usually doomed to fail because they are worded very vaguely. We say “I want to live healthier” instead of “I will exercise twice a week” or “One day I want to have a lot of money” instead of “I will double my profit by the end of the year”. Goals, on the other hand, are precise and not far from reality. In order to achieve this precision in your formulations, you should ask yourself how you define words like “healthier”, “more money”, “later”, “more successful”.
Ask yourself:
What goal do I want to achieve?
Why do I want to specifically achieve this goal? What do I have to do to achieve my goal?
By when do I want to reach my goal?
Your goal should be specific, time-bound, relevant to your business and measurable. Often you think “I know my goals. I don’t have to formulate it or write it down somewhere ”. But it is this formulation and writing it down that will help you not to lose sight of your goals, especially if these sentences are present for you on a daily basis (smartphone, diary or poster).
Don’t set old goals. If you want to move forward, you shouldn’t be revolving around the same goals over and over again. If you still consider an old goal to be worth striving for, then answer for yourself why you have not yet achieved the goal.
Set realistic goals and subgoals to celebrate small achievements and avoid getting frustrated. It is important that you find a balance. You shouldn’t think too small of yourself. Take risks. Talk to someone you trust. Once you’ve said something in front of another person, your goals become more real.
Set priorities. It is impossible to simultaneously increase your Insta game and your income by 100% in a short time, to optimize your brand, to develop new products, to get more bookings, to learn new skills in photography and in marketing, to optimize your client experience, get Elopement orders, optimize your SEO, … (the list could go on indefinitely), without ending in a burn out.
Don’t set yourself unrealistic goals for your available time and individual circumstances. This quickly leads to frustration. In order not to be demotivated you have to set priorities and as hard as that may sound, you have to postpone less relevant things or kick them out of your planning completely. You have to filter what is really driving your company forward.
Is it really important that you have an account on platform XY? Does it bring you more bookings if you are listed as a service provider in the XY Online Forum? We all know that sometimes it’s hard enough to post continuously on Insta and keep your website up to date. Do not charge yourself too much and don’t regret the things you didn’t manage, but set a clear cut.
Stay flexible. Don’t show unnecessary ambition. If you find that you have landed in a dead end, adjust your goals and go new ways. There’s no shame in reevaluating your goals. It is much smarter to be reflective and not end things as a matter of principle. Perhaps your time, energy and money is better invested elsewhere.
How can I establish new habits?
One thing is clear: you will not achieve your goals without effort.
The first tip seems contradicting at first glance, but it is a key to effectiveness: Reduce your tasks. You should manage your resources well. Put more strength into the important things.
Do few things, but do them exceptionally well.
It takes 30 days to establish a new habit. It is not without reason that most diets or mindfulness programs last a month. Set specific tasks for each day / week / month (as it suits your pace) and document your progress. There are numerous apps that help you check yourself. Often a reward system is also integrated so that dopamine is released into your body.
Set yourself small milestones and related tasks. Maybe right now you have the power and also extremely enjoy working on many new projects at the same time. And maybe you are now highly motivated for the New Year, but: Discipline will take you places motivation cannot. Work steadily on your goals.
Join our Facebook Group. It is easier to pursue a goal when you know that you are not alone on this path. Others may have similar difficulties and you can learn from them or let them motivate you. Or maybe you can even help someone out of a crisis because you have already overcome something that the other is still struggling with. That can also strengthen you.
How do I stay focused and healthy?
Reflect on and bring in someone you trust. Sometimes it is difficult to adequately assess yourself whether you are working too much / too little or simply in the wrong places. Remember your intention.
Why are you doing all this?
What do you enjoy about what you do?
How can you recharge your batteries?
Remember that in most cases, a successful business is a marathon, not a sprint. Your mindset is the basis for your business. Check your mental health regularly. In this industry, it’s easy to take on too much too quickly. We often have no work colleagues to take care of us. So please, take care of yourself.
Trust the process. Often things cannot go fast enough for us. Celebrate your goals, even the little ones. Maybe you don’t have 100k followers on instagram. But 80% of your audience is committed to watching your stories and a large majority is interacting with you. Excellent! You can handle the new Lightroom feature and you are good at learning new things? Great! Become aware of the little things that you achieve.
So, what are you waiting for? Open your Notes app and write down what you want to achieve, when and how. Be very specific. Write out 10 goals and prioritize them. Delete everything else except the first 3 and create subgoals you can celebrate and see how your business is growing this year!
Cheers,
Alex & Maja | Bitesandtickles
