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Setting Goals and Accomplishing Them! - Jun 17, 2009

Posted by: Linda J. Donegan in

Do you ever wonder why you don't accomplish the goals you have for yourself? Over the years I have had many, many goals, but only a few of them were actually accomplished. Then I read an article about a study done about accomplishing goals.

In his book, "What They Don't Teach You in the Harvard Business School," Mark McCormack shares a study of students in the 1979 Harvard MBA class, in which the students were asked, "Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?" Amazingly, only three percent of the graduates had written goals and plans; 13 percent had goals, but they were not in writing; and a whopping 84 percent had no specific goals at all.

Ten years later, the members of the class were interviewed again, and the findings, while somewhat predictable, were nonetheless astonishing. The 13 percent of the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 percent who had no goals at all. And, what about the three percent who had clear, written goals? They were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97 percent put together.

So, obviously, the first step is to write down your goals. I am talking about long-term goals. How do you want to retire? How much money do you want to have? Do you want to have a 2^nd vacation home? I then break down the long-term goal into yearly goals. This is a big eye opener! Suddenly time becomes very relevant when looking at how long you have to accomplish a specific goal.

I then break up my long-term goals into what I need to accomplish in one year and three years. I then focus on the one-year goal. I break this down into three categories. The first category is what I need to do for my practice, revenue levels, number of clients, etc. The second is what I need to accomplish as a partner at B2B CFO®. The third is for my personal goals. I then break them down into what I need to do month by month to get to the final year goal. I then take that and break it down into weekly goals. I actually have a spreadsheet with the categories across the top and the date of each Monday, throughout the year, down the side. I have weekly actions that must be accomplished to meet the yearly goal. As I get these tasks done, I check them off.

You can use this methodology in business also. What are your business goals for one, three and five years? Do you have a revenue goal you are aiming for? Do you have plans to reach that? Do you have a goal to exit your business, sell it, pass it on to children? What about expenses? All this can be planned. Just like the students at Harvard, the one with the goals will accomplish more. Start simply. Start with something that you can really accomplish and build a plan. You will be amazed where you will go when you have a plan to get there.

As the saying goes, plan your work, work your plan!