By Robert Fukui
The New Year is upon us so it’s time to make your goals for 2019. If you’re like me, you may not set any new year’s resolutions, that tend to be broken within the first three weeks of the year anyway, but you should still set goals for yourself both professionally and personally. Without goals, you don’t grow.
Keys To Goal Setting
If you’ve been frustrated or even given up goal setting because you don’t reach them, hold on a moment. Maybe these 5 keys to goal setting can help you reach your goals for 2019.
1. It has to stretch you.
The goals you’ve set should cause a little pit in your stomach when you make them. That way you know it’s going to take you out of your comfort zone. At the same time, it shouldn’t be so far out of reach that it depresses you and you don’t try. Like the donkey with the carrot on the stick image. It’s attainable but you know you’ll have to work for it.
2. Write it down.
According to research done on a group of Harvard MBA students, only 3 percent of them actually wrote down goals. 10 years later, the university conducted follow up interviews and found that those 3 percent of students who wrote down goals earned 10x more than the other 97% of students in the same program. What about keeping the goals just in your head? The same study found 13% of students had goals but kept them in their head. They earned less than the 3% who wrote down goals but did earn 2x more than the 84% that did not set goals. Moral of the story: WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS.
3. Chunk it down.
Goal setting is important but breaking it down into smaller goals that can be achieved faster (i.e. week, month or quarter) helps you stay motivated during the long periods of work. Also, it helps you assess whether or not business activities are keeping you on track to succeed before the end. For example, if your goal is to achieve $5 million dollars in sales for 2019 you may want to break the sales goals into monthly and quarterly goals. Also, you may want to tie in other KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) like number of sales calls, percentage of sales closed, web traffic, etc. that can help you gauge if you have the right amount of activity and success that will lead to more sales. Now your goals are MEASURABLE. You’ve hear of S.M.A.R.T. goals*, right?
4. Celebrate success.
If you’re an ‘A’ type personality, you tend to move from one goal to the next, and one project to the next without stopping to smell the roses. You’ve worked hard and accomplished a lot, so it’s ok to celebrate. In fact, it’s more than ok, it should be mandatory. It’s important for your health, it reinforces good behavior, it creates a better culture in your business, and attracts more success. An August, 2015 INC. article showed among other things that if you fail to celebrate success regularly, your brain is trained to perceive the accomplishments as no more special than any other everyday occurrence. So give yourself a break and celebrate success. It can be as simple as taking a moment to reflect and enjoy, or go have a nice dinner, weekend getaway or happy hour with the team. Whatever you decide to do, just do it.
5. Review, adjust, review.
The goals and the plans you have to reach your goals don’t always work according to…well…plan. So it’s important to review periodically so if you’re not on track to achieving the set goals, you have time to adjust and fix before it’s too late. I’ve worked for some of the largest companies in the world, with some of the smartest people in the world but our strategies weren’t always 100% on track right out of the gate. Periodic reviews were important and allowed us to discuss and make the appropriate changes to achieve our goals.
Is it a guarantee?
Of course, setting goals is no guarantee that you are going to reach them. But if you set your goals with plans to reach them and put your best foot forward, you will get much closer than if you don’t. You’ve heard the saying, “Aim for the stars, if you fail, you’ll land on the moon.”
Now go set your goals and have a healthy and prosperous 2019!
*S.M.A.RT. Goals = Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely
Robert holds a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from San Jose State University and an accomplished 24 year career in marketing/sales with companies such as Coca-Cola, Novartis Pharmaceutical and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Over the course of his professional career, he has been privileged to be instrumental in the launch of six major brands, personally responsible for over $150 million in revenue and a recipient of national sales and leadership development awards. His successful experience in sales/marketing through ever-changing economic conditions has positioned him to be able to assist other businesses to achieve similar success in any economic environment.
Robert’s most recent corporate experience has been with Bristol-Myers Squibb, one of the largest biopharmaceutical company’s worldwide and among the industry leaders in HIV, Immunoscience and Oncology. Robert had been with the company for 17 years in sales and marketing winning multiple regional and national sales awards.
In April 2016, he founded i61, inc. which is a business development network that consults and trains purpose led businesses to be profitable and make a transformative impact in the communities, cities and nations they serve. Optimal price and branding strategies are one of the key areas of business development that the company specializes in. They also support the implementation of the business strategies through print, graphic design, website development, SEO, and other internet marketing services.
You can reach Robert at 626.422.6628 or rfukui@i61businessdevelopment.
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