BY BILL FAETH
I know, I know. It’s cliche. We are coming up on 2022, and everyone is going to have their New Year’s resolutions. We all know how that goes. You say you are going to get those holiday pounds off. You get the gym membership ... even go a few times. But you don’t see the progress quickly enough. You go back into old habits. And before you know it, you give up before the end of January.Sound familiar? It happens to all of us.
The problem wasn’t that you set an unattainable goal. The problem was you didn’t set yourself up to crush the goal. It was general, and there weren’t any milestones, timelines, accountability, or rewards. So, you failed.
That is going to end today. Instead, you are going to set goals both personally and professionally for 2022 that you will absolutely CRUSH. Today, you are going to lay the groundwork for success.
Stop reading and grab a piece of paper. I mean it, pause where you are and grab some paper. Put a line down the middle and on the left half, put three personal goals for 2022, on the right half write three professional goals.
Now when I say goal, I don’t mean general BS. I don’t mean “lose weight” or “make more money”: I want you to be specific. Suppose you do want to lose weight—then write how much, and by when. There is a vast difference between “I am going to lose weight” and “I am going to lose 25 pounds by March 30 and fit into a size 32 waist.”
Specificity is the key to making a goal trackable, measurable, something you can look at and see objectively if you are making progress toward it or if you need to make corrections.
After you have made each goal specific, in the middle of the column put the action steps that are required to reach that goal along with timelines for those steps. Say you want to increase profit by 30 percent by the end of Q1. AWESOME! What things need to happen to get there? Do you need to make hires? Do you need to look at your rates? Do you need to land a contract? Start the sales process with specific prospects? What are the things that must be done for you actually to reach that goal? WRITE THEM DOWN.
Most operators don’t fail to have big ideas. They fail to make the process easy on themselves by actually creating a plan.
The last step to crushing your goals is to make a timeline. How do you know how you are doing if you don’t have milestones along the way? So, set them, for instance: “By the end of January, I will have landed one new contract worth ___________ and increased per ride profit by ___________.” This is how you will know if you are on the right track or if you need to change course along the way. The more specific you are, the easier it will be to work your way backward to monthly, weekly, and daily tasks to reach your goals.
Plan your days to work on your business, not in it. Plan your life to help you reach your goals, not sacrifice them. You have the control to make what you want out of your business. You have the power to choose the type of client you want to work with. You have the control to far exceed your wildest goals.
You just have to put in the work—every day. Build habits. Make a difference. Here’s to hoping your 2022 is the best year of your life. [CD1221]
Bill Faeth is the founder of Limo University. He can be reached at bill@limogrowth.com.