Setting Meaningful Goals As An Entrepreneur

You’ve spent time and energy growing your business. When it comes to work, you cross one finish line after another. Sure, you get a daily sense of accomplishment, but you can also hit the arrival fallacy (coined by Tal Ben-Shahar, PhD) – where you enter into a state of sadness after reaching a goal and it brings you to a halt.

So, what’s the solution?

Luckily, you can avoid this state and feel the motivation to keep going! The secret is setting goals that get you excited about your business and bring real meaning to your life.  

What do you want to achieve in the future? Effective goals help you focus on what’s important – your desired result or achievement.

Consider these equations:

• Goals = achieving desired results
• No goals = operating, existing

Speaking of equations, some people think about goals only as numbers. But how do you set meaningful goals – the kind that makes you want to keep going through the challenges that arise and strive for the outcome?

Try these strategies:

Think about what’s important to you.

Go beyond business: what work-life balance do you want to have?

• Family, community life, service, spirituality, fitness

• How can you shape your business so that it supports your unique and ideal work-life balance?

What’s your objective?

For your best results, the objective should be inspirational, ambitious, and qualitative. It should describe an outcome that you look forward to with excitement.

Think about your business plan.

How can your business best support the lifestyle you want? Consider both your immediate and long-term goals.

Keep OKR (Objective Key Result) in mind.

OKR is a goal-setting methodology to set ambitious goals (“objectives”) and uses measurable benchmarks (“key results”) to track progress towards each goal.

• Key results are measurable and quantitative. The key results are the specific, measurable part of the goal-setting – the steps that make things achievable.
  
• What key results will you need to hit in order to achieve your inspirational objectives? Set 3 – 4 measurable results based on growth, performance, revenue, or engagement.
  
• How can you bring that into your daily, weekly, and monthly routine / activities? What tasks need to be done on the micro level?
  
• Make quarterly and annual time deadlines for your key results.

What can do that will have the biggest impact?

Some people make goals and then don’t make an effort to keep them top of mind. Check in with your goals consistently, here are some examples:

1. Daily. What are 3 – 5 things you can do each day that bring you towards your goals? Make these your daily non-negotiables.
   
2. Weekly. How can you measure your progress weekly? Set aside time each week to reflect on progress towards your goals. Record a win to keep you motivated.
   
3. Quarterly. Ask yourself, what can you focus on that will have the biggest impact? Make a plan for how you will maintain this focus when “life happens” and distractions take you away. How will you get back on track?

Let yourself dream. Imagine your “best life”. What do you do each day? What would your perfect day be like? What are you feeling? Who are you with? These are your inspirational goals.

Then, determine specific actions you can take that will lead you to these goals. Whether they are for business or life.

Lastly, follow your plan – if you get derailed, dust yourself off, learn from it, and start again!