Goals and Objectives

I have always been a goal-oriented person, so setting and achieving goals comes naturally. Or maybe it doesn’t – maybe it’s an acquired skill that I learned so early in life it’s always felt like a positive consequence. If you want A, you do B, and you’ll get A. But our world isn’t always like that, is it?

When I was working in an office setting or in a school environment (the word “objectives” still makes me cringe IYKYK) I found goal setting and achieving to be if not easy, predictable. My time was mapped out and my free time was relatively my own to choose to be motivated and productive, or not. I regularly accomplished my goals and moved on to the next one. I have found that starting my own business has been a completely different animal. Maybe you can relate.

When you oversee your own schedule, how regimented do you find yourself to be? Do you stick to the schedule you yourself created, or do you find yourself wandering during the day, taking an inordinate number of “breaks”, or avoiding tasks because you can always finish them “later”? On those days that I do manage to stay on task, I sometimes have found the bigger challenge to be the fact that I am not necessarily in charge of my own time, as I thought I would be. There is still life, people, and interruptions that happen. Most of us can use some work on boundaries, but that is not always the issue. Some of us chose to start our own businesses exactly so we CAN be readily available for kids, other family, friends when they need us – what happens to our goals when we keep being pulled in multiple directions?

I have found that changing how I create and execute my goals and schedule has helped my mental health and sense of self-worth tremendously. I think I have had and maintained a paper calendar since I was about 10 years old. Keeping commitments and rehearsals and appointments straight has always been very important to me. I struggled for quite awhile to go digital with my scheduling, with mixed success. I’m better about electronic appointments (yes please visit my TidyCal link to schedule an Exploration Zoom with me! https://tidycal.com/debbygilbert1/explore ) but still rely on paper for daily tasks and project management – it’s a process, right? Anyway, in the past I would carefully map out each day’s tasks and completion goals. Then I started working from home, and task slip started to happen. I didn’t quite get that done, so I’ll move it to tomorrow. I didn’t even get to start that, so I’d better move it to Friday. Task creep continued to happen, then my need for list completion would kick in, and I would either work myself to death over the weekend to “catch up” or just say forget about it (but not really) and feel like a business loser because I was ALWAYS behind. Here are some steps I have taken to have a more positive experience with my tasks and with my goals.

1. Write out your Big Goal and put it where you can see it, all day, every day. Make sure it is something you love and allow it to help motivate you when things get tough.
2. Instead of planning out a Year, I plan in Quarters (90 days at a time). As things evolve and change, I can adjust more quickly and effectively. It also better supports the speed at which digital business is changing. I can more easily change with it.
3. I try to be realistic with how much time I actually have to work on my goals and my business, and I do my best not to overschedule my time.
4. I break my 90 days into each month, and generally think through what I can accomplish each month. In the past I would have continued to break down those monthly goals and ideas into weeks, days, and sometimes even hours. No more. Now what I do is loosely look at the 4-5 weeks I have in each month.
5. Two words: Time. Blocking. To say I resisted this concept would be a severe understatement, but I am slowly coming around. Setting specific times of the day to work on specific things has helped my over-loaded brain not have to retain as much information. I still remember the task, but I don’t have to keep track of WHEN I plan to or need to accomplish it.
6. I am learning that distractions are constant, and the key is how quickly I can redirect myself back to my tasks. Time blocking helps with this as well. I can knock out a slew of emails in a row, rather than thinking back and forth between say an email, then a project, then a blog.
7. If a week looks particularly busy, I schedule appointments with myself. My conscience is clear, because I can tell people I am not available for things because I have an appointment. I just don’t have to mention it is with myself.
8. I look ahead and try to plan recovery time after a large project or event. When this is not possible, I try to plan routine tasks for that day, not ones that require more mental output. This way I am still getting things done, but at a mental pace I can sustain throughout the day.
9. No new tasks or projects starting on Friday. I am still working on this one, but I think the idea has merit. Schedule your Fridays so that you are finishing tasks and cleaning up the week, not embarking on new things.
10. And finally, I have heard to block out at least one CEO Day for yourself each quarter, to plan and work on your business. For myself and my business, my goal is to plan two CEO days each month. The first one is to take a complete day off. Not thinking about business at all – just a day to do whatever I need to do to recharge. Then use the second one to stop the small tasks for the day (no, this is not the day to catch up on email!) but use this day to reflect. What areas of my business are working well? Write it down. What areas need more love? Write that down too. Then add some thoughts and adjustments to your 90-day plan.

The biggest thing I hope you get from this blog post is that it’s worth the time and effort to figure out what works for YOU. Chances are it won’t be one specific system, it will be a combination of several different ones. Your feelings of achievement and self-worth are crucial to your success, and you need to keep adjusting until you find that sweet spot of motivation, acceptance, and accomplishment. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo finds out the prince is throwing him out of town for dueling. He will not be allowed to return, ever (he is banished). His friend, Friar Lawrence, says to him, “Be patient, for the world is broad and wide.” As I work on my own patience, I encourage you to be patient as well, especially with yourself. As things continue to grow and change, so will you, and all your planning and hard work will be worth it!