Part two, Setting Goals and Objectives as a Business Owner
After that, it’s time to take a look at what you wrote down. Some of the items on your list may not be a high priority right now. You can file them in a “Maybe Someday” file (I learned about this from Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, a book by David Allen)
For example, someday, I would like to get a degree in graphic design, but for right now it’s not a high priority. It goes in the “Maybe Someday” file.
The items you want to work on now need to be broken down into manageable action steps. For example, you may have a goal to own an art gallery. Your first goal may consist of getting more information by reading books and speaking with other art gallery owners.
For the goals that I work on daily, I have two “next actions” lists (Allen, p. 19, 2002). One list has things on it that require a higher level of concentration and focus, such as deciding how to finish up an ad I’m working on for a client or working on a book that I’m writing. Things that don’t require as much focus and energy go on the other list. Examples might be, finding keywords for a blog post, or sketching out logo ideas for a branding project.
Have a plan but be realistic. For instance, if you’re taking care of young children or working at a job 20 hours a week, you probably don’t want to schedule 8 hours a day to work on your graphic design business.
However, do have a plan to work on your goals regularly- whether it’s every day or 3 times a week. It may be as simple as reading for 20 minutes and journaling about what you learned or starting a blog so that you can start letting people know about your business.
Personally, I hate stress so I avoid making hard and fast deadlines for myself. I may set soft deadlines but mainly, I focus on making progress by working on my projects regularly. For example, my goal is to work on graphic design projects from about 7 to 11 am every day. Then I work on my other chores. After that I do graphic design stuff for 2 or 3 more hours, depending on what’s going on that day.
Decide if there’s anything you want to change about yourself in order to be more productive. For example, maybe you’ll want to spend less time watching TV and more time reading. Perhaps you’ll want to get to bed earlier so you can get up earlier to work on your projects. Maybe you’ll want to change your diet or take a vitamin supplement so you’ll have more energy throughout the day. One artist quit eating white sugar and junk food so she’d have more energy at night.
Record your goals. There are numerous ways to do this- a simple notebook and pen or a document on your laptop or a goal-setting app on your phone. Pick the method that works best for you. The important thing is that it’s easy for you to access and use.
Another thought: some people find that they are much more apt to read their goals regularly if they are typed or written out neatly. If they are jotted down on a messy piece of paper, they may never look at them again.
Setting goals is a personal thing. Find a system that works for you and your lifestyle. What’s important is that the system you choose helps you make progress toward the goals that you have for your life. Many years ago, I read Getting Things Done, the Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen. It changed the way I did things. And while I’ve neglected to do some of his suggestions, the ones I still use make a big difference in how much I can get done in my day-to-day life.
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