Today is the end of the second quarter 2021. We are halfway through the year. You should constantly be assessing and reassessing where you are in relation to your business and goals. If you haven’t done so this year, it’s better late than never.
If you have written goals, you should review them and assess whether the end goal and the steps to get there still make sense. If so, do any of the steps need adjustment. If a goal is too easy or too difficult, can you adjust to make it more realistic? Note this should not be used to move a goal closer with the idea that it’s the only way you can reach it.
If you don’t have written goals, there is no time like the present to change that. I challenge you to come up with a few goals. Don’t come up with too many. Instead, come up with important goals that will challenge you. Once you do that, turn them into SMART goals. It is easy to search my blog website (https://businesslawguy.com/2016/10/06/challenge-yourself/) or the Internet to learn how to turn a goal into a SMART goal.
If, in reviewing your goals, you believe you are not going to be able to meet one or more of them, you need to spend time analyzing why. The answers may include the goal was just to aggressive, something in your business or the marketplace changed or some other reason you will easily see. Through analyzation you will be able to determine whether there is a realistic chance to still reach the goal or whether you need to rewrite the goal into something challenging, yet realistic. If your review tells you something related to your goal and business have changed so significantly the goal no longer makes sense or needs to be substantially altered, pivot and do so.
On the other hand, if you have reached one or more annual goals by this point in the year or are going to easily do so well before the end of the year, you also need to adjust. The challenge will be to come up with a more aggressive goal and outline the steps to achieve it. Of course, this is the better problem to have. If you have reached a goal and don’t think it makes sense to make the goal larger, you should challenge yourself and come up with one of two new goals because you were further ahead than you thought you would be. Or, it may be that you are good exceeding your original goal, but can come up with a complementary goal for new opportunities you see.
As I started with, review of your status on reaching goals should be assessed on a regular basis. For instance, my firm’s new fiscal year starts tomorrow. All of the attorneys have new personal plans they have drafted containing new or continuing goals, which have been reviewed by others. In some ways it feels like starting from ground zero and in other ways it feels like (hopefully) continuing positive trends and trying to improve from past success.
Most of you know the axiom about writing your goals providing you a better chance for reaching them. I have found that to be true with myself and others I know or work with. I challenge you to do a mid-year assessment or get going now. A good step is to come up with SMART goals and let others review them. Discussing goals and the steps to reach them will help you reach your goals. It’s also good if the same person will serve as an accountability partner and check in with you on a regular basis on how you are doing.
When you finish reading this paragraph, pull out or up your plan or goals so you can assess your status now or sometime today. If you don’t have goals, block out time on your calendar today or even tonight to do so. I know many people just want to relax at night, but it’s an investment in yourself. The point is no matter where you are to take actions to help you reach your goals.
