Goal setting is a critical skill to learn for any business owner. If you don’t know where you are going, “any road will get you there,” as was said so poetically in Alice in Wonderland. Without a clear understanding of where you are heading, you are almost guaranteed to become side-tracked by opportunities that will pull you off of your true course and original intention.

There are four simple things that you can do to help you define your goals and stay on track:

1.    Create a Written “Contract.” Research shows that less than 5% of business owners actually write down their goals. However those who do write out their goals generate up to 10 times the revenue that others do! Now if that’s not incentive to take 30 minutes to write down your goals, I don’t know what is!

2.    Know Thyself. Ask yourself why you want the goal. Dig deep to find out why it’s important to you. This will help you experience the root of your desire. For example, if your goal is to create an additional income stream of $20,000 in the next six months, make sure you know why that is important. Do you want to take the summer off? Go on vacation? Pay off your car? You can even post a picture of your goal in your office if that is helpful to you. Knowing the essence of why you want to reach a goal is extremely motivating!

3.    Get Detailed. Create a list of all the different things you need to do to in order to reach your goal. For example, I brainstorm each step, write them individually on post-it notes and put them all on my wall. From there, I organize the post-it notes into categories and/or into a flow chart so I can see what needs to happen first, second and so forth. From there, I put each step into my calendar so I can be assured that if I just accomplish one or two things toward my goal on the assigned day, I will be directly on target to meet my goal.

4.    Share. If you share your goals with a trusted and supportive resource, you are much more likely to achieve your goals. It takes courage to put yourself out there and tell others what your goals are, particularly if they are financial goals. But if you choose wisely, you’ll find the support to be uplifting and very helpful.