Every year at this time I put together a list of business and personal goals for the New Year and then give myself time to think about it. I write this list down so I can go back and look at it throughout the year but surprisingly if you make the commitment to make the list and are aware of your objectives you’ll instinctively stick with them. These are not New Year’s resolutions that so many make and then break shortly thereafter. I am devoted to working out and go to the gym four times a week. At this time of year the gym is crowded with well intentioned new members focused on getting in shape. In a month or so they same people you see in the gym over the year will still be there and the new people are gone. Point is you have to make goals real and attainable – same thing you hear about on the news and read in the paper. This year I’ve done something different; both the business and personal goals are short. Only seven things on the business list and five on the personal list and none of the goals are unattainable or unrealistic. If you want to make more money write down how much and then what you think you’ll have to do for it. Write down how you’re going to achieve the goal.
The business goals are different. I make the list and then we have a company meeting to discuss how we are going to achieve the goals to grow that segment of the business. All of this is kept very simple, realistic, reasonable and achievable. We’ll also look at and evaluate opportunities to determine where our efforts should be focused knowing that if they don’t pan out we can do something else. Nothing should be written in stone, flexibility is the key. Why should any of this be of interest to you?
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “If you don’t know where you’re going any road will get you there.” So many people in business don’t think about where the New Year will take them and just let things go as they’ve may. They don’t take the initiative to look around and look ahead to see where they want to be. Like throwing a ball, if you look where you want it to go it will, if you just throw without taking aim it will go anywhere. Just because the economy is bad doesn’t mean your business has to be. If you don’t like where you are or how things are going you have to change it. If you don’t at least have an idea about what changes to make you’ll flounder aimlessly about. But if you look at your market and find the weaknesses and they always exist, you can find areas of opportunity no one else is addressing. You have to set goals for your business and yourself because without them nothing will change, or it will change in a way you don’t want it to. One of the first things you have to do, as Peter F. Drucker states in his book Management: Tasks, Responsibilities and Practices is to ask the questions, “What business am I in and who are my customers?” Once you define that then you can take action to address that market. If it means diversifying your business or improving your technology then that’s what you’ll have to do.
Strive to be better than you were yesterday so you can improve the business, provide better service and expose more opportunities. Keep it simple so you don’t bite off more than you can chew. And get Passionate again, otherwise none of this will work.
Author: Lewis G. Migliore
LGM and Associates – The Floorcovering Experts