Set up structures to achieve your business targets

Any worthwhile goals will disrupt and take you out of your comfort zone. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By MURORI KIUNGA

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Summary

• If goal-setting is about choosing what you want to achieve, then it is also about choosing what you want to give in return. Everything has a cost and your readiness to pay the price is a key determiner of the results.

Every year-end most companies and individuals get busy planning and setting goals for the next year. However, few are achieved.

Basically, goal-setting is the process of selecting a target or objective you wish to achieve within a given period.

Setting goals is easy and does not necessarily require the services of a paid consultant. You can state that you want to grow your revenue by 30 per cent, start your dream project and complete it by end of 2019, reduce your waistline or grow spiritually and so on. It is as easy as ABC.

What bedevils goals is the execution bit of it. It is not deciding what you want and stating it. It is hitting the road and deciding the trade-offs that come along with it.

John Maxwell in his book ‘‘The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership’’ teaches us that to go up you must give up something. To achieve any goals you must forgo something. You must accept the sacrifices required to achieve that goal. Everyone one wants to succeed, but few people are willing to do what it takes to succeed.

Any worthwhile goals will disrupt and take you out of your comfort zone. It will change your lifestyle, your way of thinking and even the way you relate to others.

The first condition of going to the top is to know what you need to give up and the second is giving up. Once you have set your goals, list the things you need to give up doing and the things you need to do.

If goal-setting is about choosing what you want to achieve, then it is also about choosing what you want to give in return. Everything has a cost and your readiness to pay the price is a key determiner of the results.

READ: Set yourself up for success with highly ambitious goals

If your goal next year is to double your turnover, cut weight or improve your financial life, you need to set up a system of the things you must do.

A system is not the goal, but the way that will take you to the goal. For instance, if you are an entrepreneur, your goal is to build a profitable business.

Your system is your production, sales and marketing processes. If you are a student, your goal is to pass with distinction. Your system is the reading timetable that you follow each week.

If you are a salesperson, your goal is to meet your target. Your system is sales prospecting schedule, sales visit and customer care.

The greatest challenge that impedes us from achieving our goals is a lack of sustainable systems that bring the required results.

We normally set goals because we are not satisfied with where we are. We desire something different and, of course, better. Therefore, we must act differently to get different results.