Techniques to Break your Business Goals into Manageable Steps

Techniques to Break your Business Goals into Manageable Steps

What’s your long term business vision? Whether it’s becoming fully self-employed, opening a retail outlet, or tapping into an international ecommerce market, the logistics of turning your vision into a reality can seem overwhelming to say the least. Big goals like these don’t happen overnight, and it’s easy to get discouraged when you don’t see rapid progress. One strategy to stay focused and keep your eyes on the prize is to break down your hefty goal into a series of small, manageable steps. As you complete each small step along the way, you’ll not only have the satisfaction of ticking it off the list but the added pride of knowing that you’re one step closer to meeting your ultimate goal. But how do you start this process? Here are a few techniques to help you.

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  1. Visualize the main goal.

When you think about your business goals, do you have a clear picture in mind or is it a bit fuzzy around the edges? It’s easier to create a concrete plan of action if you’ve thought through your ultimate goal in detail. Rather than simply ‘starting a business,’ you could state that your goal is making enough money to quit your current job, or making a certain figure each month. Measurable quantities can help you create actionable steps.

  1. Define your barriers.

What’s holding you back? Whether it’s a lack of start-up funds or a lack of time, defining the obstacles in your way can help you devise steps to overcome them. Once you’ve successfully overcome one challenge, it helps grow your self-confidence and you may find it easier and easier to knock over the other barriers standing in your path. You can’t solve a problem until you know what the problem is, so do a little soul searching to define what’s stopping you.

  1. Create a series of milestones.

With your end game and challenges clearly defined, you can then start the process of creating a series of smaller goals or milestones to meet. You could do this with a timeline – start with a six month goal, and then break this down into 30 day goals. Another option would be to create monetary goals – making an extra $500 per month, $1000 per month, and so on. Finally, you could lay out the steps you need for your business – setting up a website, creating a marketing plan, learning how to get work projects completed efficiently, finding investors, and so on. Breaking down your goal into smaller chunks helps you address the barriers in your way and improve your chances of success.

  1. Create to-do lists.

Your milestones will still be quite lofty, so you can then take each of these and lay out a clear to-do list. For example, if your milestone is ‘create a business website,’ your to-do list might look something like this:

  1. Select and register a domain name
  2. Choose a blogging or ecommerce platform
  3. Write copy for landing page
  4. Photograph and write descriptions for products
  5. Create an about me page

These are all clear, actionable steps that will lead to you ticking a major milestone off your list.

  1. Stay in the moment.

Finally, try not to get ahead of yourself. It’s natural to want to keep your big goal in mind, but you could overlook the small details along the way. Stop and take time to appreciate the completion of each small task along the way, rewarding yourself with a pat on the back. Every small step gets you closer to your goal!