Setting Goals: Part 2 – Make a List

Have you been thinking about your goals for the upcoming year? If not, it’s not too late; read Part 1.  If you have been mulling over what you would like to accomplish, it’s time for part two…

Starting to Define Your Goals
Make a physical list with the headings I listed in Part 1. Business, Personal, Family/Household, Spiritual. Start to list under those categories the things that you would like to accomplish in the coming year. The sky is the limit. Add the biggest projects that interest you right down to the things that you’ve been meaning to do but haven’t managed to accomplish.  List the things that scare you and the things that don’t.

Be careful though…don’t use this as a list for regular to-do tasks or a shopping list. It is not the place to list, ‘order four pounds of white glass’ even if you’ve been meaning to do it for the last six months. I suggest you keep a running list or white board for that kind of item. However, if you have been meaning to try a new medium or type of supply, that could work on this list. Example: ‘Purchase and explore borosilicate glass’. We’ll get more specific with that type of goal later when we start to break them down into manageable pieces.

As you go along in this process you will start to get a feel for what you really want to accomplish, what is possible, what might not be possible but can at least be started in this next year.  It may even give you new ideas and projects.

Search Your Heart
As you write your goals, search your heart. What the heck does that mean? Ask yourself, is this something I really have a passion for or is it something else? Is it something that I really really want to do or is it something I’m feeling like I should do? Is this something that others have been telling me I should do? If it isn’t from your own heart and something you feel passion for, don’t put it on your list.

Items on your list that aren’t from your own heart will most likely be a set-up for procrastination and eventual ‘failure.’ You will find those items hanging over your head and burdening you and that can be damaging to accomplishing other items of your goal list.

On the other hand, there might be some tasks that you need to do (and aren’t necessarily passionate about) in order to reach a certain goal that you are passionate about. Something like learning to take good photographs. If you are passionate about being published in a magazine, learning to get good photographs is more than necessary. Perhaps your goal could be to make enough money to hire someone to do your photos.  Don’t worry about how it will happen right now, just make sure it’s on your list.

Enlist an Accountability Group
I have written before about accountability in your business.  Assemble a group of peers/colleagues, people who you feel would be beneficial and complementary in the process of talking business and holding each other to task. A couple years ago I was invited to a group of this sort and we formed a Yahoo! group. It’s great to have a group of people you can turn to with business questions, for encouragement and just to bounce things off.

Consider proximity…getting together either physically or on-line in this fashion. What would work best for you? Explain to them what you are doing and that you’d like to commit as a group for a year to develop individual goals and to check in with each other periodically on how you’re all doing with your goals. The other part is being open about your struggles and successes and providing honest but helpful feedback for each other.

This group will be important in the next step where you start to assess whether your goals are realistic and what it will take to achieve them.  If you can’t think of anyone to do this with, drop me an email.  I will help to hook you all up and how to get started.  If this is something you’re interested in, let me know…maybe we can take it further.

So, those are your tasks for this week.  Make sure you’re subscribed or get Bead Nerd by email so you’ll know when Part 3 of Goal Setting is published.  Also, let me know if there are other areas that you have questions about or things that would help you in your business.  Click the “Ask Bead Nerd” box up there and drop me an email.

Tagged as: Accountability