Setting realistic business goals is a surefire way to boost your productivity. And there’s no better time to focus on realistic and achievable goals than during the quarterly planning process.
If you’re like most business owners, you’ll focus on quarterly planning at the beginning of January, April, July, and October. Breaking your calendar year into three-month increments offers a nice cadence to your year and helps to ensure those goals you set on Jan. 1 actually are achieved before your head hits the pillow on Dec. 31.
Here at Everyday Effectiveness, we’re big fans of goals and goal-setting but we don’t believe goals are written in stone. In fact, we advise our clients to consider goals as targets, where coming close to the center is worth just as much celebration as hitting the bullseye.
When you view your goals as targets, you’re more likely to set your sights high enough to motivate ambition without paralyzing yourself with overwhelm. Good/better/best goals are great for training yourself to aim high while feeling good about coming close.
But for good/better/best goals to work, they still need to be realistic and achievable. This is where the quarterly planning process becomes so important.
During your quarterly planning, you can reflect on the prior quarter to determine what makes sense to focus on during the next quarter.
Five Reasons to Set Realistic Goals
Setting realistic and achievable goals during the quarterly planning process is important for five reasons:
- Helps with focus — By setting clear, realistic goals, you can stay focused on what you need to achieve and avoid getting sidetracked by less important tasks. This helps to increase productivity and efficiency in your work.
- Enables progress tracking — With well-defined goals, it becomes easier to track progress over time. This is essential for understanding how far you have come and what adjustments you need to make to achieve your desired results.
- Increases motivation — Having realistic and achievable goals helps to increase motivation, especially when you can see progress and accomplishments. It encourages you to keep pushing and working hard toward achieving your goals.
- Helps with decision making — Setting realistic goals helps you to make informed decisions about what you need to prioritize in your work. This is particularly important when you have multiple responsibilities and balance competing demands on your time and resources.
- Encourages accountability — Setting specific, measurable goals and sharing them with others encourages accountability and helps to ensure you follow through with your plans. This can help to build trust and credibility with your clients, peers and staff members, which is crucial for success in business.
Overall, setting realistic and achievable goals during the quarterly planning process helps you to stay focused, motivated, and accountable, which ultimately leads to increased success and satisfaction in your work.
Want Help Setting Realistic Goals for This Quarter?
At Everyday Effectiveness, we help busy women focus on the next right step to truly move the needle in their businesses. Our programs help you translate your big business visions into an effective roadmap. Book a call today to accelerate your growth this quarter.
