It’s just about that time of year again. Are you one to set goals or set New Year’s Resolutions?
I personally prefer to set small obtainable goals. If I go too big and set giant resolutions for the New Year, I often get side-tracked and inevitably lose sight of my original vision. Resolutions just never work for me. It’s like dreaming big to only be let down come February.
I am a big believer in goal setting and the law of attraction.
If I truly want to obtain a new goal or vision I first need identify the changes I need to make in my daily life or behavior in order to obtain said goal. For instance, I once saw a picture of the most beautiful Pilates studio in a Balanced Body catalog. At the time I had just opened my modest studio of 4 Reformers and 4 chairs.
The studio pictured in the catalog was fully equipped with 8 Reformers, 8 Chairs and 8 Wall Units. I really wanted my studio to someday grow into this beautiful vision from the catalog picture. However, I knew it would not happen overnight or even for a few years. My goals had to be small and realistic to start off. I decided I wanted to earn enough money to buy 4 of the Wall Units from the catalog. I cut out pictures of the Wall Units from the catalog and hung one on my refrigerator and one on the bulletin board at my studio. A bit of a bold move to post it for everyone at the studio to see. However, I wanted people to see it so it would help hold me accountable. I told my clients I was adding these new Wall Units to the studio in the near future. They did not need to know I did not have the money to pay for them yet.
Now that I had the end goal / vision, I needed a plan.
How was I going to get from the vision to the day I could finally place the order of my new Wall Units? I needed to generate an extra $8,000 and at the time that was a lot of money for me and my new business.
So, I sat down and listed different ways I could save money and increase the revenue at my studio. I set small obtainable goals for myself daily, weekly and monthly. Before you knew it was able to order my new equipment. Being able to order those 4 addition units was probably one of my first real victories as a business owner. In the big picture it was a small victory. However, the momentum generated from that victory was huge for my business because I continued to find new direction and visions. I continued to develop and put forth new plans of action and continued to grow.
To this day I continue to chase new visions and set goals on regular basis. Whenever I feel like I’m in a rut I re-evaluate my direction and vision. If I am not working towards something, I tend to drift which usually ends with me in a rut. Sometimes my visions are small like finding more time to spend with family and sometimes my visions are big like co creating Dynamic Pilates TV.
Whatever the size they can all be obtainable if I set forth a clear plan of action with realistic goals.
