Resolutions - goals, goals, goals!

It is still early in the New Year and technically the 6th January heralds the end of the festive season so its not too late to make a couple of resolutions.

Like any goal setting exercise we often get New Years resolutions wrong making far too many, forgetting that it requires effort and self discipline to make a goal happen and looking too far into the future so that the goal is unmanageable.

Creating goals which can be achieved is a skill which requires a little thought and just saying I will be thin, fit, rich or a non smoker are not going to work. We often make too many goals at New Year as well and therefore the whole thing becomes unattainable.

Firstly all goals need to follow a few rules when they are made. There is nothing wrong with having big dreams or wanting things to change but making it happen can be problematic. So let's start with the time honoured SMART approach to goal setting.

As an example let's say we want to double our income.

The first step is to be specific. If your goal is to double your income put some figures down and make them stick. You need to ask yourself some questions about this because there are differences between net and gross income and you dont want your doubled income to float away into taxes or overheads so this specific goal should be related to how much money goes into your pocket or that of your co workers. So a specific goal might be "go from my income last year of 30,000 take home pay to 60,000" or to "make my company more profitable by taking our income from 60,000 to 120,000 by year end".

The second step is to be measurable. Make sure that the criteria for success is concrete and that you can stay on track by splitting the year into quarters for example and that reaching your goal is measured along the way as well as at the end. Think about how you will recognise that the goal has been achieved, what you will see as a result and what you will hear. So a measurable goal might be "make 60,000 by year end and ensure that 20,000 comes in each quarter," or "my company will be able to meet all financial constraints at year end such as corporation tax and VAT and I will have 60,000 left over."

The third step is to make the goal achievable. Start to think about what you need in order to get there. To increase your income do you need new clients, better processes, skills, new products etc? Consider the part you play in making things happen and also that of others who may help along the way.

The fourth step is to make the goal realistic and this means thinking about whether or not you can achieve it. If you set your goal as going from a loss to a profit of over a million in one year when you have no new clients and the economy is in a downturn you may not succeed.

Lastly make your goals timely. Ensure that they have a time scale and that it is set so that each step takes you towards that accomplishment. Year end is a good one for business and dividing the year into financial quarters is also helpful. Unless there is a timescale you can put things off.

So the first few steps are to write things down and set your goals. Then consider what you will do today to achieve your goal, make a start immediately.