Focus
February is the shortest month of the year, but it often can feel like the longest. If you’re like me, then you went all-in on your goals in January. But now, a month later, you might feel like you’re starting to lose some steam, or that at least your team is. What causes this burn-out? Research shows that one of the main culprits is having too many goals and trying to achieve them all at once. Having a vision is good; having twelve visions can often lead to miscommunications, mistakes, and plain old exhaustion for both you and your team. So how can you avoid this to continue moving your business forward?
Select One Wildly Important Goal
It can feel counterintuitive at the start, but keep things simplified and straight-forward. Pick one goal, and make it your focus. This is your Wildly Important Goal. But before I get into how to establish your Wildly Important Goal and what to do to accomplish it, let’s talk about what it doesn’t mean.
It doesn’t mean ignoring all aspects of your business that may seem unrelated to your goal. It doesn’t mean neglecting the day-to-day work that keeps your business running like the well-oiled machine that it is.
Rather, having a Wildly Important Goal is designed to narrow your focus onto an obtainable goal and going after it. You’re the leader for a reason: you’re ambitious, driven, motivated. You want to get out there and take the reins for 2019. However, these wonderful qualities can sometimes work against you, and you soon find that you’ve bitten off more than you can reasonably chew.
How To
Once you’ve established your Wildly Important Goal, it’s important to have a plan about how you will achieve it. What your goal is varies based on you, your business, and your intentions, but there are some universal steps that we can all use to achieve our goal:
Watch for roadblocks. Being unable to say no to anything or committing to more than one goal can quickly derail things. Set boundaries on your team and yourself.
Communicate clearly. The number one roadblock to achieving your goal will be a failure to communicate. When delegating tasks to your employees, take the time to make sure they understand not only your expectations of them, but what you hope to achieve with this Wildly Important Goal. When employees are brought in to the planning, they feel a sense of ownership, which leads to a heightened work ethic.
Choose wisely. It will be easy to be derailed from your current goal. One way this can happen is through disagreements within your team or splitting of mindsets. Before engaging, ask yourself if this is the worth the time and energy you would put into it. Sometimes, the answer will be yes. More often, it won’t.
Finish Line
A significant aspect of setting a Wildly Important Goal is to establish a definitive finish line. Make it measurable. That way you, your team, and anyone else involved knows when it has been achieved. It’s easy to fall into grey areas. Be firm, be clear, be authoritative in establishing your specific Wildly Important Goal.
When it comes to setting a Wildly Important Goal to narrow your focus and keep your business motivated and hungry for success, the most important thing is to keep your eyes on the prize. It can be easy to be led off the path by shiny objects or other goals. You can always return to those things later, after you have achieved your current goal.
Not sure where to start? Contact Leadership Delta today. Our Wildly Important Goal is to help you along the path to leadership with a higher focus.