New Year, New Goals

Well, it's 2007 already, and I'm stil writing "2005" on some of my checks.  That's what you call a fast year.   I suppose having a new baby, trying to hold onto the reins of a fast-growing company, and traveling a lot will do that to a person.  You would think that being woken up two to three times a night for eight months would make life slow down, but I'm here to tell you that's not the case.  It just makes you more dizzy during the day.

Enough about me.  Happy New Year to everybody, and thanks to all of our customers for making 2006 another wonderful year for Homestead.  We continue to be amazed by your passion, your creativity, and the ways you use our service.  We've certainly fallen short of your expectations a few times, but you've been there to kindly point it out to us when we falter.  You are what keeps making us better.

I thought I would use my first post of the new year to talk about something I've struggled with throughout my career: setting and achieving goals.  I'm a firm believer that goals are a critical part of any business (or team for that matter), and setting aggressive goals is a requirement if you want to have achieve aggressive things.  However, knowing how and when to set those goals, and actually hitting them, can be very difficult.  At least for me.

So, I've gotten in the habit of doing major goal setting once a year (usually starting in December and finalizing in early January) and then doing "milestone" goals each quarter.  A year can seem like a long time, especially for a new business, but it's gone before you know it, as I can attest this year.  If you spend the whole year just dealing with your day-to-day problems, it's easy not to work on any of the big opportunities, or not make any big changes.  The quarterly goals allow you to break down seeming unattainable annual goals into "bite-sized" pieces that actually pass a test of reasonableness. 

Here are five guidelines I've developed for setting goals for myself and our business:

1.  Do it.  Make yourself set goals, always, always, always.  I don't know anybody--whether it's a billionare business person, or an Olympic athlete, or a musician--who got to the top without setting hard goals.  I'd go so far to say that you simply cannot be the best at what you do if you don't set goals.

2.  Five is the max.  The fewer the better, but five is the absolute max.  I limit all of the people on my staff to three team goals, and up to two personal goals.  Some of the most successful people I know have just one goal, and sometimes it takes them years to achieve it.

3.  If you can't measure it, it isn't a goal.  This sounds obvious,  but you'd be amazed at the number of "fuzzy" or subjective goals out there.  If you can't tell with 100% objectiveness whether you've achieved your goal at the end, it's not a goal, it's a slogan or a mantra.  Here's an example of a non goal: be financially successful by the end of the year.  Here are some related goals: make enough money so that my spouse can stop working; increase my savings by $20,000 a year; make more money than all of my friends (I wouldn't suggest this as a goal if you want to have any friends, and it would only work if your friends will actually tell you how much they make--I suppose you technically could accomplish this goal by default if you didn't have any friends).

4.  Don't forget you.  It's important to have goals that are quantitative and business focused, like % revenue growth or amount of profitability or landing X new customers.  But don't forget about you.  It can be very unfulfilling to achieve business goals at the expense of your waistline or your marriage or spending time with your kids.  I usually insist on having 1-2 personal goals, both for myself and people who work for me.  It rounds you out, and acts as a check and balance to make sure you are achieving the one thing that we all actually want more than anything else: happiness.

5.  Don't forget about them. Goal setting is important, but what's more important is using those goals as tools to actually achieve what you set out to do.  You'd be surprised how many people go through goal setting exercises and then forget what goals they set.  If you can't remember what your goal is, chances are it isn't helping you achieve anything.  Somehow I don't think that Michael Johnson forgot the world record time in the 400m when he was training 8 hours per day to beat it.  Keep your goals handy, on a piece of paper taped to your wall that is right next to the window you like to stare out.  Print them in big font.  Memorize them.  Make it the desktop of your computer.  Do whatever it takes.  But don't bother setting goals if you are going to foget about them.

There you have it.   Hopefully some or all of this framework will help you with your own goal setting/realizing in 2007.  Happy New Year, and as always, happy business building!

--jsk

Comments

[R. B. Chandler]

When I took over the department (at work) I now run I had a number of goals I wanted to accomplish. It took 2 years but I have accomplished 98% of those goals. Am I a failure because I am 2% shy of success? No, I don't think so. My boss has more faith in me to accomplish the tasks he assigns to my deparment.

It should be noted that steady perseverance in the face of all obstacles will drive you past whatever stands in the way in time. And even though you fall a little short of what you expect of yourself does not mean you did not succeed. That is why when making goals you should set them just a little beyond your reach so you have to stretch a little to reach them.

Failure is not not achieving your goals. Failure is not really trying in the first place. Trying and failing is better than not trying at all. If you keep trying sooner or later you will find the success that has eluded you in the past. However, success is not always measured in dollars and cents.

What will become of that 2% of my work related goals I have yet to accomplish? Hey, it took 2 years just to get this far. What's another year? The secret is just not to give up.

[David Robert Darrah]

Hi, I have been around for a long time. I have had many ups and downs. To me to work for something and get it and for some reason lose it is not the end, just keep dreaming and working. Being in my 68th year and having health is a good thing. Now for all you smart people; I make no mistake with my religion and you should study my http://www.saviorleadme.com cause its your life and why lose it? Brother David

[Angela]

I am just wondering why my well presented and nationally recognized dog related website www.hellfiregundogs.com
is being censored by your Homestead "abuse team" for providing an external blog link (to another website outside of Homestead) with an honestly presented, and factual consumer warning about a super high volume puppy mill in Frenchtown, Montana (shhh, I will probably be censored for using that location, too!) pilfering puppies, using Homestead and E-business Paypal to do it.

What's next? The titles of books and newspaper articles will be censored by Homestead just because the subject matter might make somebody who doesn't like the truth, squirm?

Is this a great example of censorship and free speech to protect another successful e-commerce business offered by Homestead?

Their kennel name "Bear Country" is not trademarked or copyrighted in any capacity. If I DON'T specify springer spaniels, one might confuse it with the "other" Bear Country kennel of Flat Coated Retrievers, an honest and reputable kennel.

By the way, I am a WRITER by occupation and have a great deal of political experience. And two sisters who are laywers. I know an injustice when I see it and this is huge.

The sad thing is that in late 2006 I complied entirely with your "teams" initial request to edit my page and nothing has changed since then, I did not change anything or add anything with regards to THAT kennel, yet here you are telling me to edit it further because the puppymill is starting to feel the heat of ten years of dog exploitation coming out into the open.

FACT: We provided proof via national AKV and CKC authorities, 150 witnesses, Better Business Bureau records and Homestead said it was their word against ours.

Really.

Furthermore, the blog server (the largest and most respected in the world) cleared the use of the info on this page that you refuse to allow me link to.

I have used Homestead since it began back in the late 90's and I cannot express enough how disgusted I am with your lack of integrity. What Bear COuntry does is not illegal, nor are their dogs hald dead but what they do using internet sales practices and YOUR server is so incredibly unethical it makes the stomachs of every responsible breeder in this country churn.

I am currently going as fast as I can to find another non-Homestead related website server, and it is a real shame that your Homestead service seems to lack the very integrity which you repeatedly preach to the public via your blog.

The only reason they keep running to Homestead with complaints and don't get a lawyer, is because they have tried that already and were told they didn't have a leg to stand on. Thankfully for them, they have a Homestead to censor and tailor make info to suit their ecommerce needs best!

Fact: Homestead censors the very links you add to your Homestead site.

[Justin]

Angela,
To answer your question, no we don't censor websites at Homestead. We don't monitor our sites at all, in fact. We take our first amendment responsibility very seriously. However, there are several kinds of content that violate our terms of service, and if our abuse team is restricting access to your site it is because there has been a complaint that it violates one of those terms.

I hope that helps.
Justin

[Chicago Bankruptcy Network]

Getting your finances in order should be a priority new year resolution for people. Often, a chapter 7 or chapter 13 bankruptcy can help. Chapter 13 is a debt consolidation where you pay back a portion of your debts based on the assets and the income and expenses you have. Chapter 7 can eliminate unsecured debts completely, getting you a fresh start in the new year. It is best to contact an experienced attorney to help you out. Our site puts consumers in touch with a Chicago area attorney to provide you a free consultation about your individual case.